Elaine Rivis Anderson
The Little Girl In The Cemetery
We can go through life seeing tragedy and misfortune on the
television and in the newspapers every day and although it may leave
an impression on us at the time it does not linger for too long. We
forget and carry on with our lives until the next time. I make no
excuses for the fact that this describes me perfectly.
Funny then, how a chance discovery in an old graveyard on the Isle
of Wight has had such a profound effect on me. My wife and I were
taking a weeks holiday in St Helens on the Isle of Wight in March
2003. On a walk into Bembridge we passed an old church and cemetery
just before you come to a small parade of shops in Lane End Road. As
regular visitors to Bembridge we had passed here many times before but
this time I suggested that we should go in and have a look around.
This was not morbid curiosity but simply out of our interest in the
local area. After a while we came upon a small grave, no upright
headstone, just a small horizontal plaque which read :
Elaine Rivis
Beloved Daughter Of
George and Jane Anderson
Who Was Drowned At Bembridge
December 26 1907
Aged 9 Years
We stood there for a while and it was soon clear that we both felt
the same. What a tragic event. Here was a young girl who only the day
before was probably excitedly opening her Christmas presents and then,
just a few hours later, lay dead in the waters of Bembridge.
It was then that I decided that I must try and find out all I could
about Elaine and her family, where they were born, where they lived
but most importantly how Elaine came to be in such terrible danger
that day in December 1907.
I have never really attempted anything like this before so it was
difficult to know where to begin. I use the internet a lot so this
seemed a good starting point. In the first instance I keyed in a
search for Elaines name in the hope that somebody before me had
carried out some research but this drew a blank. Then I remembered the
1901 Census web site that was in the news some time ago. They were
having problems at the launch due to so many people trying to log on
so I was pleased that when I tried it was up and running.
Basic information on this site is free so firstly I tried a search
for Elaine with the Isle of Wight as her place of residence but with
no luck. I then tried George and Jane Anderson. This looked more
promising as two results were returned showing a George and Jane
Anderson living in Carisbrooke in 1901. Unfortunately they would have
been too old to be Elaines parents.
So, it was time to forget the Isle of Wight for the moment and
concentrate on a wider area. This time I keyed a search for Elaine but
left the place of residence blank. I also worked out that she would
have been 2 years old in 1901 and this I included in the search. One
result was returned and that was for an Elaine Anderson living in
Lambeth, London but born in Cheltenham Gloucs. Well, it was a start
but the unusual second name of Rivis was missing. Next I keyed a
search for Elaines parents using the same format but not including the
age.
This seemed to be the breakthrough that I was looking for. Among
the results of this search were a George Anderson living in Lambeth
aged 39 who was a confectioner and agent and a Jane Anderson also
living in Lambeth aged 26. George was born in York and Jane was born
in Chatham in Kent. The ages were right, the location was right but I
needed to confirm all of this. It was time to get the credit card out.
You only get so much information for free on this web site and I
needed to find out more details of these two people living in Lambeth.
So, after submiting my credit card details I tried again. This time I
started with George Anderson. I was now able to get the full address
which was 238 Clapham Road . Another option was presented to me at
this stage and that was to be able to see all other people living at
this address. Choosing this I was presented with a page showing George
Anderson as head of family. Next was Jane Anderson wife of George.
Things were looking good. I had to scroll down to the next entry and
there she was...Elaine Rivis Anderson aged 2 yrs.
The last time I had seen her name was in an old graveyard in
Bembridge some weeks before, now here she was again. Her name showing
on an old document as a 2yr old, oblivious of what the future would
hold.
I was so taken aback at actually finding her that I nearly
overlooked the fact that there was another entry on the page. Hilder
Kathleen Anderson aged 7 months. So, Elaine had a sister Hilder who
was born at Shanklin, Isle of Wight. This could be the connection that
would lead Elaine to Bembridge on that fateful day some years later.
Time to re-cap.
Born in Cheltenham, Elaine was 2yrs old in 1901 and living with her
parents George and Jane and sister Hilder at 238 Clapham Road,
Lambeth, London. Hilder was just seven months old in 1901 but
strangely was born in Shanklin on the Isle of Wight. Did they live
there some seven months earlier or did Jane go there to have Hilder?
If so, it would suggest that there were other family living on the
island.
Among my early search results I discovered a Jane Anderson residing
at The Bembridge Hotel so I decided to investigate her in more detail.
She is described as ` Living on her own means `. This would suggest
that she owned or ran this hotel. She was 74 yrs old in 1901 and had
two grandaughters living with her, Kathleen G Hawkes aged 5yrs and
Mabella H.S. Hawkes aged 2yrs. Also living in the hotel were two
servants, one a barmaid and the other a nurse domestic, presumably to
look after the young children. I am not sure if she will play a part
in this story but there are two connections to the Andersons of
Lambeth. Firstly and most importantly is that this Jane Anderson was
born in York, the same as George and secondly, Elaines sister Hilder
has the middle name of Kathleen, the same as one of the grandaughters
living in the hotel. Could this Jane Anderson possibly be Georges
mother ? and could she, for some reason, be looking after Georges
sisters children ( if he had a sister ! ) ? This would provide a vital
Isle of Wight connection and could possibly explain why Hilder was
born on the island. It would also give reason for Elaine to be here
some years later. The Bembridge Hotel is very close to the harbour!
More investigation is needed here but not at the moment.
Time now to move forward for a while and try and discover what
happened on the day Elaine died. This may provide more information to
fill in the blanks that exist at the moment.
The Isle of Wight County Press is the main newspaper on the island
so after visiting their web site I sent an email to them asking if
they could help. Surely somewhere in their archives there must be a
mention of Elaines death ?
A few days later I received a phone call from them. Yes, they had
found an artical about what happened to Elaine and it was in the post.
A week later I received a photocopy of the newspaper article
containing the information about Elaines death. This is the full
transcript of that article just as it was written in 1907.