How awful that this could happen ...... my heart goes out to these two wives !! PLY/30/S Pte. Thomas Richard PEARCE ex-16285 Pte. KOYLI. (brother of PLY 34/S Wm. Pearce) KIA Plymouth Bn. Gallipoli, 4/7/15 (Shrapnel Shell in Rest Camp, Cape Helles). A Miner. b. Tipton, Staffs, 9/9/1881. Next of Kin: Wife, Hannah Maria, 74 Stonyford Rd., Wombwell, Barnsley. Married Miss Hannah Maria Granger (spinster) at Tipton 14/1/1906. Had 2 sons: Joseph Henry, b. Tipton 13/5/1906 & Thomas Richard, b. Tipton 3/1/1908. In March 1916 the KOYLI wrote to Mrs Pearce asking for information regarding her husbands present address and service details, for the purpose of forwarding his documents to his regiment. Mrs Pearce replied: "His last letter was dated June 30th.......Sir I regret to inform you my husband was killed along with Private J. Lotwick at Gallipoli on the 4th of July." PLY/31/S Pte. Joseph LOTWICK ex-16299 Pte. KOYLI. KIA Plymouth Bn. Gallipoli, 4/7/15 (Shrapnel Shell in Rest Camp, Cape Helles). A Miner. b. Tipton, Staffs, 9/9/1886. Next of Kin: Wife, Phoebe, 57 George St., Low Valley, Wombwell, Barnsley - later - 74 Stonyford Rd., Wombwell. (see PLY 30/S above) Married Miss Phoebe Williams (spinster) at Dudley RO 1/10/13 and had a son, James Solomon, born Tipton, Staffs 15/4/14. In March 1916 the KOYLI wrote to Mrs Lotwick asking for information of her husbands present address and service details for the purpose of forwarding his documents to his regiment. Mrs Lotwick replied "Last letter dated June 30th........Sir I don't know if you are aware of the death of my husband but I regret to inform you that he was killed in Gallipoli on the 4th of July."
Not a lot changes; even today there are regular news articles about the NHS or Local Governments sending letters to people who have died. In this case, I don't know if the fact that they seem to have shared an address had anything to do with it. Did Mrs Lotwick move in with Mrs Pearce, perhaps to save on rent? Or is this another bureaucratic error? Another thing that hasn't changed, is that the eldest child of both couples was born less than nine months after their marriages. And finally, a bizarre co-incidence is that the men shared the same birthday!
