Canvey Islands Flood 1953

Main forum for discussion of Genealogy topics across the Counties and elsewhere.

Moderators: grangers14, admin, Northern Lass

Canvey Islands Flood 1953

Postby garrypaulbrooks » Thu Dec 19, 2019 2:28 pm

One of my late mother's relatives, I think an aunt, was drowned in the Canvey Islands Flood 1953. Trying to find who is was on Ancestry.com is like looking for a needle in a haystack, if I could find a complete list of the people who died in these floos (59 in total, I think) it would be very helpful. I've found one partial list of 24 on the web, but nothing else. Could anyone help?
garrypaulbrooks
 
Posts: 59
Joined: Wed Dec 18, 2019 11:19 am
Location: Surrey

Re: Canvey Islands Flood 1953

Postby BC Wench » Fri Dec 20, 2019 10:43 am

From Canvey Island Archives web site

https://www.canveyisland.org/history-2/ ... heir-lives
Researching: PARGETER, BELCHER, BRADLEY, DANDO, ROWLEY, ROWSELL
User avatar
BC Wench
 
Posts: 3218
Joined: Mon Oct 06, 2008 5:59 pm

Re: Canvey Islands Flood 1953

Postby garrypaulbrooks » Fri Dec 20, 2019 4:55 pm

Thanks you!

None of these have names that indicate obvious links with my mother's family but I will keep digging!
garrypaulbrooks
 
Posts: 59
Joined: Wed Dec 18, 2019 11:19 am
Location: Surrey

Re: Canvey Islands Flood 1953

Postby grangers14 » Fri Dec 20, 2019 8:30 pm

Who is the person you are looking for?
There may be things in newspaper?
Or perhaps they had a married surname?
User avatar
grangers14
 
Posts: 15158
Joined: Wed Jan 21, 2009 12:50 pm
Location: North East

Re: Canvey Islands Flood 1953

Postby garrypaulbrooks » Sat Dec 21, 2019 10:14 am

Problem is I don't know my relative's name.

My long-deceased mother told me & my sister (several times) that one of her relatives – possibly an aunt – died in the terrible Canvey Island Floods in 1953. My mother was devasted, she was very fond of her; indeed, my parents had their honeymoon at the aunt's bungalow in Canvey Island in 1947!

The only hard facts I have about my deceased relative are:

– She lived in a bungalow on Canvey Island.
- She died in the 1953 floods

Additionally:

- I think the bungalow was quite close to the sea wall as my mother (and mum's sister) told me that her decease relative had said for years that the sea walls weren't strong enough and needed rebuilding
– She was older than my mother, who was born in 1926, and probably married.
– Her maiden name was probably one of Moore, Garner, Meadows, Sheppard & Carr

I've looked at my mother's tree on Ancestry.com, but can't find any female who died in 1953. There are some females with no known death date, but none of them have forenames in the list of the dead of the 1953 floods.

As you say, it's probable my relative used a married name, but it's also possible that she didn't use her given first name; I've been surprise how many of my ancestors were known by one of their middle names or used a diminutive/variant on their given first name (e.g. "Fanny" or "Fannie" for "Frances")

Posting on this board is a long shot - someone with Canvey connections might have some idea. But I also plan to investigate my family tree further to:

- identify any missing relatives (I've stumbled across a few in the last month)
- Find dates of death of female relatives of my mothe where I don't have them (I've already tried, without success, but need to look at other sources)
- for female relatives of my mother with no identified spouse, find if they were ever married and if so, the husband's surname

I suspect this one will take a while......
garrypaulbrooks
 
Posts: 59
Joined: Wed Dec 18, 2019 11:19 am
Location: Surrey

Re: Canvey Islands Flood 1953

Postby SRD » Sun Dec 22, 2019 8:13 am

It's quite a long shot and will require a lot of checking but you know an approximate age of the woman, the date of the floods, the registration district is Castle Point, you could go through the registered female deaths winnowing out the unlikely ones then investigating the possibles.
Currently investigating the Hillmans of Sussex.
User avatar
SRD
 
Posts: 2441
Joined: Tue Jan 04, 2011 5:34 pm
Location: Wiltshire


Return to General Discussion

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 8 guests