Charles Thatcher burial 3 February 1899 – aged 74

From NRC  Obituary in NWN 9^th Feb 1899 – Thatcher – Jan 31^st at the Union Workhouse Charles Thatcher aged 74

Also recorded in the Newbury Union Records – from Welford, buried Newbury Cemetery by relations.

Census 1891 – shows him living Weston Village Welford aged 62 – single not married listed as pensioner.

20 years earlier Census 1871 has him living with his mother Maria aged 72 born 1799 two brothers and a granddaughter – They lived at Malthouse West Shefford Hungerford. His father had been a master Blacksmith.  Charles is listed as an agricultural labourer and pensioner – which suggests he was disabled in some way as he was only about 43 at the time which could be a reason why he later went into the workhouse.

Records show he was buried by relations so he obviously came from a family who were in a position to deal with the burial arrangements and cared about him – maybe they just couldn’t cope with the day to day business of his disablement. If he was strong enough to be an agricultural labourer he may have had a mental disability eg. Downs Syndrome.  

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