In the weeks and months following Louisa II’s birth, and after the death of her namesake sister, the Wertheim family had settled back into the arc of normality during the last few years of the first half of the 1840’s. Despite a cholera epidemic that killed hundreds across the city of Bristol, the family had survived. In fact, they had grown. In 1844, Caroline had given birth again, to yet another daughter. Moses chose to gift her with the traditional name of Rebecca, and she became his fourth daughter and fifth child.
With a growing family to care for, Moses and Caroline decided to make some changes in their lives. They could not afford the rent in their house on Avon Street, and Caroline’s father had now retired, so he could not help her. So Moses and Caroline decided to move to Cathay, a small neighbourhood near the centre of Bristol, which encompassed the area of St Mary Redcliff. Moses had also bettered himself in terms of his occupation. He became a Traveller, and often wandered into the markets of Bristol in search of jewellery that he could buy and sell on himself. He may also have spent many days outside of Bristol doing the same. This we do not know, but as he got older and his family grew, the demand for a better job manifested. It depended entirely on not a routine but luck. He was completely at the mercy of the customer and the demand. But as they say, he did okay.
Okay that is, until the spring of 1845, when things took a turn for the worse. At This time, Caroline found herself suffering from insomnia due to worry at the peril of two of her children. Recently, her daughter Hannah (twin of Amelia) had developed cancer, at just six years of age. It was not diagnosed until very late into the process by which Hannah had lost all of her hair and was very weak indeed. For Moses and Caroline, their hearts slowly broke, and their lives were hectic indeed. Moses did not stay out at work long now, as he came home during the afternoon to be with his daughter. This meant that money was very tight, and the landlord was on his back. Due to the fact that he could not speak English very well Caroline sorted out the problems with the landlord, despite the fact she could not read nor write.
Times were extremely difficult. The pain endured by a mother watching another one of her children slowly die must have been so horrendous, so evil, so unjust. The list is endless. The emotion is total. How can one even in today’s world when most conditions are known, truly contemplate without first hand experience this sheer horror this awful disease wrought…especially on a child. It does not beg for too much thought. I can feel myself welling up just writing about this awful, awful year.
But the days and nights faded through into the shadows, and Hannah weakened with them. Then, to add to the plight of this loving family, Louisa II contracted measles. This small household was so confused, so gloomy, if one makes a mental image of the house, the Wertheim house seems to be overcast with storm clouds and rain. As Caroline devoted her time to Hannah and Louisa II, Samuel felt neglected, Amelia watched in shy horror and Rebecca cried and cried and cried. There would be times, rare as they were, when Caroline would stand by the door and look up to the rain, face completely soaked, as the doctor and nurse came round to check on her condition. Moses was beginning to get very used to seeing the medical bag on the kitchen table, when he got in from a day buying from the poor and selling to the rich. He often wondered what he was doing, handling these goods that he saw somehow to be not of his class. “My children are dying” he would think to himself. “My family is falling apart, and it is not in my hands.”
He would probably have gone to the synagogue, and prayed for help from the Rabbi, but he chose in all to keep away from the practises of Judaism. The reason for which is unknown. But whatever peace he prayed for, did him little good. When Moses returned home from his stall on Monday April 21 1845, his father-in-law was waiting for him at the door. He embraced him and the two men entered the house in Cathay, to see Caroline cradling their daughter Louisa II, who had been ravished by measles. She was dead. For the second time, Moses and Caroline had seen their daughter Louisa die. She was aged just two years and five months. How can I even attempt, to describe this loss? I cannot. All I can do now is to tell this story as it happened next.
And for Caroline, things got worse. Thank goodness she had her husband there to cordial her pain, to cradle her grief, in some miniscule way. Just four weeks after losing Louisa, Hannah’s condition deteriorated. She was so weak, deprived of a childhood and as her mother settled her into bed, she found herself cuddling up to her daughter, and wondered about the rest of her children. How many more were to be taken? How many more children would she have to bury? She sat there with her on the evening of February 18, and did not leave her side, as Moses sat and watched them both sleep. James Westcott had also come from Stapleford –to be blunt-watch his granddaughter die. Hannah passed away in her mother’s arms the next morning, aged six and a half years.
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