General Chat

My uncle drowned in the river Tay....He was an excellent swimmer but got cramp.

I should imagine that, in times gone by, when people accidentally fell into water, their clothes wouldn't have helped them! Heavy dresses worn by the women and woollen jackets worn by the men would have pulled them down.
I could swim before I could talk - then at about 3, I saw something that put me off water for years.
It's a bit embarassing now, but at 4 it seemed logical.
We lived in Malta. I saw a girl jump into the water - and she had half an arm missing. For some reason I equated this loss of a lower arm with the sea! What is totally illogical is that I knew this girl and hadn't realised before that she didn't have a lower right arm!! I developed a bit of a phobia about water.
Soon after we moved to the Noth of Scotland - not an area condusive to swimming in the sea - so I didn't, and sort of lost the ability.
I can still sort of swim (ie not drown!) but apparently without the confidence I used to have.
Both my daughters can swim like fish,thanks to my ex taking them from about 6 months of age. I refused to go, in case my phobia was transferred.

Oh Janey, I got so totally engrossed when I found mine,
Corwall Robrough and his brother nothing more than little lads, paying apprentices on HMS Edgar when it caught fire and sank in minutes in 1711. 800 souls lost. not far from land .[ a swimable distance]

I found the shipwreck site in the Solent , for you that's off the Isle of Wight, near enough for it to be seen off Spithead.
Fully laden with 70 canons and gunpowder off to fight the French.
http://www.wrecksite.eu/wreck.aspx?16789

Then I found the Victorians who were exploring the wreck site with their newly invented diving suits , there was SO much information , just by googling.

The politics at the time , no less corrupt than today, and the devastation of the family losing 2 sons all made a fascinating chunk of research.

Susan#, that's a little closer to home, not just an ancestor but someone you knew, or at least your parent did.

At the other end Lindsey may have the record -- the year 1711, I have few known ancestors that far back, let alone knowing details like that -- tragic details indeed, but were they not, we would know nothing of them ...

Glad to see David of the narrowboat thread dropped in too -- all insights have been interesting.

I am finding every single one of these posts fascinating!

Janey

My grandmother and mother lived by the creed

ne'er cast a clout
till May be out


"clout" is vernacular for item of clothing, so

never stop wearing winter clothing until May is over.




could you use this to solve the washing problem caused by #1?



sylvia

Aunty Sherlock, what country was that, for them to be bathing in the river in December? Was it Australia, or New Zealand?

Huia.

Being an Aussie I can swim along with the husband and kids who are all good swimmers. Given we lived so far from the beach you always made friends at school with the kids that had swimming pools. I didn't need a pool at home because all the kids around me did.

Two weeks ago I received the death certificate of a man who I believe to be my gt,gt,gt grandfather and his cause of death is Found Drowned. He was found in the Bridgewater Canal, in Hulme on the 13th March 1855.

Thanks to a GR member I have the newspaper report about him being found and with what it says sounds like he had an accident 6 months earlier and sustained brain damage so his death was accidental.

Gai

Hi Huia, Yes Australia. The Clarence River is in the Grafton area of northern New South Wales. It is a sub tropical area and quite warm in our summer months December to March.


I must add a bit here from my own experiences with one of my children. He was born around the time when it was fashionable to drown proof your toddler. Like any caring parent I took him to the pool to swimming classes where with lots of other children of his age, pre kindergarten were taught to "swim" to the side of the pool. The method used was to persuade them to jump into the deep water and then thrash around until they surfaced and swim to the side.

After very few lessons it was clear from the tantrums and tearful pleading that this was not a popular event with the child. I persevered, as all mothers do when it seems right. Finally the upsets became so bad I stopped the lessons.

Never had to worry about him drowning. He never went near the water until he started swimming lessons at school aged about 10. Now he is into all types of water activities with his own family. For many years I did worry that I may have made a very wrong decision in forcing the lessons on him at such a young age.

Grand dad taught my father and his brothers to swim by throwing them in the Thames.

My sister and I, at Junior School, were bused to the local swimming baths for lessons. Neither of us can swim. Probably did not help being told to jump in the water or be pushed in.

A lot of relatives in the 1800's were waterman and lighterman etc and not yet found a death by drowning.


Maureen

Janey, how do you fancy an 'elemental' thread?

I have a newspaper report of how my gt.grandfather was burnt to death in a barn in 1891.

All we then need is someone with a death in an early aviation accident and a tragedy in a field!

I bet there are some more interesting stories out there......:)

Cx

Janey. Copied from a previous post. "I do wonder about families like my extinct Rushlands, who seemed to produce boys in the 1700s, then suddenly a generation of girls (two boys who did die young) at the beginning of the 1800s, and poof the name was gone. Where did all the boys go? I don't know what causes of death would have been common in Lincolnshire!"

Then here I am searching for George and looking at all and sundry and I find this. Wondered if it is of any interest to you??? No Rushlands unfortunately.

http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/LIN/papers_names.txt

Hey PigletsPal, I see you are researching "Hill". What date range and location.

Whoops I'm hijacking Janey's thread. Nevermind.

Janey has unfindable/lost/misplaced Hill type people in her tree as well.

Mine was an orphan. Poor lad. He was also dumb enough not to remember his mother's name.

Cynthia - the thought did occur to me, and fires was one that came to mind. Ernest Hll/Monck's sister (my avatar) Ada the Actress's grandson, I recently learned -- son of her son who settled in South Africa, who himself then settled in Scotland -- died in a house fire.

I'm having to work today folks, but the stories are still interesting and I'm sure I'm not the only one who thinks so! The depth of research, and insight into social conditions, that they demonstrate is very impressive.

Hi there,
did reply to something similar on another thread. But i will put it here too. One relative drowned at Patrington in 1823. Think he was on a sloop. Two brothers drowned on the same day at a gala and the small boat they were in had too much sail and it tipped over throwing the two brothers into the Trent . One managed to get to the bank, but the other brother grabbed him to try and save himself and both drowned. They are buried together and this is how i found out about it. One was the inn keeper at Susworth and the other was a master mainer. The Trent, when it is windy is not ideal to swim against, as it is tidal. The brother at the inn had quite a bit of money in his pocket, this was 1877.
:D

We travelled abroad by ship as kids and so learned to swim "on the water in the water" - "The ancient order of Polliwogs"

I took all three of my children to the leisure centre to swimming lessons.

I was chatting with one of my sons today and I said these days it os vital to swim and to drive.

My children learned other skills, such as music, but these two are the most important.

I knew him too. He was a lovely fellah.

I have a Memoriam card for Esther Bridget Wark and her 2 sons who lost their lives by the sinking of the "Princess Alice" by the "Bywell Castle" at Barking Creek, Sept 3rd 1878. Nearly 700 people were drowned. Somebody on GR had given me a website to investigate back in 2006. I now have the full story of it. I think the Warks were friends or former neighbours of my gt grandparents.

I had been intending to send the card to the Dockside museum, but havent done so yet.

Huia.

Nudged for Persie! Who has a tale to tell! :-D

Cx

St Nicolas Islip, Northants, parish records recorded the following in 1783 about the brother of my 4 x great grandfather:

"George Eayres, a tailor, of Sudboro, being indisposed, thought bathing might be of service and accordingly went alone to the river stripped off and leapt into the pit above the mill and was drowned. The jury returned a verdict of accidental death."

My gut instinct is that it was probably suicide, but that he was given the benefit of the doubt by the jury, and could thus be buried in consecrated ground.

Thank you Cyns,

I will have to get out my history papers now...

Persie