52 Ancestors 52 Weeks: Week 12. Loss. WILLIAM & ELIZA PITTS

BEATRICE J PYE 1854-1901

 Beatrice was the youngest child of George & Margery ‘Rosella’ Pye nee Randolph and youngest sister of my Great Grandfather George Arthur Pye (Perry).

She was baptised in Copiapo in the Atacama region of Chile on 23^rd April 1854.

NAME	Beatrix Per
EVENT TYPE	Christening
EVENT DATE	23rd April 1854
EVENT PLACE	Copiapo Atacama Chile
EVENT PLACE original	Rosario Copiapo Atacama Chile
GENDER	Female
FATHERS NAME	Gorje Per
MOTHERS NAME	Rosa Ranalph

"Chile, bautismos, 1585-1932", database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FJTW-N4W : 14 February 2020), Beatriz Per, 1854.

An inscription found on Thomas Pye, George’s father’s headstone at Charing churchyard Kent indicates that George died in Buenos Aires in 1855.

The rest of the family appear to have returned to the UK between 1855 and 1861. The 1861 census shows the widowed Rosella and her children, George Arthur, Rosa and Beatrice renting a cottage in the Lambeth area.

A 9 year old Beatrice was to experience further sadness when her mother committed suicide in 1863 and further loss when her grandmother William Mary Randolph died in 1865.

There is little documented evidence of what happened to Beatrice in the intervening years until the 1871 census, but snippets of information could indicate that one or other of Rosella’s sisters may have been involved in the care of Beatrice.

The 1871 census, however, lists Beatrice living with multiple others at 165-173 Newington Causeway, with an occupation of ‘Milliner’. Researching this address indicates the premises of William Tarn and Co.

William Tarn & Co. was a large department store in the Elephant and Castle district of Southwark London. The business appears to have started as a drapery shop c.1799. In 1841, William Tarn and Co. is listed in a London Directory as a ‘silk mercer, linen draper and general house furnisher.’

By the 1870’s the company had expanded to become a huge department store. There were departments for silks, velvets, furniture, haberdashery, millinery, boots and shoes, furs, carpets and suits. The store was the largest retailer in Elephant and Castle – a thriving shopping area at this time – known as ‘the Piccadilly of South London’.

It is another 8 years before we find Beatrice again. This time it is her marriage, to William Clark, a farmer, in Malmesbury, Wiltshire on 28 August 1879.

crown copyright

In the following years the couple went on to have 8 children, William Henry, Herbert Allen, Beatrice Maud, Walter Graham, Arthur Edward, Victor Randolph, Grace Lilian and Reginald. Whilst in the early years William earned his living farming in the latter part of the century he had a change of career and became a ‘road surveyor’.

At a relatively young age Beatrice died on 24 April 1901. Her death certificate indicates a very sad demise, breaking her neck when falling down the stairs.

Unfortunately Wiltshire archive did not have a copy of the Inquest file, however a newspaper article appeared in The Wiltshire Times. May 4^th 1901.

MALMESBURY

FATAL FALL DOWNSTAIRS: INQUEST

An inquest was held on Friday at Finlands near Malmesbury, before Coroner Nicholson Browne, touching the death of Beatrice Jenny, wife of Mr William Clarke, district road surveyor. Mrs Clarke fell downstairs late on the night of Wednesday. William Clarke said that after he had gone to bed on Wednesday he heard his wife come upstairs and undress herself. She said, “I feel hungry, and shall go down and have something to eat or beef tea.” She was quite sober, but very weak and nervous. He believed she fell from the top of the stairs to the bottom. She was in her nightdress. She had been in bed Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, but was much better and about all day Wednesday. She was so weak that at times she didn’t know what she was doing.

Herbert Clark, son, said he was at supper downstairs when he heard his mother fall downstairs. She fell on her left side and her head knocked the stairs. He thought she fell on the landing and rolled over to the bottom of the stairs. She never moved afterwards. They carried her into her room and she died in five or six minutes. She was alright before she went to bed. She came down without any light. Dr C W Pitt said he found deceased lying in bed quite dead. He had previously attended her but not lately. She was a very nervous woman and her nervous system was very much shattered. The immediate cause of death was dislocation of the vertebrae. Death was practically instantaneous. A verdict of accidental death was returned. Much sympathy is felt in the town and neighbourhood for the husband and family of the deceased.

Both documents indicate that this incident was considered an accident and that cannot be argued with, but with a career in Mental Health, I do wonder if there is a little more to this story. The Dr, himself reports that Beatrice had a history of a nervous disposition. If we look at the date of death there may be anniversary issues. She was baptised on the 23rd April and her death was on the 24th. It would appear that Beatrice had been unwell for several days before the fall but reportedly had rallied a little on the day of the accident. For me the biggest niggle is that her own mother committed suicide (overdose of Laudenham).