Sex
Female
Status
Deceased
Dorothy Walch, remembered by my Warren cousins by her maiden name, Dorothy Dransfield, appears with them in several of our family photographs from the late 1920s and early 1930s in Hong Kong before her marriage to Eric Walch of Lowe, Bingham & Matthews. Unfortunately the two families lost touch with each other. If any descendants of the Walches come across this post, I should like to get in touch with them. It would be interesting to know if they have any similar photos or memories of my family.
Jill
Photos that show this Person
1928
1928
1920s
Comments
Dorothy Olivia Walch nee Dransfield
National Archives Pretoria
Louise Smythe Whyte nee Walch wife of David R Whyte died 22 June 1944. Eric Russell Walch, her brother, mentioned on her death notice which he signed and his address was shown as 151 Ninth Avenue Highlands Johannesberg
Dorothy Olivia Walch nee Dransfield
Did she go to South Africa?
Laura Dransfield and Dorothy Walch in Johnannesburg
Thanks to your information, I now know that Dorothy Walch must have followed or gone with her widowed mother, Laura Dransfield, to Johannesburg soon after the 1940 evacuation and after her father's death. It seems that her husband, Eric, must have decided to make his future in Johannesburg too. My uncle, Leslie Warren was still staying with the Walches in his old home, The Towers, 20 Broadwood Road, when Albert Dransfield died in November 1940. Leslie had already sent his wife and children back to England. In the last letter that he wrote to them from Hong Kong on 5th May, 1941, he says:
"Heard from Mrs. Dransfield at last; she's settled down at Jo'burg, but I hear she'd rather be in England."
I was sent a copy of my uncle's last letter from Hong Kong by his grandson a couple of years after I posted my query about the Walches.
There may be some mention in the press of Eric Walch leaving Lowe, Bingham & Matthews. I don't know what decided the family to go to Johannesburg in the first place, and whether they went separately or together.
Birth: 1911 China (I suspect…
Birth: 1911 China (I suspect in Hong Kong and before October of 1911)
6 December 1991
19 December 1991
She died in Johannesburg Hospital. Her usual address was St George's Village, Bedfordview, east of Johannesburg. Race = White. The cemetery record had her remains as being cremated.
Her cause of death is "B.I.". I have no idea what that is. A rule of thumb is never use abbreviations in official records and this is an example. I note many others also have this abbreviation as a cause of death on the same page of the cemetery record so it has to be a 'common' mode of death.
'B.I.' could be bowel infarction, brain injury, burn injury...it's endless. It may be a South African thing and 'brain injury' is another way of saying 'stroke'.
Source: South Africa, Gauteng, Johannesburg, Cemetery Records, 1840-2019
Timeline of Dorothy Dransfield in HK Newspapers
Extracts from Dransfield Family Timeline:
c) Mr. & Mrs. Dransfield & Misses L. Dransfield and D. Dransfield departed on the "Kashgar" on 5 March 1921. Source: HK Telegraph 7 March 1921
d) Mr. & Mrs Dransfield (likely with children) arrived HK on "Nellore". Source: HK Telegraph 21 November 1921.
e) Laura & Dorothy Dransfield in VBS. Source: China Mail 18 January 1924.
g) D. Dransfield in Central British School (CBS). Source: China Mail 11 December 1925.
i) D. Dransfield in CBS. Source: HK Telegraph 16 March & HK Daily Press 3 December 1927.
j) D. Dransfield passed HKU Junior Local Examinations. Source: HK Telegraph 12 January & China Mail 9 March 1928.
l) Mr. & Mrs. Dransfield, Miss D. Dransfield & Mr. & Mrs J. C. Campbell departed on "Karmala" for London on 11 April 1931. Source: China Mail 13 April 1931.
m) Mr. & Mrs. Dransfield, Miss D. Dransfield arrived on "President Taft" on 1 January 1932. Source: China Mail 4 January 1932
n) Local Wedding Announcement: Eric Russell Walch, chartered accountant of Messrs. Lowe, Bingham & Matthews and Miss Dorothy Olivia Dransfield of 20 Broadwood Road. Source: HK Daily Press 28 March 1939.
o) Walch-Dransfield Wedding at Union Church on 18 April 1939. Source: HK Telegraph 20, 24 & 29 April 1939.
r) Obituary of Dorothy's father, Albert Dransfield in HK Telegraph 2 December 1940:
Born 68 years ago, Mr. Dransfield came to Hong Kong in 1910 and until 1934 was employed in the time office of the Taikoo Sugar Refinery. After he retired, he founded the firm of Dransfield & Co.. He was a member of the St. George's Society and interested in masonic matters.
Mr. Dransfield leaves a widow and two daughters, Mrs. Dorothy Walch at present in Johannesburg, South Africa and Mrs. Laura Campbell, now at Bexley Heath, Kent.