In January 2019 I posted a blog about the funeral of Mr John Firth of Holt House Sheffield. John was a major figure in the industrial and commercial life of mid-nineteenth century Sheffield. This week I located his obituary in the Derbyshire Courier dated 24th April 1869 which details the circumstances surrounding his death,
A researcher contacted me this week regarding a feature of his family history
" there is one that I feel I must find more about; the death of Linda Valerie Pridmore, aged 12, in December 1960. This, of course, is late 20th Century when the child mortality rate had improved quite a lot, which poses the question, how did she die? She survived the usual infant diseases, although children of all ages are vulnerable I know. But I have a feeling that there is more to Linda's death that I just need to find out about; it is niggling me.
Her name isn't common and if there was anything untoward about her death, it may have been reported in the local press. I wondered if you could do a search of the local papers of December 1960. The date of her death falls just within the embargo of coroners' reports, so I can't go there yet. I would be grateful for anything that you can dig up."
I checked the BMD and found the following for Linda
Birth Name Linda V Pridmore Registration Date Jul 1948
Registration Quarter Jul-Aug-Sep
Registration district Sheffield Inferred County South Yorkshire
Mother's Maiden Name Todd
Volume Number 2d Page number 86
Death Name Linda V Pridmore Death Age 11
Birth Date abt 1949
Registration Date Jul 1960 Registration Quarter Jul-Aug-Sep
Registration district Sheffield Inferred County Yorkshire West Riding
Volume 2d Page 45
And then I checked the excellent Sheffield Indexers site and found these burial records
PRIDMORE, Ellen (Wife of George, age 57). Died at 5 Durham Rd; Buried on July 9, 1960 in Consecrated ground; Grave Number 30979, Section F6 of City Road Cemetery, Sheffield. Plot Owner: ~ ~ of ~. Page No 250
PRIDMORE, Linda Valerie (Daughter of George, age 11). Died at 5 Durham Rd; Buried on July 9, 1960 in Consecrated ground; Grave Number 30979, Section F6 of City Road Cemetery, Sheffield. Plot Owner: ~ ~ of ~. Page No 250
Mother and daughter buried on the same day looked ominous and so I checked the BNA and Newspaper Archive and found this report from The Guardian dated 5th July 1960
I relayed this information back to the researcher and needless to say he was dumbfounded by this revelation. He also informed me that George and Ellen lost two other children, both less than 12 months old in 1941 and 1942. George, who found the bodies, was their first born and their only child to survive childhood. Such a sad story
I can find no photo of the house on Durham Road as it is now the site of the University of Sheffield's multi-storey car park. I have a feeling that the house where the tragedy occurred may have been late Georgian in style similar to those on adjacent streets
And of course if anyone could supple me with any further information I would be grateful.
The following cutting is from the Sheffield Telegraph dated 13th March 1949. I was going to do an article on Joseph but there is quite a bit of material and content online about his life and career and so I did not take it any further.
But there is nothing online about this article which is at times quite sad but also very interesting.
Died at Rawsons Brewery, Pond Street; Buried on February 20, 1939 in Consecrated ground;
Grave Number 8587, Section H of Shiregreen Cemetery, Sheffield.
His wife Florence died 12 years later
FURNISS, Florence (Widow, age 78).
Died at City General Hospital; Buried on July 28, 1951 in Consecrated ground;
Grave Number 8587, Section H of Shiregreen Cemetery, Sheffield.
I have just posted an article to the site relating to the life and death of a Sheffield banker Mr William Wild of Pentonvillle, 23 Northumberland Road Sheffield. The newspaper reports are just prodigious in the detail they contain and the tone they set.
Just below the report of his death in the Evening Telegraph and Star dated 21st January 1890 was this report of an inquest into the death of Mr. Robert Hollingworth at Wadsley Bridge railway station.
I have jus updated the article on the Bright family in Sheffield to include details of the life and Death of Maurice De Lara Bright. I had not updated the article for a number of years and I was saddened to find that the excellent Deane Road Cemetery website was no longer in existence. This is happening more frequently and I can only assume that the owners/contributors have moved on to other media outlets or decided that they had taken it as far as they could.
But I also found this rather poignant report in the Sheffield Daily Telegraph 14 November 1911 relating to the death in South Africa of John Lipsey Bright, Maurice's son. John was forty years of age at the time of his death.
