Dorothy Olivia WALCH (née DRANSFIELD) [????-????] | Gwulo: Old Hong Kong

Dorothy Olivia WALCH (née DRANSFIELD) [????-????]

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Submitted by jill on Fri, 2016-11-18 01:45
Names
Given: 
Dorothy Olivia
Family: 
Walch
Maiden: 
Dransfield
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

Tags: 
Lowe Bingham & Matthews
Connections: 
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Photos that show this person

1939

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Submitted by annpake on Wed, 2020-02-26 20:45.

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

Submitted by annpake on Wed, 2020-02-26 20:47.

Did she go to South Africa?

Submitted by jill on Thu, 2020-02-27 02:20.

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.