Article in Cockney Ancestor Autumn 2007

I was delighted that not only was my article about the Brechts published in the Autumn 2007 edition of Cockney Ancestor but there was a picture of St Dunstan's Church, Stepney, where some Brecht christenings took place, on the front cover.

St Dunstan's Church, Stepney

Since I wrote the article, I have made further progress and I have added a summary in the text of the article:

Article in Cockney Ancestor Autumn 2007

George Henry Brecht

The article in Cockney Ancestor produced a remarkable response providing a lot more about George Henry Brecht. I had not found out that he married Lucy Ann Cornwell in 1902 and that their son Charles Albert Cornwell was born in 1900! George Henry appeared to have died before 1916 when his widow remarried. I have now heard that he was murdered in Australia in the 1950s! So obviously we are keeping it quiet.

It is very unlikely that I would have made this connection with another branch of the family without the article in Cockney Ancestor.

George Brett and son Terry

In the 1980s, I visited my mother's cousin Bill Brecht in Romford, when he told me that "George" had been murdered. At the time I could not find any entry in the Brechts' records to prove this.

During the recent discovery of the murder of George Henry Brecht, it turned out that Bill may instead have been referring to the murder of George Brett and his son Terry (age 10).

Searching the internet (under Brett+Murder+Essex), I found that they were murdered in November 1974 by John Childs. The bodies were never found.

Before the World Wars, a number of members of the Brecht Family changed their name to Brett. It would be useful to have the birth details of George Brett to see if this was the case.

Colin Bower
30 November 2007