James Souch

[odbsmith]

Looking through newspaper archives find one for a James Souch but not one I know yet. I cannot find a death for him that tallies or a census that fits,

Any suggestions?
 Anybody  have a James Souch that died in  a accident on the Brighton railway in Sept 1858?
having problem with attchment ....will try again later

[rosie99]

It is possible that the death was not registered.  James Souch died instantly & James Penny was not likely to live. They were hit by a train near Croydon

[ShaunJ]

My guess is that the name is wrong. It's likely that the newspaper reports are all based on a single report from a reporter at an inquest who wrote down the name as he heard it. 

The death would have been certified at Guys Hospital and therefore registered in St Olave Southwark. The only such death that looks likely in that quarter is James Savage.

In London dialect at that time ( as recorded by Charles Dickens) the letter "v" was sometimes pronounced as a "w". So Savage could have been misheard as Souch.

[odbsmith]

Thanks both.
Thats interesting ShaunJ,   my experience with London accents is limited. Although Mum was born in Brighton and moved to London when a toddler, she joined the Land army and married and settled in Cornwall.

I didnt want to discard info that may prove useful later but it looks less likely that "james souch" is a relative.

[keyboard86]

Hi as an aside, the surname Souch is mainly a Sussex or Oxfordshire one in 1851 census, so it does exist?
Keyboard86

[odbsmith]

Yes, I have looked at the 1851 census Surrey and Sussex  but failed to find a James Souch that fits the bill.

[keyboard86]

Hi what "Bill has he got to fit"
Keyboard86

[odbsmith]

If he was a plate layer one would expect him to be fit and healthy, and at the moment the only James Souch  I can find in the surrey/sussex area in 1851 is still at school, 72 years old or a 37 yr old Miller who is still alive in the 1861 census. There is one James born Staines, Middlesex 1838, in  1851 he
is in Sunbury age 13, and I cannot find him yet in 1861, He would have been 20/21 when the accident occured.

[jonw65]

James Souch, born Staines, circa 1839
was in Army Service Corps
https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:V5CQ-B99

Records on pay site, haven't seen them. Someone will say it wasn't called that when he joined!

James Souch, 1st Btn Military Train, is in the 1861 Worldwide Army Index.