A Death Too Young: Pt 2 Arthur & Violet

This is the continuing story of A Death Too Young. Part 1 and any other parts of this story of the Cousins family can be found by clicking on the tag Alfred R Cousins at the bottom of this post.

Although this story was to be about Alfred R. Cousins, the young soldier killed at Gallipoli, I was curious if there might be descendants of his brother or sister who might find the finding of the photo and clipping of interest. Further research revealed that his older brother Arthur was the subject of a complaint filed in 1922 stating that he was not paying support money owed for his child by one Violet R. Abrahams.

Violet claimed that Arthur, age 34, was spending the agreed on money of 7s 6d weekly on movies and another woman. 

 Luton Reporter 12 September 1922

 The Luton Reporter also had this to report about Arthur and Violet. Arthur denied the child was his; Violet insisted it was. Arthur stated he was out of work so could not continue to pay the money as he had since the previous year. (As an observer reading this I have to wonder why Arthur would agree to pay in the first place if he didn't know the child was his.....)

The case was far from over, for in September 1923 Arthur was in court and we learn that he began paying the money for this child in August 1921.

Luton Reporter 24 August 1923

But who was the child? A search of FreeBMD revealed that a Ronald C. Abrahams born in Luton to a mother whose surname was Abrahams, was registered in September 1921. What happened to Ronald? Did he live to marry and have children? It would certainly be interesting if anyone descended from Ronald took a DNA Test to see if they matched to the Cousins family.

Further searches revealed a Ronald Cousins Abrahams born 24 June 1921 dying November 1989 in Luton. A search of the 1939 U.K. Register also found Ronald C. Abrahams age 21 living with his maternal grandparents. Recall that in one of her complaints, Violet stated that her parents had to look after her child. Violet had previously married in 1926 so possibly her son Ronald was sent to live with his grandparents at that time.

In 1952 Ronald C. Abrahams married Edith whose surname is given as both Bates and Parker. There may have been children of this marriage but privacy restrictions make it difficult to find more information from this year forward. Did Ronald know his birth father? Was Arthur Cousins the father? It certainly seems so, but let's do more research and find out what happened to Arthur.

But first, what about Violet? Violet Rose Abrahams was born in Luton in the fall of 1896. The 1901 census finds 5 year old Violet with her parents Arthur and Pollie (Mary) Abrahams and siblings Nellie age 10 , Lillie age 6, and Harry age 6 months. Also living with the family was Violet's maternal grandmother Hannah Mitchell.

1911 finds the family still in Luton with two more children, Arthur age 5 and Hilda 1 1/2 years old. Here Violet Rose is recorded by name Rose Isabella.

Further research found Violet marrying James Young in Luton in late 1926. The next record is the 1939 U.K. Register where we see the family consists of James, Violet, and their son Gordon Alexander who was born in June 1832 and is 8 years old.

It appears that Violet died in Luton in 1962. More on the family in Part 3 so be sure to check in a few days for the continuation.