Family lore is that Nancy committed suicide aged 23 in 1921. Death by drowning in a canal. I distinctly remember and I “would go to the foot of our stairs” (mother’s expression) to defend what she said – against all-comers.

Well, not exactly. In researching family histories one learns that lore is different from law; absolute fact. Maybe my mother was mislead, maybe I mis-heard, maybe all sorts of things, but it ain’t worth dying in a ditch about (pun intended)!

Back to fact. As you know, (New Zealand) Julie also researched her family tree which of course coincided with what I was trying to do (but much better!)(clarification on re-reading; Julie did a better job). Between us we tried to track down the suicide which should have appeared in the press, coroner’s records, police records or just plain records, and failed.

Julie had a blinding glimpse of the obvious and obtained the death certificate! It stated, inter-alia, that the death was certified at home (52 Solihull Road) and that the underlying cause was Tuberculosis/Laryngitis. A particularly painful variant of a nasty disease. So that is two sisters who died from TB (Doris also). A common illness at the time which is making a comeback despite the UK telling the WHO, maybe in the seventies, correctly, that it had been eradicated. Do you remember the sign in Corporation buzzez?

As most of the players are now dead, one can risk libel laws by intimating that an early release from the disease might be a humanitarian deed, if such a deed took place. And that is maybe the lore aspect.

Antibiotics and other medical advances have changed our outlook of life, and we feel much more secure if not invulnerable, but life hangs but by a thread still. As my mother used to say “it’s not the cough that carries you off, it’s the coffin they carry you off in”. Black humour from a dark age, post WW1, depression, joblessness, poverty, and insecurity but also joy to be found in family and life.

It was also a family responsibility to look after the elderly, after all said and done (mother’s expression) there was nobody else! So, Auntie Annie was passed around the family- essentially my mother (Ivy), Gladys and Agnes for six week stints. It’s what you did!