Carl ANDERSON
Carl Anderson 1879 – 1903
Sometimes, you just can’t find much about a person even when you have sent for their death certificate in the hope that it will give you something else to go on. Carl Anderson is one of these people.
Carl was aged just 24 when he died after a few days from pneumonia and heart disease in the Horton Asylum on 17th July 1903. The only helpful extra information on his death certificate is that he was a domestic servant of 29 De Vere Gardens, Kensington.
There is a possibility that Carl (Karl) was living at 11 Princes Square, Paddington as a boarder in 1901. He was working as a waiter and his place of birth is given as ‘Denmark Italian’.
Carl’s body was buried in grave 270 in the Horton Estate Cemetery on 22nd July 1903.
Carl’s death certificate
Despite searching the available online records, nothing else was found for Carl, but the history of the last known address for him was interesting as the poet Robert Browning (1812–89) lived there from 1887 to 1889.
Following his death in Venice, Browning’s body was brought back to De Vere Gardens to await burial in Westminster Abbey. By 1890, the town house had been converted into a hotel.
The Proprietress was Astrid Madeleine Benson who had been born in 1868 in Copenhagen, Denmark. In 1897 her name appeared in the newspapers following a bigamous marriage.
The Electoral lists for 1899, 1900, and 1901 all listed Astrid Madeline Benson as living in 29 De Vere Gardens.
Did Carl also come from Denmark? We can only assume that Carl was working for her before he was taken ill and sent to Horton Asylum in Epsom.
Above: Browning House, 29 De Vere Gardens, South Kensington, London. Photo taken by Spudgun67, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
