(Lilian Welsh - b.1927 / d.1928)
Unfortunately, Lilian Welsh was the aunt I never knew.
She died when only an infant and the only information I had received previously about Lilian's death was that she had fallen in the street, hit her head and subsequently died of meningitis. It was also believed that she had died while in Myrtle Street Hospital, Liverpool.
This information had been passed to me from Lilian's older sister, Betty (Ellen Elizabeth Welsh), but I had no way of substantiating the data until I recently obtained the child's death certificate. However, this record proved that the original information from Betty had been in error.
Lilian had actually passed away on the 22 September 1928 aged only 20 months old. She died while resident at Alder Hey Hospital, in the West Derby district of Liverpool.
The death was reported by her father William John Welsh on 24 September 1928. William was working as a labourer in the Liverpool docks at the time of his daughter's death.
Lilian's cause of death was reported to be by her becoming ill with gastroenteritis, the death being certified by Doctor M.Gudwin.
I can't say for sure how my aunt had apparently misremembered the information regarding her sister's unfortunate death. But Betty had been only three years old when Lilian died, so it is unlikely that she had been aware of the event at all herself. More likely that the details of the death had become blurred for her over time, understandable perhaps when considering that it had been around eighty-one years since Lilian had passed away.
Lilian's death was undoubtedly a sad loss for all our family, but speaking as a family historian her story is also perhaps a prime example of why one should never accept such information as true fact, and should take it at face value only-- at least, until such time as there is hard documentary evidence to support it.
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