Thursday 20 February 2014

Ronald Ludwig 1931 - 1933

This is the burial record of Ronald Ludwig
 
LUDWIG, Ronald (son of Matthew, age 2).
     Died at 12 Herries Rd; Buried on August 28, 1933 in Consecrated ground;
     Grave Number 7771, Section U of City Road Cemetery, Sheffield.

 Ronald's death appeared in The Times Friday August 25th 1933

BOY'S DEATH FROM TETANUS

Death form tetanus following an accidental abrasion was the verdict at an inquest in Sheffield yesterday on the body of RONALD LUDWIG aged two, whose mother stated that the boy had a small abrasion on the left heel, caused through wearing shoes without stockings. A  doctor expressed the opinion that the child contacted the infection through running about without shoes and stockings 

Of course there is a slight problem here - Ronald's mother stated that the abrasion was caused by wearing shoes without stockings whereas the doctor stated that he contracted tetanus by not wearing shoes.

What probably happened is that the ill-fitting shoes caused the abrasion and to lessen the irritation and pain, young Ronald took his shoes off, and in doing so, contracted tetanus through the sore(s)

Thursday 13 February 2014

Long Shadows Over Sheffield: Forgotten Lives of the Great War

As you may have gathered from the postings that I have made so far this year there has been an over-emphasis on events relating to World War One. The reason for this is quite simple - a third book is due hopefully for publication in the spring.

The title " Long Shadows Over Sheffield: Forgotten Lives of the Great War"


At work reading the proofs!

Most of the material was taken from articles on my website but myself and co-author Matthew Bell have conducted some additional research to ensure that the articles are rounded off. I'm currently proof-reading the final draft and it is something that I do get perturbed about. You can alter a webpage at anytime but with a book any errors are there for posterity and so you have to ensure that it is both factually and grammatically correct.

It is also slightly shorter than our earlier two books which may please some readers!

One of the main problems we had was deciding the orders of the chapters but in the end we decided to leave it random. I was initially in favour of it being in alphabetical name order or even chronological but after reading the proof I warmed to the random nature.

And the final photo is rather poignant

Clifford Lawrence Mann 1896 - 1915



I was at a workday for the Friends of Walkley Cemetery a couple of weeks ago and was tackling a section of the cemetery that was overgrown - see photo


In this section I uncovered a memorial that was in remarkable condition for its age

And at the base of the memorial was this dedication to James and Caroline's grandson Clifford who was killed in action on 8th May 1915

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission database gives the following details

MANN, CLIFFORD LAWRENCE

Rank:Private
Service No:11136
Date of Death:08/05/1915
Age:19
Regiment/Service King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry 1st Bn.
Panel Reference Panel 47.
Memorial YPRES (MENIN GATE) MEMORIAL

Additional Information: Son of William E. and Lucy Mann, of 19, Wynyard Rd., Sheffield.

Of course Clifford was one of many thousands who have "no known grave" and is remembered on Ypres Menin Gate. 

But he is now remembered in Walkley