Sunday 30 November 2014

Violet Howard Update

Last time I wrote about Violet we had some confusion about the date she died.

Well I received a call from her younger brother Tony the other day and he put me straight that 1941 was definitely wrong. He remembers being told it was about 6 weeks before he was born and also that Violet’s tragic death started his mum off with an early delivery (Tony was born 16 Dec 1940). He believes she was standing sheltering in an alley way when the bomb struck.

When we spoke he reckoned it was 14 Nov 1940. 6 weeks prior to his birth would put it at 4 Nov 1940.

The two websites I quoted in the earlier article have sourced Violet’s death as 5 Nov 1940. Ancestry carries a death index record for Violet ‘Greensel’ (we will get the correct spelling one of these days) in the last quarter of 1940, which is consistent. The question still remains for the family, why the nice new headstone (see photo in earlier article) gives her death as 1941.

I guess at some point we can order a copy of the actual death certificate to finally nail it. Meanwhile, I’m tending towards the Coventry websites having drawn their accurate descriptions about the mass killings caused by the blitz, and the circumstances of Violet’s death, from a pretty reliable source in Coventry civic records. So for now, I’m personally going with 5 Nov 1940.

It’s amazing what happens when you start shaking the tree! Also much to my delight and surprise, Les pulled out a set of photos including more of Violet…see below.

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  • The lovely portrait on the left has obviously been hand tinted.
  • The middle one is a puzzle. Who is the baby Violet is holding…it can’t be Tony or Trevor as they were both born some weeks after Violet died, Tony 16 Dec 1940 and Trevor 27 Feb 1941. Any idea from the family?
  • The right hand photo looks to have the same ladies (possibly friends) that appeared in the previous post about Violet.

Has anyone else got any stories or photos of Violet?

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