On behalf of her elderly son, West Middlesex FHS are seeking the last resting place of Sabina Albertha ELDRIDGE, who died 4th December 1939 at Waterloo Station. Her last known address was 16, St Helier's Avenue, Hounslow.
She was not buried in a municipal Cemetery in the London Boroughs of:-
She was not cremated at :-
Someone, somewhere must have information that will help find her.
Further information available from:
The following reply to the above has been received from Margaret Cunnew and is posted here on her behalf. MJH
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Thank you so much for your interest in Sabina Eldridge. I think it is because of the tragic circumstances surrounding her death that we are so determined to do everything we can possibly think of to find what happened to her after the accident.
Obviously on the flier handed out at Woking, it was impossible to go into very much detail but I will try and fill you in with some points that are possibly relevant. Sabina was born in Ireland where her father was with the Army. He came from Scotland and Sabina's mother was born in Whitton, which was then a village near Twickenham. Her father became a bandmaster at Kneller Hall (on the Whitton /Hounslow borders) and the family settled in that area.
Sabina was Percy Eldridge's second wife. At the time of his first marriage he had converted to Roman Catholicism and the fact that she had married out of the Anglican faith caused a major rift in the family.
At the time of the accident Percy was on the Isle of Wight, and it was to there that Sabina and her son were travelling from Waterloo on 4th. December 1939. The family have told us that it was Sabina's mother who arranged the funeral and that the son was not allowed to attend. His father would never talk about it The father eventually remarried and remained on the Isle of Wight.
Sabina's mother (Sabina Scott) lived with her youngest daughter, after the War, and moved with her to Guernsey where she subsequently died. We have only found one likely death for Sabina's father, that being in Alverstoke, Hants. in 1916. The son remembers being taken to stay with relatives in Pinner, Middx. on the day of the funeral, and certainly this is where his aunt lived in the late 1930's.
I haven't tried Gunnersbury yet; the LB of Ealing cemeteries are this week's project.
I would be most grateful if you would post any of the above that you feel useful. I will keep you informed of our progress, if there is any to report. At the moment it seems only to be progress by elimination! With thanks.
Margaret
Margaret,
When I mentioned Gunnersbury I had not then found the other related information that is online regarding Sabina.
In the light of this, and your own subsequent detailed contribution, I now offer the following possible (and hopefully not too improbable) 2 suggestions as to where she might be buried.
The first location is St Mary's dedicated Roman Catholic cemetery at Kensal Green - which historically has had a much wider catchment area than just north-west London.
The second location is Brookwood cemetery in Surrey. I suggest this a) because Sabina's death came under the purview of the Southwark coroner - which could mean that her body remained locally to that area both before & after her inquest and b) because of the close association of Waterloo station with Brookwood via the London Necropolis railway.
Perhaps somewhat tenuously, I also note that Brookwood contains a section which was allocated to the Southern Railway and used by it up to 1941 - although I cannot further find if this was reserved just for the interments of SR staff or also embraced those poor souls who died on SR property.
I hope that this latter suggestion is not too fanciful.
Peter
Hello Margaret,
As I am sure you are already aware, the 2006 GR thread at this link:
http://www.genesreunited.co.uk/boards/board/tips_board/thread/748362
reveals how heartbreakingly-tragic this death was.
Regarding the cemeteries that you have listed, have you also explored Gunnersbury?
Have you also considered where her parents or her husband were buried?
Peter