Where was White Street?

[Stephen Thomas]

The Times on 28 February 1891 reported Ellen Callana's testimony at the Inquest into Frances Coles's death:

'I left them at the bottom of Commercial-street going towards the Minories, and I went to Theobald’s lodging-house, Brick-lane. I watched them till they turned round by the public house into White-street.'

Any ideas?

Hey Bulldog

Maybe the printers at The Times missed out the 'chapel' and 'High'.

[Rob Clack]

Hi Celesta,

That would be pre-1870s before the Northern end of Commercial Street was laid out.

I've checked large scale plans of Aldgate Hight Street, Whitechapel High Street from 1873 and 1894. Goad plans from the same area from 1887 and 1890 and also Stanfords Library Map from 1891 (which has a street index). And there is no White Street in the Aldgate Hight Street and Whitechapel High Street.

Rob

[Suzi]

Hey guys \Check out Ada Reeve's story here (NRTV I presume!!)

http://www.arthurlloyd.co.uk/Shoreditch.htm

Blimey Rob she remembers the 'claque!'

[Celesta]

Hi Celesta,

That would be pre-1870s before the Northern end of Commercial Street was laid out.

I've checked large scale plans of Aldgate Hight Street, Whitechapel High Street from 1873 and 1894. Goad plans from the same area from 1887 and 1890 and also Stanfords Library Map from 1891 (which has a street index). And there is no White Street in the Aldgate Hight Street and Whitechapel High Street.

Rob

Hi Rob,

I knew you would know! I wonder if the error on the Whitbread's map is related to the error on the Commercial Street one, since the Commercial Street plat preceded it. I thought it was strange to have the same street misnamed twice, possibly compounded error.

Thank you, Rob.

Cel

[Rob Clack]

Blimey Rob she remembers the 'claque!'

Sounds nasty, I hope she put cream on it.

Rob

[Suzi]

Sounds nasty, I hope she put cream on it.

Rob

Nothing better for that than a small blancmange on a Sunday teatime!...allegedly!!- or maybe a luncheon meat sandwich or seven hehe dating ourselves here!!! Milkshake anyone??

[Rob Clack]

Hi Rob,

I knew you would know! I wonder if the error on the Whitbread's map is related to the error on the Commercial Street one, since the Commercial Street plat preceded it. I thought it was strange to have the same street misnamed twice, possibly compounded error.

Thank you, Rob.

Cel

Hi Cel,

The Whitbread may not be in error. Whites Row was called White Street on some 1850s maps I have seen. It may have changed between the 1871 Whitbread and the 1873 O.S. map. Or it could have changed a couple of years previously and the Whitbread was slow in updating the map.

Rob

[Bulldog]

Hey Bulldog

Maybe the printers at The Times missed out the 'chapel' and 'High'.

Stephen,

I think that you've come up with the solution. It does make a lot of sense. The reporter could very well have been using abbreviations while taking notes and simply let this abbreviation slip by. The typesetters wouldn't have caught it.


The two women were walking down Commercial Street toward Whitechapel High Street, there probably was a pub at the corner, and once they turned the corner they would have been heading toward the Minories.

Good catch. (And I spent the better part of an hour going over my maps with a magnifying glass!)

Thank you very much.

Bulldog

[Celesta]

Hi Cel,

The Whitbread may not be in error. Whites Row was called White Street on some 1850s maps I have seen. It may have changed between the 1871 Whitbread and the 1873 O.S. map. Or it could have changed a couple of years previously and the Whitbread was slow in updating the map.

Rob

Oooh! Well, that clears that up. So it really could have been a hold-over in the witness' mind, which was what I was wondering earlier in the thread.

Bless you, Rob!

Cel

[Rob Clack]

Hi Cel,

Well, it's probably not the case in this case. White Street/Row was at the wrong end of Commercial Street. The White Street mentioned by Ellen Callana would be a turning off Whitechapel High Street or Aldgate High Street.


Best wishes

Rob

[Celesta]

Hi Cel,

Well, it's probably not the case in this case. White Street/Row was at the wrong end of Commercial Street. The White Street mentioned by Ellen Callana would be a turning off Whitechapel High Street or Aldgate High Street.


Best wishes

Rob

True! I get caught up in the chase, so to speak. Plus I don't have a clear picture of the distances, as I've never been to the area. Or even the UK! It would be a good little hike from down around Aldgate to White Row, as best I can determine from looking at the maps.

Thanks, Rob.

[yen_powell]

I know this is an old thread but an old colleague who used to look after the list of streets for the local authority has this information on White Street (there appears to be two in fact).

White Street, Bethnal Green Road E. [1785-1896]
[SMBG] (C5, C6) {47} <G51>
“White Street, Bethnal Green Road. At 72, second on the
right east of the turnpike.” Lockie, 1813. At this time
White Street was a short street off Bethnal Green Road
running only as far south as the present Derbyshire Street,
this having been built late in the 18th century. It was
driven south during the next two decades and by 1830 it
was a continuous route to Nottingham Street south of
Cheshire Street and Winchester Street (Dunbridge Street)
with houses most of the way down. White Street was
renumbered 9/10/1863, Plan 192, and Portland Place
numbered therein but it was then renumbered into
Vallance Road, 21/01/1896, Plan 5076, becoming the
north end.

White Street, Spitalfields [CCS] (B7) {57} <G63>
Whites Row, the western continuation of Fashion Street,
is shown on the various Horwood maps as White Street.