Hi Listers Can I just say thank you to everyone who has taken the trouble to reply to my query. Not only have I been given access to photographs of WILLIAM SLY, but also of his public house, and details of the air raid in which he was killed I have looked at almost all of the websites and I could not believe that first, I missed the CWGC site for civilian war deaths, and second, that I didn't think to check out the Bitterne connection I am still slightly surprised that the death certificate was so vague, and that it did not specify the injuries as a normal post mortem would today. Perhaps it's because there were too many deaths for the authorities to do any more than record them in terms of numbers, especially when there were relatives who could take responsibility for the burial Thanks again everyone. I have learned so much more than I could ever have expected. I hope that this discussion has helped other people who might have come across a similar mystery. In order not to take up any more time on a subject that now seems to have been answered satisfactorily, I'll just shut up now! John Sly >________________________________ > From: Paul Hockie <paul.hockie@talk21.com> >To: devon@rootsweb.com; sly211@btinternet.com >Sent: Thursday, 2 January 2014, 21:54 >Subject: RE: [DEV] UNUSUAL CAUSE OF DEATH: WILLIAM JAMES SLY > > >I have a vague memory that this phrase was used when the injury was caused >by shrapnel from Ack-Ack guns. Shells exploding at 30 thousand feet >scattered debris over a large area often some distance from the target or >the raid. Apart from newspapers already mentioned, diaries were kept of air >raids, some of which are in local archives others in the AIR series  in the >National Archives. > >Cheers > >Paul > >-----Original Message----- >From: devon-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:devon-bounces@rootsweb.com] On >Behalf Of Steve Veysey >Sent: 02 January 2014 10:25 >To: devon@rootsweb.com; sly211@btinternet.com >Subject: Re: [DEV] UNUSUAL CAUSE OF DEATH: WILLIAM JAMES SLY > >John >>From CWGC site >http://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/3112536/SLY,%20WILLIAM%20JAMES >SLY, WILLIAM JAMES > >Rank:    Civilian >Date of Death:    22/06/1942 >Age:    55 >Regiment/Service:    Civilian War Dead >Reporting Authority    SOUTHAMPTON, COUNTY BOROUGH >Additional Information: Husband of Ruby Sly, of Holmecroft, Chalk Hill. Died >at Bitterne Brewery. > >Steve >-----Original Message----- >From: Ellen Murray [mailto:ellen.murray@sympatico.ca] >Sent: 02 January 2014 02:07 >To: sly211@btinternet.com; devon@rootsweb.com >Subject: Re: [DEV] UNUSUAL CAUSE OF DEATH: WILLIAM JAMES SLY > >Possibly his home was bombed during WW11 thus cause of death due to War >Operations....? > >Ellen >----- Original Message ----- >From: <sly211@btinternet.com> >To: <devon@rootsweb.com>; <cornish-gen@rootsweb.com> >Sent: Wednesday, January 01, 2014 8:54 PM >Subject: [DEV] UNUSUAL CAUSE OF DEATH: WILLIAM JAMES SLY > > >Although this particular branch of the SLY tree comes from the Southampton >area rather than from Devon or Cornwall, I hope that fellow listers might be > >able to help with an unusual cause of death > >WILLIAM JAMES SLY was born at Bitterne Brewery in July 1887, the son of a >licensed victualler. He appears to have followed his father in this trade, >and his death certificate records that he died on 22 June 1942 at Bitterne >Brewery. The cause of death was stated to be 'Due to War Operations'. I have > >never come across this before > >I cannot guess what a 55 year old licensed victualler would have been doing >that would cause his death at what appears to be his home that could be >attributed to 'war operations'. Service in the Home Guard comes to mind, but > >I would have expected the cause of death to be something more specific. >Could he have been killed accidentally by a member of the armed services? > >John S Sly >------------------------------------------ >The DEVON-L mailing list is co-sponsored by GENUKI/Devon ( >http://genuki.cs.ncl.ac.uk/DEV/ )  and the Devon FHS >(http://www.devonfhs.org.uk/ ) List archive for Devon can be found at >http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/index/DEVON/ >------------------------------- >To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to >DEVON-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in > >the subject and the body of the message > > > >------------------------------------------ >The DEVON-L mailing list is co-sponsored by GENUKI/Devon ( >http://genuki.cs.ncl.ac.uk/DEV/ )  and the Devon FHS >(http://www.devonfhs.org.uk/ ) List archive for Devon can be found at >http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/index/DEVON/ >------------------------------- >To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to >DEVON-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in >the subject and the body of the message > > > >