Princess Alice disaster

[groom]

that and the heavy clothing worn then, especially by the women, undoubtedly caused a lot of deaths.

That was why my great grandmother died. Both she and my great grandfather were thrown into the water. He rescued someone he thought was his wife, only to find it was someone in a similar coat. She left 6 children - my grandmother at 15 was the eldest and the youngest was 2.

[ankerdine]

Thank you for this very sad but interesting storjudy

[Retriever]

I was so sorry to hear of your great grandmother's tragic death Groom. It must have been very hard for the family to cope with. Hopefully your grandmother was used to helping her mother but even so it must have been hard for her to have that responsibility thrust on her, especially with such a young baby.

Walter and Bessie didn't have any children but the one I feel most sorry for is George, Walter's father. The 1871 census has his other son as an imbecile from birth. living with his father and sisters. George's wife is already in an asylum. I think I have the son as a pauper imbecile in a workhouse in Essex on the 1881 census.

George's father had died earlier in 1878 so the poor man had his father's death and then his son and daughter in law's deaths, which must have been made so much worse by having to identify them after several days in the foul waters of the Thames.

Hopefully one day I will find out where they were buried and also what happened to George. He seems to have vanished after the 1881 census.

Regards