Notes |
- This little boy drowned tragically in a pond near his parents' home at the age of 2 years and 9 months.
At the time of his death, his mother, Maria, would also have been preoccupied with her second son, who would have been just over a year old at the time.
Clarence's death notice was signed by his mother, with a large ink blot staining the page over her signature at the bottom. We can easily imagine a falling tear doing that.
Maria herself died just 11 years later at the age of 36, perhaps the victim of her grief, having lost a baby daughter in the meantime as well.
The archives also contain an inventory of the young Clarence's estate, consisting of ¹2 in a post office savings bank account.
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The Daily Dispatch of March 31, 1894, mentioned Clarence Wylde Fuller's death in a report from Stutterheim:
SAD DEATH. SAD DROWNING INCIDENT.
We have had any amount of rain lately, but luckily Good Friday and Easter Monday were fine. We have had rather a lively Easter: a tennis tournament, a polo match, and a bazaar in aid of the English Church here.
We had two funerals here last week. The first took place on the 19th March, when Miss Harriet Mabel Hughes, the daughter of an English clergyman, was buried. She only came from England about a year ago, and became a governess in Cathcart. She went to Kingwilliamstown to pass the teachers' examination and was taken sick there . . . She died at the residence of Mr. P.J. Mullins, near Isidengi. I am informed that Miss Fuller and Miss Phillips were unremitting in their attention, one or the other, with Mrs. Collins, being at the patient's bedside for the last three months, day or night. The poor girl for the last three months was supported by members of the Roman Catholic Church, and was also buried at their expense. The Rev. Mr. Brereton, the minister of the English Church here, being absent, the funeral service was conducted by the Rev. Mr. Beste, pastor of the Lutheran Church. Dr. Cumming attended Miss Hughes, and with his wife rendered her many little services. The cause of her death was consumption. She was an orphan, aged 27; "a stranger in a strange country."
The other funeral was on Good Friday, and was another very sad case. On Wednesday, the 21st March, the wife of Mr. F.J. Fuller missed their little boy Clarence, aged two years and nine months, and after about half an hour he was found dead, floating face downwards in a small pond near Mr. Fuller's residence. Every effort was made to resuscitate him, but without success. He was a fine little fellow. Much sympathy is felt for the parents, both of whom are popular and well liked, in their sudden and painful bereavement.
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Sources for Clarence Wylde Fuller
Birth and baptism: Parish records for St. Barnabas, Stutterheim.
Death: Death notice MOOC 6/9/336 Ref. 107.
Liquidation and distribution account: MOOC 13/1/713 Ref. 141.
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