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b.1870-d.1908
Thomas’s parents
Thomas Edward Curwood was born in the Kensington registration district in the December quarter of 1870 to Thomas Curwood and his wife Harriet née Beckett.
Thomas senior had been born in Richmond, Surrey in 1839 (he died 1914). His wife Harriet was also born in 1839 in Fulham (she died in1909.). They had married in June 1863 in the Brentford registration district.
Thomas Edward was baptised on October 15th 1871 at St Paul’s Church Hammersmith. His birth date was given as October 9th 1871, presumably an error on behalf of the Clerk as Thomas junior’s birth was registered in December Q 1870. His Father’s occupation is given as a Painter and the family’s address at the time was Oldfield Terrace Chambers.
Thomas’s siblings
On the 1871 Census Thomas is two months old and has three siblings, Harriet aged 6, Hannah aged 4 and Allan G who was 2 years old.
By the time of the 1881 census the family had extended – James Gerrish born in 1873, Gertrude (1877) and Florence Eliza (1880) and a female aged 1 month – this was Rose Hester.
By the 1891 Census the family had increased by one – William Henry, born in 1883.
A full line up of the siblings is as follows:
Harriet Elizabeth 1865 – Married Joseph Green 1906
Hannah Emma 1866
Alan George 1868
Thomas Edward 1870 – 1908
James Gerrish 1873
Jane 1874 – 1874
Alice 1875 – 1877
Gertrude 1877
Florence Eliza 1880 – 1913
Rose Hester 1881 – 1917
William Henry 1883
Enlistment in the army – and discharge
In the 1891 Census Thomas is serving with the East Kent Regiment as a Private and at the beginning of 1895 he signed up with the Royal Fusiliers. In his enlistment papers we find a description of Thomas: he is of mid height, 5’ 5”, weighs 129lbs, chest 34”, grey eyes, a fresh complexion and brown hair.
Only a year later he is discharged on medical grounds – valvular heart disease. The drug of choice for treating this was digitalis.
Admission to Long Grove and death
What happened between his being discharged from the Army and 1907 is so far unknown.
In 1907 on 21st June Thomas was admitted to Long Grove and, just over a year later, on 29th June 1908, aged 37, sadly he died. Thomas’ death was due to Pulmonary tuberculosis that was of 11 months duration.
He was buried in Grave 169A on 4th July 1908.
Thomas’s sisters in Long Grove
Whilst searching for information I found that two of Thomas’s sisters were also patients at Long Grove:
- Florence Eliza was admitted to Long Grove on 13th May 1908, aged 28, about 6 weeks before her brother Thomas died. She died on 11th June 1913 and was buried in Horton Cemetery in Grave 585A. Did she know that Thomas was also there?
- Rose “Esther” was admitted to Long Grove on 25th September 1908, age 27, about 3 months after Thomas died. She was buried in Horton Cemetery in Grave 1140A.
We will know what the sisters died from if we can get Florence and Rose’s death certificates or find their causes of death in hospital physical records. We might also be able to discover the reason for admission for all of them.
What a tragedy for their family.
