Monday 9 March 2015

Measles killed Thomas Welch in 1919

At the weekend I was researching for more information on my husband's family tree. I found quite a bit of information on John Thomas Welch  (1876 - 1950) in his WW1 attestation file, including a copy of a death certificate of one of his son Thomas.  An attestation file for those who do not know was the file kept on all men and women that signed up for war effort.   

Little Thomas Welch of Bradford Street in Birmingham died at just 10 months of age. The cause of death was measles and bronco pneumonia. It sort of highlighted that measles was a dangerous disease in the early twentieth century and still is today...
Also you can find information in the most unlikely places and it saved me money on purchasing another death certificate. I use the Ancestory website as I think its the most useful and has more information added every time I look.


This isn't a photograph of Thomas, just another little boy (dressed as a girl as was the fashion then) The family were so poor that no photographs would have been taken.

So this is my memorial to Thomas Welch (1918 - 1919). A short life...long remembered. Rest in peace.

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