Common Lodging Houses

[John Bennett]

Just been doing a bit of swatting on the doss houses and been coming up with various titbits of info which many here could help with. (More later).

However, how's this for a coincidence? Wilmot's Lodging House at 18 Thrawl Street, where Mary Ann Nichols occasionally resided. But this is from the 1891 census. Perhaps somebody was having a joke with the enumerator?

[Supe]

John,

Shades of Uncle Jack! I don't suppose the census enumerator's name began with a W or P, did it?

Don.

[lovejoy]

Just been doing a bit of swatting on the doss houses and been coming up with various titbits of info which many here could help with. (More later).

However, how's this for a coincidence? Wilmot's Lodging House at 18 Thrawl Street, where Mary Ann Nichols occasionally resided. But this is from the 1891 census. Perhaps somebody was having a joke with the enumerator?
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always out of date like nowadays people dont inform the census but it means she was there at some point didnt all the five killed live at sometime all down one street wasnt it thrawl street

[Bulldog]

always out of date like nowadays people dont inform the census but it means she was there at some point

Hi lovejoy,

No - it means that she was living there on 5 April 1891. That was the date that the 1891 census was taken.

Bulldog

[ianincleveland]

Well thats definetly different.The only things i can think of is there was another Mary Ann Nicholls living there at the time,someone even living under an assumed name maybe???

Or did the lodging house keeper deliberately falsified the records.Was there a financial advantage to fiddling the figures in 1891??

[Sam Flynn]

It's more likely that we have another woman named "Mary Ann Nichols" who was born around 1840 and/or resident in the area, Ian.

The 1881 Census has at least two women living in the area who were named "Mary A Nichols", of the right sort of age, one of them born in "Bethnal Green, Middlesex", 'tother in "Middlesex" (no district specified).

[John Bennett]

It's more likely that we have another woman named "Mary Ann Nichols" who was born around 1840 and/or resident in the area, Ian.

That's what I thought. I don't think there was any intended mischief involved, just a coincidence!

[lovejoy]

Hi lovejoy,

No - it means that she was living there on 5 April 1891. That was the date that the 1891 census was taken.

Bulldog

if she was the mary ann nicholls killed in1888 she couldnt have been there bulldog im not that thick read what i was following above me again

[John Bennett]

This is a post regarding a question on another thread called 'Rent books'.

I realise this may be a stupid question, and i also know that people on here have done exhaustive research on the London census of 1880/ 1890...and i presume in dealing with folk who lived virtually hand to mouth permanent residencies are probably few and far between, but does any one know if records were kept at lodging houses, or rent books were used by the people in certain buildings in the area?

Common Lodging Houses were required to be registered from 1852. It is also possible that the keepers may have kept a record of tenants, though I would speculate that this was a bit rare and chances are, any record of lodgers would be long gone. We do have census information though.

I've recently been doing a lot of stuff on Common Lodging Houses at the London Metropolitan Archives. They have the registers there, about a dozen GIGANTIC books, all handwritten. Concentrating on Spitalfields and nearby areas of Whitechapel in particular, I have now acquired information on 123 lodging houses; owners, owners' addresses, opening and closure dates, room capacity, house size, are all documented. Unfortunately, not tenants.

This includes Smith's, Crossingham's, Cooney's, the White House and Satchell's lodging houses as well as those owned by John McCarthy and George Willmott. Flower and Dean Street had 35 registered lodging houses out of a total of 57 properties. Not bad going.

Here's an example: 19 George Street where Martha Tabram stayed. John Satchell also owned 32 Flower and Dean Street (Liz Stride's doss of choice) amongst others.


What is amazing is the discrepancy in how many lodgers these establishments were licensed to contain, and how many they actually crammed in.

Rent books were certainly used in places like Rothschild Buildings and some of them may well survive - that said, I don't know of any victims or suspects who lived in such better organised dwellings.

JB

[John Bennett]

Lodging Houses in the Flower and Dean Neighbourhood

I've produced a little map of the Lodging House district of Spitalfields as it would have been in 1888. The doss-houses are in orange with those known to be inhabited by the victims highlighted.

This is based on Census returns, Lodging House registers, maps etc.

Hopefully it is as accurate as can be, but I bet there were several more lodging houses that were not registered. Nonetheless, the sheer density is staggering. Bear in mind that before the construction of Rothschild and Lolesworth Buildings, there would have been many more.

[Sam Flynn]

Cracking map, John - very useful and informative. Will you be extending this to include the lodging-houses/doss-houses elsewhere in Spitalfields?

[Natalie Severn]

Thanks for the map John----- really useful.
Regards
Norma

[perrymason]

Great stuff John,...thanks a lot for posting it.

That is an interesting census entry. I wonder if the actual name of someone, or that of someone who thought it would be neat to have that name appear in the 91 census. If its the second.....that would be an indicator of just how little was needed to provide proof of your identity.

My guess is that the addresses kept their infamous reputations for quite a while after 88. Wouldnt be surprised if they found grafitto with the victims names there long after the crimes. People can have odd senses of humor........he says knowing that from that same immediate area its probable that someone sent a human kidney section to someone as a prank.

Thanks again JB.

[John Bennett]

Thanks all,

Cracking map, John - very useful and informative. Will you be extending this to include the lodging-houses/doss-houses elsewhere in Spitalfields?

I've certainly thought about it and probably have enough material to do one. I have records of Lodging houses at various addresses in Wentworth Street, Fashion St, Old Castle St, Old Montague St, Brick Lane, George Yard, Angel Alley and more.

The hardest part is determining the house numbers, so a wider map would take AGES and I'm no Septic Blue. Once they're established (and perhaps what buildings were actually there in 1888) it's relatively simple shading afterwards.

I'll see how it goes.

JB

[protohistorian]

thank you John

Efforts like this will make ripperology possible in the future. As some understandings are lost to time, new ones come along. Thank You. Dave