New member connection to Berner Street

[kevinTO]

Hi everyone, my name is Kevin and I've just discovered your site and forum. Recently I've been doing some family tree research and found in the 1881 British census that my great great grandparents lived at 33 Berner Street. This address meant nothing to me but I thought I may be able to find the "old family home" on Google maps. Needless to say , I couldn't find the address in current day London. I decided to search Google for "1881 London street map, Berner Street". This search led me to your site. I was shocked to find my ancestors lived on this street around the time of the unsolved murders. I continued to search the 1891 and 1901 census and found that the family had moved to 33 and 35 Batty Street. So the family certainly lived in the area during 1888, possibly lived on the very street, just a few doors down from the scene of the crime. I am happy to have found the photographs of the houses on Berner Street. The family house may be in the photo, if not ,it certainly gives me a very good idea what the houses were like. I am looking forward to learning about the case and what you all think about the victims,suspects and conditions of the time.

Kevin

[Monty]

Welcome Kevin,

What an extraordinary family link.

Its amazing to think your family were actually in Berner Street at the time of the murders. I assume you have asked other family members if they are aware of the connection?

Monty

[kevinTO]

Actually I haven't. I literally discovered this days ago. One of my great great grandparents sons emigrated to Canada and I am a descendant of him. No one here has any knowledge of any family in London. It took me along time to find these people in Whitechapel because everyone here kept saying our family emigrated from Ireland. Only one aunt mentioned that my great grandfather went to London before coming to Canada. This led me to searching the British census and finding my Irish great great grandfather and English great great grandmother living in Whitechapel.They had 4 sons and 3 daughters. I am going to try and search for any "cousins" and see if they would like to share with me any stories or maybe photos of the area at the time. If I ever find them and they share anything I will keep everyone informed.

Kevin

[mariab]

Welcome to casebook, Kevin.
Please don't feel compelled to answer, but your family name isn't by any chance Mortimer? It might have been that your ancestors were questioned by the police as witnesses in the Stride murder.

[Monty]

Fascinating Kevin,

There will be a fair few people to help you here, and I shall see if I have anything of relevance.

In the meantime, here's a photo archive link of the street.

http://photos.casebook.org/thumbnails.php?album=4

Monty

[Debra A]

Welcome to casebook, Kevin.
Please don't feel compelled to answer, but your family name isn't by any chance Mortimer? It might have been that your ancestors were questioned by the police as witnesses in the Stride murder.

I'm guessing the surname begins Cla..?
Welcome, Kevin.

[kevinTO]

Debra , you're correct. Isn't it a strange coincidence that his name is John. His son John is known to my family as "Jack"!

Kevin

[Tom_Wescott]

Hi Kevin, that's great. And I believe 33 would be in the 1909 Berner Street photo. At 36 lived witness Fanny Mortimer, and the murder occurred in the passageway between 40 and 42. If you were to step out your front door and just walk across the street, that's about the distance from your ancestor's house to the murder site. Do you know what years your family lived in that neighborhood? Much history outside of the Ripper murders occurred on Berner Street as well, namely at 40 Berner Street, England's 'cradle of liberty'.

You might be aware that another celebrated murder, in which Israel Lipski murdered a girl, occurred at 22 Batty Street.

Yours truly,

Tom Wescott

[The Grave Maurice]

Welcome indeed, Kevin. I'm assuming that the TO in your name refers to my hometown, the capital of Ontario. I don't have a clue who lived at number 33, but I knew that people like Debra would. It would be nice if someone could post one of those street directory lists.

[kevinTO]

I found another map of Berner Street that shows some of the house numbers on it and using that as an aid I counted out the houses on the map available in this forum and have calculated that #33 is almost directly across from Dutfield's Yard.
Hi Tom, I only know from the 1881 census they were at #33 then in 1891 they were at #33 Batty Street. I am am unaware as to what year they moved.

Kevin

I've been searching for a London phone directory to look up the family surname so I can write as many letters as possible. I haven't been able to find any free directories online.

[Carol]

Hi Kevin!
A very warm welcome to Casebook. I think you're our new 'celebrity'!
Love
Carol

[Archaic]

Hello Kevin. Allow me to join the other members in welcoming you to Casebook.

That's a terrific family history you've discovered...I hope you know we're all praying there's an old family photo album lurking somewhere!

I look forward to any further information you can come up with, and I'm sure you'll have very able assistance in that regard from a variety of people here at Casebook.

Best regards,
Archaic

[kevinTO]

Thank you to everyone for the warm welcome. I was wondering if I could ask for help with finding my family in London today. Could someone send me the names and addresses of all the people with my family's surname in the London phone directory? It's quite unique and I don't think there will be too many. We could do this via email or by post, I will gladly send in advance payment via paypal to cover postage and supplies. If you can help please contact me here.

Kevin

[Tom_Wescott]

I want to correct my earlier post. 33 Berner Street would have been on the 'board school' side of the street, so would not appear in the well-known Berner Street photo that shows #s 30 to 46. If a pic of the other side of the street exists, I haven't seen it.

Yours truly,

Tom Wescott

[Chris]

Thank you to everyone for the warm welcome. I was wondering if I could ask for help with finding my family in London today. Could someone send me the names and addresses of all the people with my family's surname in the London phone directory? It's quite unique and I don't think there will be too many. We could do this via email or by post, I will gladly send in advance payment via paypal to cover postage and supplies. If you can help please contact me here.

You can check listed UK phone numbers for free here:

http://www.btexchanges.com/

But most people in the UK don't have their phone numbers listed these days. I would recommend a search of electoral registers here, which you can do for a small fee. People are also opting out of the public version of the electoral register now, but these data go back to 2003, when only a few opted out:

http://www.peopletracer.co.uk/