Help please - RN Reservist death

Discussion in 'Searching for Someone & Military Genealogy' started by temptage, Jul 12, 2019.

  1. CL1

    CL1 116th LAA and 92nd (Loyals) LAA,Royal Artillery

    as I said why dont we wait and see what the dc says that i have ordered it stops all the guessing as soon as it arrives i shall post on here
     
  2. James Harvey

    James Harvey Senior Member

    Could also mean returned
     
  3. temptage

    temptage I thought it would only take a few weeks......

    We have the right lady.

    In 1939 it looks like Katherine Hutchins was his housekeeper, by the wording below. She was also 10 years older than Benjamin. Probably talken on to look after his house while he was away at sea.

    HUTCHINS Katherine, born 15 Jul 1875, widow, unpaid domestic duties
    FOREST Benjamin S, born 4 Aug 1885, single, ships stoker, Retd C.E. 45.1.76

    Yet by 1945, with no sign of a marriage, he died on 19/03/1945, and she died on 10/04/1945 just 3 weeks later.

    Both are listed as living at 15 Lyndhurst Road at the time of their respective deaths, and most interesting of all is that they are both buried in the same plot!!! The mind boggles. She is listed as a Widow, but that could have been from a previous marriage. I wonder if they were in a relationship because it sounds odd that they are buried together instead of her being buried with her deceased husband.
     
  4. KevinBattle

    KevinBattle Senior Member

  5. Tricky Dicky

    Tricky Dicky Don'tre member

    This term is used often in the 1939 Register for a wife or a house keeper, or I suppose today a partner but for someone who doesnt earn a direct income

    I also note she is No1 in the household which would lead me to believe it was her house

    TD
     
  6. travers1940

    travers1940 Well-Known Member

    Thats great to have confirmed the death record as the person on the 1939 Register.

    I have no proof to link the record of Catherine (born Sleaford, married London) to the Catherine on death entry, except that she comes up as a suggested link when you look at the death registration there.

    But IF she is the widow of Henry D'Oyly Hutchins, then he was buried in London. In wartime circumstances the body may not have been returned there. She & Henry had no issue, so no children to come up to Grimsby to arrange for the body to be transported, so her family in Lincs may have arranged it & easy to see how they could have arranged for burial in Benjamins grave, esp as the cemetery is only one street away !

    Equally so it is pleasing to think that if they were in a relationship they were buried together. It can happen that people who are used to sharing a house can be so upset by the others death that they die of a broken heart. It happened in my family with a mother & daughter.

    She is listed first on the 1939 register entry & this may mean she was the householder (or just the one home when details taken), if she was Henry Hutchins widow she would have had a police Inspectors pension to live on.

    There are no wills for either of them, so prob did not own the property. Henry Hutchins will interestingly did not have Catherine as his executor or administrator. Had she already moved back to Lincs by then ?
     
  7. CL1

    CL1 116th LAA and 92nd (Loyals) LAA,Royal Artillery

    here it is

    upload_2019-7-22_12-48-10.png
     
  8. temptage

    temptage I thought it would only take a few weeks......

    As it states he was a Marine Fireman, might that mean he was still serving, as I have seen on many DC's where it says 'ex-' Marine Fireman, as an example, if they have left the service prior to death.
     
  9. CL1

    CL1 116th LAA and 92nd (Loyals) LAA,Royal Artillery


    Well I have done my bit over to you to dig deeper.
    DC states natural causes.
     
    timuk and Tricky Dicky like this.

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