tuberculosis
This victorian mugshot hides a life of struggle, poverty and desperation.
George Buzzing was Born in 1856 in Kingston, Surrey. His father, George Sr. was a general labourer who passed away before George turned fifteen.The census from 1871 showed the family struggling after the loss; they lived at St Leonards Road in Surbiton with little means to survive and his mother, Ann, was relying on parish relief for support. With his father gone and financial difficulties mounting, young George took on work as a groom where he would have cared for horses, later he found work as a printer.
At the age of 17, George and his friend, John Hanks, stole a woollen shirt, the property of Alfred Cook, a draper. When the boys were questioned, George said it was a shirt that was going to washed for a man in Surbiton. On closer inspection, detective Herbert saw the Shirt was actually brand new. His friend John ran away from the scene and was later apprehended at his home. George was taken into to custody where he admitted that he had stolen it. For this, he was punished with 2 weeks of hard labour.
On Christmas Day in 1877, George married Mary Annie Kelly at the Parish Church of New Malden. The couple settled on Cambridge Road and welcomed two children: William in 1879 and Amelia in 1880. By 1891, they had moved to Washington Road with three more children: Elizabeth, Alice, and Charles. George found work as a coal Porter, a physically demanding job carrying heavy sacks of coal.
However, in 1893, his wife began suffering with tuberculosis, she passed away the following year at home, she was 37. Things didn't get any easier for George when his daughter, Alice, died at age 17 in 1903 and then his son, Charles, at age 26 in 1908. It's likely both of his children passed from the same disease due to tuberculosis being contagious.
Following these devastating losses, he lived with his daughter Elizabeth at 4 Burrit Road. George passed away in 1924 at the age of 66.