The mystery of the two Clara A Somners

[RobinC]

I have been going over my family tree and have been looking at the Lyons family and who they married, e.t.c.

My great great grandmother on my grandmother's side of the family was called Matilda Alice Lyons and she had a sister called Sarah Ann, who married Arthur Ash in 1889. They then had a daughter called Clara A Ash in 1890 and the family can be seen on the 1901 census here:

Arthur Ash 36
Sarah A Ash 31
Clara A Ash 11
Matilda A Pitcher 27
William G Pitcher 6
Agnes F Pitcher 3/12

I have discovered that Clara A Ash married George Frederick Somner in 1912 and their firstborn child was also called Clara A Somner.

Upon looking for a marriage for their daughter (which I couldn't find), I decided to look for the death date of Clara A Somner (nee Ash) and saw the following entries on freebmd:

Deaths Dec 1918
Somner Clara A 29 Wandsworth 1d 1468
Somner Clara A 5 Wandsworth 1d 1468


I believe both Claras to be the mother and daughter that I am related to but am clueless as to why they both died at the same time.

I remember AdeleE finding a newspaper story about a great uncle whose wife and 2 daughters perished in a hotel fire and was hoping that there might be something online about the two Claras or I'll have to wait until payday next month to find out the reason by getting the death certificates.

[loobylou]

The flu epidemic of that year could well be the cause.

[Pam Downes]

They may have died of the flu.
There was a flu pandemic which I think began in earnest in 1918, although according to Wikipedia, it began in June 1917 and ended in December 1920.

ADDED: No reference to Somner in the Times Digital Archive 1 Sep- 31 Dec 1918.

Pam


As usual took too much time spell-checking etc, so cross-posted with Loobylou.

[RobinC]

Thank you for your replies, I wasn't aware of the flu pandemic so will purchase the death certificates when I can and will report back.