Bower & Collier Family Tree
Research by Colin Bower
Brecht One Name Study
A Certain Notoriety?
In 2007 a certain notoriety crept into the Brecht One Name Study:
George Henry Brecht
One of the extraordinary finds in 2007 was tracing a further cousin, a descendant of George Henry Brecht of whom I knew very little.
It appears that he was something of a rogue and bully:
- he had an illegitimate son Charles by Lucy Ann Cornwall in a workhouse in 1900
- he married Lucy Ann in 1902 and they had a further child George Henry Brecht later that year
- George Henry Brecht Senior was violent towards Charles and his mother
- he emigrated to Australia in 1911 (and his wife remarried in 1916)
- Charles was disgusted with his father and adopted the surname Cornwall
- it is reported that George ran a brothel in Australia
- he was murdered in 1951 (age 71 or 72)
A newspaper article at the time gave more details:
His descendants have since obtained other newspaper articles and a copy of George Henry Brecht's criminal record in Australia which includes his crimes in England.
Colin Bower
30 Novemeber 2011
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