Questions about Ellen

[Amanda]

Question....

Yes why would Bury pay for a prostitute with trinkets when he could use cash?

Cheers John

Hi John,
Sorry if I've missed something on this thread but what is known about Bury's regular income?
I know how my 96 year old grandma would explain Bury paying for prostitutes with trinkets - his wife would expect to receive his full pay packet every Friday, take out what she needed for housekeeping etc and then give him back a few shillings for beer money.

Amanda

[John Wheat]

Hi John,
Sorry if I've missed something on this thread but what is known about Bury's regular income?
I know how my 96 year old grandma would explain Bury paying for prostitutes with trinkets - his wife would expect to receive his full pay packet every Friday, take out what she needed for housekeeping etc and then give him back a few shillings for beer money.

Amanda

To Amanda

Bury by all accounts used his wife Ellen's inheritance to pay for things during there marriage. He may have made a small amount of money as a sand and sawdust merchant. I doubt any of the money Bury made would go to Ellen.

Cheers John

[Amanda]

Thanks

Thanks John,

So, Bury paying for prostitutes with trinkets really wouldn't make sense when he had access to money plus his own earnings.

Amanda

[Mrsperfect]

Amanda,
Bury stole a lot of Ellen's jewellery, presumably for drink. She even brought the remainder of her jewellery to her sister Margaret's once, as he couldn't be trusted. Bury mistreated his wife when she denied him money for drink.

[Cogidubnus]

And significantly the remaining decent jewelry is missing when the inventory is compiled.

Personally I suspect the whole purpose of the journey to Dundee is (a) from Ellen's point of view, to separate him from his mates (who she sees as a bad influence) and make a fresh start and (b) from his point of view, to separate Ellen from any remaining assets she had left (including her jewelry), perhaps by quoting the necessity to pay for the removal...plus, maybe as a bonus, the separation from her slightly shrewder sister...

Clearly, at this interval in time, there's no way of proving this, but it seems a realistic possibility...

Cheers

Dave

[John Wheat]

Personally I suspect the whole purpose of the journey to Dundee is (a) from Ellen's point of view, to separate him from his mates (who she sees as a bad influence) and make a fresh start and (b) from his point of view, to separate Ellen from any remaining assets she had left (including her jewelry), perhaps by quoting the necessity to pay for the removal...plus, maybe as a bonus, the separation from her slightly shrewder sister...

Hi Dave

Of course if Bury was Jack then he could have gone to Dundee to get away from London.

Cheers John