The Curious Case of Mrs Colville

[David Orsam]

Yes, I agree, I certainly couldn't find any record of a "John's Terrace" so it must be St John's.

The more I think about it, the more confident I am that it's the right family. We have now established not only that John Caldwell the confectioner and John Coldwell were one and the same person, but that this man was living in Brady Street, at a location within that street which makes perfect sense in relation to the newspaper story, in the crucial year of 1888. And we know that a John Coldwell (whose brother was a former confectioner) had an 11-year-old daughter called Charlotte.

So it's all looking really good. Not to mention that John Coldwell was the son-in-law of a Charles Cross!

[Robert]

And not to mention that in 1891 he was living at the same address as a Samuel Cross. I looked at the Croisette site and Samuel doesn't seem to be involved.

I found Edward St in the 1890 electorals but numbers 27, 28 and 29 are missing.

[Tom_Wescott]

Great stuff, guys. It's interesting that John (or whoever "Mr. Colwell" was) was not at home that night. Charlotte and her mother were sleeping together, apparently alone, in bed. It seems to me that if Charlotte thought their house was being broken into the father would have been woken up at some point had he been there.

Yours truly,

Tom Wescott

[Tom_Wescott]

For what it's worth, and it's probably nothing, a John Colwell (age 38) was sentenced to 8 months hard labor in 1883 for sexual assault against two women, Elizabeth Rivett and Elizabeth Colwell.

Yours truly,

Tom Wescott

[Robert]

Thanks Tom. That one would be the wrong age to be Charlotte's father.

[Tom_Wescott]

The keeper of the Duke of Wellington public house on Brady Street in 1882 was Edward Cross.

Yours truly,

Tom Wescott

[Simon Wood]

Hi All,

And in 1888 the landlord of the Duke of Wellington public house on Brady Street was Mrs Amelia Cross.

Regards,

Simon

[GUT]

The keeper of the Duke of Wellington public house on Brady Street in 1882 was Edward Cross.

Yours truly,

Tom Wescott

Hi All,

And in 1888 the landlord of the Duke of Wellington public house on Brady Street was Mrs Amelia Cross.

Regards,

Simon

Was Amelia Edward's wifey?

[Robert]

Hi all

Yes, Edward remarried directly after the 1881 census. He died soon after and his wife ran the pub.

I have looked at this stretch of the street in 1881, 1891 and 1901, and at no point can I find signs of the enumerator turning down a mews from #51 to #63. However, something does seem to happen in 1871 but it is so confused (or I am) that I am leaving it for another time.

David's Handley family (corn merchants) occupied 61 and 63, right next to the pub from 1881 onwards. And there was a William Hanley (sic) there in 1871 (presumably William Handley senior).

By 1901 the Handleys seem to have left to be replaced by a Samuel Barron, corn dealer. And guess who is living at #63. Yes, you guessed it : Thomas Lechmere, meat carter, aged 24 - he is probably Charles Lechmere's son and it looks like he could be living with his in-laws.

[Robert]

If anyone wants to look at the 1871, search on Joseph Elves born 1838, and then go forwards and backwards.

[jerryd]

Hi All,

And in 1888 the landlord of the Duke of Wellington public house on Brady Street was Mrs Amelia Cross.

Regards,

Simon

(From David O's original post)

Charlotte Amelia Coldwell was born on 17 July 1877 at 13 Cumberland Street, Shoreditch, the daughter of John and Caroline Coldwell.



Maybe a stretch, but with Mrs Coldwell being a Cross.. maybe Amelia Cross was a relation of hers and she used Amelia's first name for her daughters middle name?

Hopefully I didn't miss something along the way here and this has already been figured out.

[jerryd]

The Colville Myths

Now, two myths seem to have attached themselves to this story in the literature on the case.

The first myth is that Mrs Colville’s/Colwell’s first name was Sarah. There is actually an entry for "Sarah Colwell" on this site. Yet none of the newspaper reports provide the woman’s first name. From an internet search, it seems that the myth of Sarah Colwell goes back to at least 2001 when she had an entry in "Jack the Ripper: An Encyclopedia" by John J. Eddleston. I have no idea where the name "Sarah" came from and wonder if anyone else does. Maybe someone identified her back in the twentieth century although I somehow doubt it.

Echo
London, U.K.
1 September 1888

PROBABLY KILLED IN A HOUSE

It is not unlikely that the deceased met her death in a house in or near Brady street, for some persons state that early in the morning they heard screams, but this is a by no means uncommon incident in the neighbourhood, and, with one exception, nobody seems to have paid any particular attention to what was probably the death struggle of the unfortunate woman. The exception referred to was Mrs. Celville [Sarah Colwell], who lives only a short distance from the foot of Buck's row.
According to her statement she was awakened by her children, who said someone was trying to get into the house. She listened, and heard a woman screaming "Murder, Police!" five or six times. The voice faded away as though the woman was going in the direction of Buck's row, and all became
quiet.

[Robert]

Hi Jerry

I suspect the Sarah Colwell in square brackets was a transcriber's explanation, but I don't have access to the Echo.

Re Amelia, she was only a Cross by marriage. She married Edward as Amelia Bootle, and was already a widow, so her maiden name was something else again.

[David Orsam]

I have looked at this stretch of the street in 1881, 1891 and 1901, and at no point can I find signs of the enumerator turning down a mews from #51 to #63. However, something does seem to happen in 1871 but it is so confused (or I am) that I am leaving it for another time.

Hi Robert, just to confirm that my "53" was not a typo for "63" and North Mews was between 51 and 53. I only managed to confirm this from the Bethnal Green Valuation List for 1900. This contains an extremely helpful list of residents of the Bethnal Green part of Brady Street, in house number order, in that year. The two relevant extracts from my notes are as follows (making any allowances for me not deciphering the handwritten entries correctly):

Occupier & No.

Kentish, John - 39
Calmer - South Mews
Cohen - 41 (House & Shop)

Kalynsky - 51 (House & Shop)
Teetgen & Co - North Mews
Shurbridge, Wm - 53

The owner of all the above, other than 53, is said to have been "Ponder" while the owner of 53 was "Button".

"Shurbridge" should probably be "Shoobridge" as William Shoobridge, hairdresser, is listed at no. 53 in the PO Directory for that year.

From the same PO Directory, Teetgen & Co Ltd were a tea merchants who occupied "2 to 12 & 11" on the East Side of Brady Street and "11 & 2 to 12" on the West Side. For that reason I suspect they also occupied Westrup's Mews. In 1888, the same premises on both sides of the street were occupied by Walker & Dalrymple, wholesale grocers, so they probably used Westrup's Mews in that year while William Handley presumably had the use of North Mews.

In short, it looks to me like North Mews was industrial rather than residential and no-one ever lived there.

By 1901 the Handleys seem to have left to be replaced by a Samuel Barron, corn dealer. And guess who is living at #63. Yes, you guessed it : Thomas Lechmere, meat carter, aged 24 - he is probably Charles Lechmere's son and it looks like he could be living with his in-laws.

I wouldn't have guessed! Of course, If the murderer had any connection with one of the two mews in 1888, and he committed the murder outside one of them, it might explain why he would have moved the body (if he did move it).

[David Orsam]

[B][I]The exception referred to was Mrs. Celville [Sarah Colwell]

Hi Jerry,

As Robert has said, "Sarah Colwell" is indeed a modern interpolation and does not appear in the Echo's article from 1 Sept 1888. Also, the Echo doesn't actually say "Mrs Celville" although it certainly looks like it. From comparing other instances of the letter "o" in the same paragraph, e.g. in the words "probably", "neighbourhood", "one", "nobody", "only" etc. we can see that it should definitely be "Mrs Colville".