Personal Details of Ellen Sturgess

 

Born:  
Died:  
Buried:  01/09/1899

Listed below are all the details we have been able to find so far on Ellen Sturgess.

As far as we are aware, all the information is correct. However, sometimes transcriptions can lead to errors being made. If you find any errors or omissions, please let us know and we will endeavour to get them corrected as soon as possible.

If you have any further information on Ellen Sturgess, we would be delighted to hear from you.


Birth
Name at birth Ellen Sturgess
Date of birth  
Gender at birth Girl
Father's name George Sturgess
Mother's name Sarah Sturgess
Mother's maiden name
Place of birth
Parent's address at birth
GRO certificate index
Year 1894
Quarter June
District Newbury
Volume 2c
Page 235
Link to FreeBMD page

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Information Sources FreeBMD, Ancestry, FNRC research

Death
Name at death Ellen Sturgess
Date of death  
Age at death 5 years and 4 months
Gender at Death Female
Cause of Death Accidental Death
Place of Death Golding's Yard, Cheap Street Newbury
Usual Address
GRO certificate index
Year 1899
Quarter September
District Newbury
Volume 2c
Page 181
Link to FreeBMD page

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Information Sources FreeBMD, Reading Mercury, Certificate

Death certificate for Ellen Sturgess*
Provided by FNRC


Burial Register

There is no burial register information available for Ellen Sturgess.
Only three of the five burial register books still exist as far as we know and these are held at the Berkshire Record Office.
Stillborn children were not recorded in the burial register, only in the cemetery accounts.


Cemetery accounts

This information is taken from the accounts ledgers of the Newbury Cemetery Company that originally ran and maintained the cemetery.
The Ledgers are held at the Berkshire Records Office.

Name at death Ellen Sturgess
Date of burial 01/09/1899
Whence brought Newbury
Where & how buried Unconsecrated Common Interment
By whom buried Rev'd. J. Neville
Account Entry Book 02 - Page 108

Accounts Entry for Ellen Sturgess
© Newbury Town Council
Reproduced with kind permission


Newspaper Cuttings

The articles below have been transcribed from newspapers and magezines.

Ellen Sturgess' Tragic Death
Source: NWN
Article date: 07/09/1899
Copyright: NWN
Transciption:

THE LATE ACCIDENT IN CHEAP-STREET

The little girl Sturgess, who was killed by the fall of a tyre, was buried on Friday, the funeral being attended by a number of the scholars of the Stroud Green Sunday School, with which she was connected

The subscription raised by Mr. A. Lewis, was sufficient to pay the funeral expenses, as well as provide mourning for the mother and children.

We are desired by Mr. Lewis and the bereaved parents to thank the subscribers.

 

Newbury Weekly News and General Advertiser - Thursday 07 September 1899

Fatal Accident at St. Mary's Hill
Source: Reading Mercury/Newbury Herald on Ancestry
Article date: 02/09/1899
Copyright: Reading Mercury
Transciption:

On Wednesday Evening,, at the Police-court, the Borough Coroner (Dr. H. Watson) held an inquiry into the circumstances attending the death of a child named Ellen Sturgess, aged five years and four months, which occurred on Tuesday morning. The jury, of whom Mr. Walford Poulton was foreman, having viewed the body, the following witnesses were examined:-

George Sturgess, a carman, in the employ of Mrs. Draper, cartage agent to the Great Western Railway Company, living in Golder’s Yard, Cheap Street, identified the body as that of his daughter, whom he last saw alive on Tuesday morning. About Midday he was sent for, and when he arrived home he found that the child was dead.

Fanny Sturgess, aged 14, sister of the deceased, stated that on Tuesday morning about half a dozen children were playing in Golding’s yard. There was a large tyre belonging to a timber carriage wheel leaning against the wall. The tyre fell forward and struck the deceased on the head. The other children were caught up in the tyre, but not hurt.

Mr. Richard Hickman, surgeon, stated that at a quarter to one on Tuesday he went to Golding’s yard but found that the child had just died. He afterwards examined the deceased, and found there was a slight abrasion on the left cheek, a bruise on the left forehead, and a slight depression of the bone, but no fracture. Directly after the child died blood poured from both ears, nostrils and mouth, and from that circumstance witness that death had resulted from a fracture at the base of the skull. The base was fractured right across, which was beyond doubt the cause of death. The force of the blow must have been transmitted form the forehead to the base of the skull.

The coroner, in summing up, observed that it was a dangerous practice to leave such heavy articles against a wall where there were young children playing, and he hoped the tyre would be removed immediately. It was a pure accident, and no one could be blamed. Addressing Sturgess, the Coroner said he was very sorry indeed that he should be so unfortunate to lose two of his children by accident. It was only two years ago that he held another inquest on another of his children.

A juror, to whom the tyre belonged, stated that it had been left in the same place for eleven months, but should be at once removed.

The hurry returned a verdict of “Accidental Death”.

Fatal Accident at St. Mary's Hill
©Reading Mercury


Biographical Information

The articles below contain information about Ellen Sturgess.

The Tragedies of the Sturgess Family

Losing a child is heart-breaking for any parent. No one wants to have to bury their offspring. But a hundred years ago, when medicine was much more primitive and only available to those that could pay, child mortality was high and having to bury a child that had dies because of illness was a common occurrence.

For the Sturgess family who lived in Golding’s yard, off of Cheap Street in Newbury, tragedy struck three times, but only one of those was of illness. Two of their seven children were killed in terrible accidents.

George Sturgess was born in Kintbury in 1862. In his young adult life, he worked on the farms around Kintbury until he met and married Sarah Watts, also of Kintbury, in 1883.

By the time of the census in 1891, Sarah and George who was now a carman were living in Gilbert Court, off Cheap Street in Newbury and had 4 children:

Rhoda Ann (born 1884)
Fanny (born 1886)
Elizabeth Harriet (Born 1888)
Sarah (Born 1889)
[Elizabeth Harriet was not listed on the 1891 census, but appears as a daughter on the 1901 census]

Life seemed good for the family despite the fact that they were poor, but over the next eleven George’s family was struck down time and again.

Sarah Sturgess
Little Sarah was the first casualty. In 1893 she caught Croup, a virus that can cause inflammation in the upper part of the windpipe and died on May 18th, 1893 at just 3 years old. She was buried in Newtown Road cemetery on May 23rd.

Link to her burial page: http://www.fnrcnewbury.org.uk/persondetails.asp?PersonID=11665

Rhoda Ann Sturgess
Rhoda’s life was tragically cut short, but her death in 1894 was one of a selfless heroine.

She was born on June 3rd, 1884 when the family were still living in Kintbury. Later reports stated that she had been born with only one arm, so her life was going to be a struggle right from the start.

On the evening of Monday 5th March, Rhoda and her younger sister (it is not reported as to whether it was Fanny or Elizabeth) were playing on Cheap Street near Gas House Lane. The younger sister without warning dashed out into the path of a manure cart that was travelling along Cheap Street and ran between the horse’s hind legs. Seeing the danger her sister was in, Rhoda ran after her and succeeded in pushing her sister between the wheels of the cart, so its wheels passed safely either side of her. According to witnesses, Rhoda tried to run out of the other side of the cart but was not able to get clear in time and was run over the heavy wheel of the cart and died shortly after, though there were not broken bones and her skin was undamaged, apart from a graze on her shoulder and chin.

The inquest returned a verdict of accidental death and no blame for the death was placed on the driver of the cart or anyone else. Rhoda had given her life selflessly to save her sister.

Rhoda Ann Sturgess was buried in Newtown Road cemetery, but we do not know the exact date as the records for that period are unavailable.

Link to her burial page: http://www.fnrcnewbury.org.uk/persondetails.asp?PersonID=12666

Ellen Sturgess
Just five years later, tragedy struck the Sturgess family once again.

By this time, George and his wife Sarah had had two more children:

Alfred Henry (born 1892)
Florence Annie (born 1897)

On August 29th 1899, Ellen was playing with her sister Fanny and other children in Golding’s Yard (still off Cheap Street) where the family now lived. Propped up against the wall in the yard was a large tyre that belonged to a timber carriage wheel.

Ellen’s sister Fanny, now aged 14, was a witness at the inquest and said that during the children’s games, the tyre was said to have fallen and struck Ellen on the head. The other children were also caught under the tyre but were unhurt, but Ellen was dead.

The surgeon who attended the scene said that once again, no bones were broken, just a depression of the skull, but on further examination, he found and reported that the shock of the tyre impact had been transmitted through the skull to the base of her neck where the skull has fractured all the way across and that this was the actual cause of Ellen’s death.

The coroner at the inquest told Ellen’s father that he sympathised with George at the second loss of a child as he had also been the coroner at Rhoda’s inquest.

Ellen Sturgess was buried in the cemetery on September 1st, 1899.

Link to her burial page: http://www.fnrcnewbury.org.uk/persondetails.asp?PersonID=12644

Sarah Sturgess (the Mother)
For George, life did not improve. Just three years later on October 28th, 1902 his wife Sarah passed away after suffering a cerebral haemorrhage and from exhaustion.

Sarah Sturgess was buried in the cemetery on November 1st, 1902.

Link to her burial page: http://www.fnrcnewbury.org.uk/persondetails.asp?PersonID=5636

Life goes on
George Sturgess lived on in Newbury until he died in 1936, aged 73, whilst living in Jubilee Road.

He was buried in Shaw Cemetery.

Information about the fate of the remaining children is not currently known.

Credits: Thanks to Jackie Groves for her assistance in providing the inquest documents and for confirming the family link between Rhoda and Ellen Sturgess from her own research.

Author: Paul Thompson
© Paul Thompson



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