Born in 1850 to Grace Tasker, Charles Tasker lived a life marked by family, hard work, and a spirited personality. By 1881, he resided at 49 Jubilee Street in Brighton, Sussex, alongside his wife, Martha, born in 1853. Martha, formerly Pumphrey, and Charles had married young and welcomed their daughter, also named Martha, in 1874.
But in January of 1885, what began as a moment of joviality would tragically lead to his sudden death.
It happened during an evening among friends. Charles, famously ticklish, was the focus of playful teasing when someone pointed at him as if to tickle him. Reacting instinctively, Charles leapt toward the person in mock defense. The two men stumbled and fell together, Charles landing on top. Witnesses emphasized that the incident was all in good fun. “Everything was done in a joke,” one said, adding that there had been no quarrel and nobody was under the influence of alcohol.
At first, Charles seemed unhurt. He even laughed as he stood, asking for a doctor to be called more as a precaution than out of genuine concern. A cab was quickly arranged to take him to the local dispensary, but en route fell silent. By the time he arrived, he had passed away.
As the cab driver carried out his grim task, one wonders about his own life. Did he, like so many at the time, live surrounded by the haze of smoke from cigars and pipes? The Victorian era saw widespread tobacco use, and many cab drivers were no strangers to long shifts punctuated by puffing away at their pipes to keep warm and pass the time. Could Charles’s own health issues – his severely diseased lungs – have mirrored the effects of habits that were so common, and often unquestioned, in the lives of working men like the cab driver?
Dr. A.S. Turner, the dispensary’s resident medical officer, later conducted a post-mortem examination. The results revealed that Charles had been living with significant health issues. His right lung was entirely diseased and non-functional, while the left lung was also in poor condition. Dr. Turner concluded that the shock of the fall had triggered syncope, a sudden loss of consciousness, which proved fatal.
Charles died 3 April 1897, 46 years old. Address at time of death: 69 Shirley Street.
Story taken from Eastbourne Chronicle Saturday 3 April 1897 – British Newspaper Archive.
