People's Journal 15th March 1919
"Awful Fate of Baronet's Soldier Son"
Agonising screams of horror rang out in the London District Railway Station Blackfriars as a young man was seen to fall in front of an electric train proceeding in the direction of the Mansion House. Men and women stood aghast as they watched the body of the victim dragged for a considerable distance, while the drive vainly endeavoured to bring the train to a standstill. For half an hour all traffic was suspended and the station cleared of passengers. Efforts were then made to extricate the remains of the unfortunate victim, who was subsequently identified as Corporal Ernest Skinner, the son of Sir Thomas Skinner, a director of the Canadian Pacific Railway, residing at Pont Street, London. "My God, he's killed". These words were the first intimation of the shocking occurrence and they fell from the lips of Mrs Smith of Southend, with whom Corporal Skinner had been spending a short holiday. Mrs Smith and her daughter afterwards gave a vivid account of what happened. Skinner, a high-spirited, happy young man was a corporal in the 3rd Dragoons and had been severely wounded on two occasions, once by shrapnel in his head. Corporal Skinner's friends declare that, with the exception of this wound, he enjoyed generally good health and was looking forward to a pleasant holiday on the coast during the summer months. " I am tremendously pained over this awful tragedy" said Mrs Smith "and it has completely unnerved me. It all took place suddenly-like a flash- that I hardly realised what was going on. I remember shouting out, my God he's killed as I saw Mr Skinner fall from the platform right in front of the incoming train. The sight made me sick, and I turned away with my daughter, horrified and overcome. We had been chatting together on the platform and Mr Skinner seemed quite his usual self. He certainly did not seem worried and we had no warning of any kind to lead us to suppose he premeditated anything in the way of taking his own life. It must have been an accident, though at present I cannot throw the slightest light on the occurrence. I knew Mr Skinner suffered from the effects of shell shock, for he had been in France for a long time and on one occasion was badly wounded by shrapnel which lodged in his head. At intervals while staying with me and my husband at Southend, he showed signs of eccentricity, not unusual for a soldier who had seen a lot of terrible fighting and was himself injured. The strain of his experiences may have told on his constitution and perhaps weakened his brain. We had only come up from Southend in the morning to visit some people at Kew Gardens. I was joined later in the day by Mr Skinner and my daughter, who journeyed by an afternoon train to meet me. All three of us had a merry little dinner and then boarded a train at Hammersmith Station. When the train reached Charing Cross, Mr Skinner expressed a wish to get out but after a little persuasion he remained in our compartment till we came to the Mansion House. We then got out to transfer to the Southend train, but by a most unhappy mistake we jumped into a train going westward towards Victoria. At Blackfriars station, we realised our error and got out. Mr Skinner suggested going on to Charing Cross but we advised him not to do this. A few moments later we crossed to the opposite platform and waited for the Southend train. I was chatting to my daughter and Mr Skinner was a few yards away from us. Suddenly there was a cry and turning round I noticed Mr Skinner was missing. At the same moment the train dashed by and catching hold of my daughter's arm I screamed. My breath was taken away and I was on the verge of collapse. Porters and others came rushing up and tried to rescue Mr Skinner's body from the metals but did not succeed for some time. There were shocking injuries about his head and he must have been killed instantaneously. "
Also at the inquest, Ernest's wife gave details of his drinking and mood swings " saying "he was not a temperate person"