Cause of death - marasmus. Marasmus was a catch-all term for wasting and a severe form of malnutrition – little Bessie probably looked extremely emaciated. Her father William had been imprisoned for debt a few months earlier and the family were not able to support William's father, who was in the Penzance Workhouse.

By the time of the 1881 census the Redman family were completely separated – all three women living in separate households, with no sign of William. Mary (19) was listed as one of four servants at a lodging house at 1 Marine Terrace, Penzance (10 doors down from the former home of her grandparents Gabriel and Ruth Blewett, where her mother Emma grew up and lived until 1859).