A LEADING Chelmsford historian died after she was knocked down on a pedestrian crossing, an inquest heard.

Nancy Edwards, 79, crossed Parkway at its junction with Rainsford Road, against a red light, on January 23 last year.

PC Graham Lant, of Essex Police traffic investigation unit, told the hearing at Chelmsford it would never be known why she had crossed when the pedestrian light was red.

He said: “It was a cloudy, windy day and it had been raining. Mrs Edwards had crossed one part of the road to the first refuge and was waiting to cross the second part.

“The pedestrian light facing her was on red.

“She crossed against a red pedestrian light for reasons I cannot say.”

PC Lant said Robert Harvey, driving a Seat Alhambra, was approaching the junction and had no expectation of anyone crossing against a red light. It was on green for vehicles to go.

Coroner’s officer Simon Oakley said witnesses had said Mrs Edwards, a widow, who was on her way to the Essex Record Office, was struggling with her umbrella which had turned inside out.

She was taken to Broomfield Hospital after the collision, but confirmed dead. A post mortem showed she had died of multiple injuries.

No members of Mrs Edwards’ family were present at the inquest. Coroner Caroline Beasley-Murray described her as “a very eminent historian who was held in the highest regard” and added her death was a big loss.

She recorded a verdict that her death was an accident.

At the time of Mrs Edwards’ death, many tributes were paid to her and her work.

She was working on a book on Essex country houses which she was hoping to complete before her 80th birthday, which would have been in June last year.

Mrs Edwards was a supervisor of the search room at the Essex Record Office when she retired in 1987. She wrote a history on John Johnston, the architect responsible for the Shire Hall, and was also involved with many societies.