What was the saddest death in your Tree ?

[moiramount]

the saddest in my family tree was one of our relatives drowned in the canal, & they found her 9month old baby still alive alone on the riverbank, don't know if it was suicide or she slipped in, as they were barge people.


                    moira

[wheeldon]

I think mine would be my G Grandads in WW1 - he served all the way through and then died two months before the war ended-absolutely tragic - he left four young children who were then sent to orphanges-so they didn't know how to raise a well balanced family - the tragedy goes on and on.

[Headbanger Veron]

Mine is my great uncle. He died flying a biplane in WW1, on his first raid, on the last mission the squadron ever flew. six weeks before the Armistice in 1918. He was 23, just married, and he had only joined the RAF in April that year having been in the Territorials for the rest of the war. He left no children and his surname died with him as he was his parents' only son. 

[PrueM]

Headbanger, that's so tragic        What heroes those early flyers were though.
Go on then, tell us his name, so it's not gone anymore 

[Headbanger Veron]

Prue

It was Cecil R G Abrahams, he is the Cecil with the lovely smile that you liked in the photo I posted.  I am putting together a tribute to him on my website, which is currently under construction, so I'll be letting people know when it's ready. I only found out about the circumstances of his death the day before yesterday, and it choked me up now, in 2005. I just can't imagine what it was like in 1918, for his parents and his young wife.

Thanks, Veron

[stonechat]

There were a tragice series of deaths in 1940

There were four people living in the house
Ann Jackson nee Lee,
Her daughter from second marriage Annie Swindells nee Jackson
Annie's husband Noah Swindells
Noah and Annie's son Edward aged 15

Firstly, Ann Jackson died - she was about 92 - I believe it was acute bronchitis
Feb 1940
Then Edward died aged 15 when a bomb dropped on Shepperton Studios 21 Oct 1940
Two 15 year old boys were the only casualties
Then Noah became ill with appendicitis - it was ermoved, he should have recovered, but he died- it was said he's lost the will to live -This was Nov 1940

Bob

[PrueM]

Thanks for posting details of Cecil, Veron - his photo definitely caught people's imagination didn't it!  I look forward to reading about him on your website sometime soon   

[JAP]

The saddest death in my family was, I believe, my great grandmother. She had 23 children and suffered from asthma.
From what we know 4 of her sons were away in WW1. One died and one was listed as 'missing, presumed dead'.
This missing son arrived home unannounced about one month after the end of WW1. It was such a shock to his mother that she suffered a massive asthma attack and died as a result, aged 58

Dear Cotswolder,

What a sad sad story about a great lady.
Have you noticed the thread about the biggest family?  Your dear Great Gran surely must be a (or the) top contender.

Best regards,

JAP

[miss marple]

This one is a bit of a cheat because it isn't exactly in my family tree......My uncle was a prisoner of war in Taiwan, in the notorious Kinkeseki camp. Sadly, like so many, he died of beri-beri, but there were some who managed somehow to survive the terrible conditions until the end of the war.

Once the Japanese had surrendered, it took some time to get relief to the remaining prisoners, but at last American planes arrived with desperately needed food and medical supplies, which were dropped from the air. Yes, you've guessed it – several starving prisoners of war were actually crushed to death by the Red Cross crates that landed. Apparently the planes were flying too low for the crates' parachutes to open properly.

What a terrrible irony, to survive the horrors they had come through only to be killed like that.

Jane