John Windsor (1812 - 1813)

Born 28 Feb 1812 in Bath, Somerset, England, United Kingdom

Died 5 Mar 1813 at age 1 in Bath, Somerset, England, United Kingdom

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Biography

According to his baptismal record at Walcot St. Swithin, John Windsor was born on 28 Feb 1812 in Bath, Somerset County, United Kingdom. He was baptised with his older sister Alicia at Walcot St. Swithin, Bath, on 6 Nov 1812. He was the second son and fifth child (of an eventual eight) born to James William Windsor and Alicia Daniell/Daniels, at that time living at No. 11 James Street, Bath.

His parents were both musicians, his father a one-time child prodigy skilled at the piano forte and currently the organist at Saint Margaret's Chapel, and his mother a former opera diva and actress at theatres across England. I can picture Alicia singing to John and rocking him to sleep.

Sadly, childhood diseases were still rampant in that day. Without vaccinations, there were any number of infectious diseases that could kill a child, among them: polio, smallpox, measles, scarlet fever, tuberculosis, &c. In Georgian England, somewhere between one-third and one-half of all children died before reaching adulthood. Many childhood diseases were caused by drinking contaminated water, and the population growth in the nineteenth century meant that people came into closer contact with each other.

Little John was probably stronger than most children to have lived longer than a year. Perhaps it was scarlet fever, which at that time was a virulent disease, killing more than a third of those children unfortunate enough to become infected by the Streptococcus pyogenes organism. There were no antibiotics, so strep throat progressed quickly to scarlet fever, and those children who survived it could still die later from scarring of the heart and its valves.

John died at one year and five days, probably separated from his brothers and sister, lest they, too, succumb to whatever he had. He was buried on 7 Mar 1813, according to the record from Walcot St. Swithin's.

Sources

Baptismal Record. Walcot St. Swithin. 1800-1812, Page 173. Baptism date: 6 Nov 1812. "John, son of James William & Alicia Windsor was baptized. Born Feb 28th 1812." Accessed through Ancestry.

Somerset, England: Church of England Burials: 1813-1914. Walcot St. Swithin: 1813-1819. Page 11. John Windsor, No. 11 James St., age 1 year. Accessed through Ancestry.