Swindon solicitor Henry Fox Townsend was feeling as fit as a fiddle when he boarded the 3pm train for Paddington on Thursday December 13, 1894. The purpose of his London visit was to bid farewell to his brother Charles, a tea planter, who was returning to India the following day. The brothers had a table booked at the Holborn Restaurant on the Friday but Charles was to report that Henry failed to turn up. 'Upon the arrival of the train at Paddington it was noticed by one of the railway officials that Mr. Townsend was in an insensible condition, apparently suffering from a fit,' reported the Swindon Advertiser. 'He was at once removed and conveyed to St. Mary's Hospital, where he died shortly afterwards without regaining consciousness. His death at the early age of 34 shocked all who knew him. His friends told how he had recently purchased a property called the Firs in Wroughton where he intended 'settling down and enjoying what appeared to be, in all prob...