1870 death in Sheppey for a Woolwich family member

[jonwicken]

The new GRO birth indexes have traced a daughter born in Woolwich to my great, great grandparents Francis King and Emma Vaughan who married in 1867.

I had heard of this sister in passing from my great aunt, although she incorrectly thought she was her father's sister and thus created what until now I assumed to be a false memory.

Anyway, this birth was for a Lydia King in March 1869 quarter in Woolwich. I know she died as a child and she is not in the 1871 census with her parents so I assume it would have been before then.

The only death however that fits is that of a Lydia King who died aged 1 year in Sheppey. There is one other birth around this time for a Lydia King but she appears to have been born and died in Kensington 1869-1870.

So my question is why was Lydia in Sheppey then? The family do not seem to have moved as they had another son born in Woolwich in 1870 and were there in 1871.

So was there perhaps a hospital or something there which she may have been sent to?

If anyone has any suggestions I would be grateful to hear from you. I know I can just order the death certificate and might well do, but all those death certificates of ancestors siblings really does start to add up!   

Many thanks,
Jon

[Milliepede]

I wonder did she have grandparents or other relations in Sheppey that she may have been with when she died?

[Milliepede]

Is this the right family in 1871

Francis King 27
Emma 25
Francis W 3
Herbert 4 months

Tightish fit for Lydia to be born between those two

[ciderdrinker]

Hello
It could be that the little girl was suffering from smallpox.It's a contagious disease and in the 1870's /80's as a emergency measure hospital ships were used to quarantine the sick.Could it be that she died there?

Just a thought
Ciderdrinker

[bearkat]

Lydia KING of 2 Hope Street was buried 11 June 1870 at Halfway Cemetery, Sheermess

http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~penney/cemetary/ck.htm

[Christine53]

I see that Francis King was a shipwright. Perhaps he had to go to Sheerness in connection with work and took his family with him ?

[jonwicken]

Thanks very much for the replies, everyone.

Francis King and Emma Vaughan's eldest son Francis (Frank) Kind was born on 12 October 1867 in Woolwich Dock Yard and their second son Herbert on 28 November, also in Woolwich.

I too was surprised to find a child between them, but the location and mother's maiden name of Vaughan means it must be their daughter. Her birth was registered in the March quarter of 1869 so it does work.

I myself thought about smallpox as I am involved in a volunteer history research project at Surrey Docks Farm, the site of which used to be a receiving station for people with smallpox.

However thanks to that burial entry with the address it seems clear Lydia died at a house in Sheerness. I have looked at the 1871 census and in that house then was a shipwright called Charles W. Bridges and his family.

So it does indeed look at though Lydia's father Francis must indeed have left Woolwich for a short time to work there and was working as Shipwright in the dockyard at Sheerness.

This is very interesting and just shows how much the mothers maiden name index on the new GRO register is going to be of use in finding missing children of couples to plot their movements.

Thanks so much, everyone.

Jon

[bearkat]

Just one concern - The Lydia buried at Halfway was aged 2yrs.  Is she too old to be your Lydia?

[jonwicken]

Thanks very much for this! I had read it as 2 Hope Street in error Looks like the only way to know is to order the death certificate! However the GRO index states she was aged 1. This is all confusing as the new GRO index has her age as being 16 years! Right let's get ordering....