Update to previous post.

An atmospheric view taken on Canvey Island in past times.

Well, my step-grandfather, Richard Barrett, has led me a merry chase for nearly twenty years. When I began the post on his marriage to my grandmother I was convinced that he had died in Islington in 1941 from broncho pneumonia which set in after a fall at his home. Before I had even finished that post I discovered that I had (not for the first time!) the wrong Richard Barrett.  Within a few hours I found what I am 99% sure is the correct answer. I had always been convinced that both Esther and Richard had moved back to London at the start of the war. This may have been true but it now seems that they returned  to the island as it was there, not in London, that Richard Barrett died in May 1943. His death was registered in Thurrock (the registration district which included Canvey Island until 1962) in that month. I will be applying for a copy of his death certificate in the near future and will report further then.

More on Canvey Island soon.