Druitt DNA

[aspallek]

I don't believe there is any forensic value in this but I did potentially hold a bit of Druitt DNA in my hand. There is a lock of Gertrude Druitt's (Montague's cousin) hair in the West Sussex Record Office. I was amazed that it was merely in an envelope unprotected so that I could hold it in my hand.

[Limehouse]

What a strange thing to keep in a records' office. i wonder what made her so special that someone thought of keeping a lock of her hair on record?

When I did my family history research, I found a few documents held at Kew concerning a few ancestors. There was a divorce petition from 1881 relating to my grandfather's cousin and a few medal cards from WW1 awarded to a few more of my grandfather's cousins and records of two WW1 DCMs awarded to my great uncles. No hair or toe nail clippings though!

[Mike Covell]

How strange! I hope you made a request for them to put it somewere safe! I had an Ex Girlfriend who sent me a lock of hair once, thats why the psycho is an EX!!

[Graham]

This may seem a daft question, but in light of the lock of Gertie's hair in the Records Office, does anyone know exactly what is permitted to be lodged in a public records office? Is there a limit?

Cheers,

Graham

[Chris]

This may seem a daft question, but in light of the lock of Gertie's hair in the Records Office, does anyone know exactly what is permitted to be lodged in a public records office? Is there a limit?

As far as I know, it's entirely within the discretion of the archivist in charge of the repository concerned.

[Mike Covell]

Most deposits are donated and as such kept together as a bundle, regardless of what is contained within. Chances are the who Druitt collection was handed over at one point and not wanting to split it, included the lock of hair in the collection.

[aspallek]

Yes, I believe the Druitt collection was probably handed over in one very large bundle. I'm not sure why it is in West Sussex, however, rather than Dorset or Hampshire. Probably a later relative living in West Sussex handed it over.

Incidentally, Gertrude Druitt was known as "Tootie."

[dougie]

Excuse my ignorance,but for what reason would a lock of hair from gertrude druitt be doing stored in the West Sussex Record Office? Is this normal practice in some families?
regards

[Johnr]

Locks of hair were for Lockets...

Hello All,
Some posters seem bemused that people in Edwardian/ Victorian England kept locks of relative' hair as keep-sakes.
I suppose there were several dimensions to that practise, depending on whose hair and who kept-saked it.
Bear in mind families from Britain lived all round the world. Tangible items such as hair and photographs, enabled exiled grandparents and even distant mothers to touch - just as Andy did - an actual part of that loved one.
Auction houses and museums frequently mention the possession of a lock of some famous person's hair.
"Oh, look" cried Granny, " their 'Tootie' has the same coloured hair as your 'Freddie' ". JOHN RUFFELS.

[dougie]

John
Yeah I was aware of the "keepsake" practice of course,it wasnt that that bemused me,I was just surprised it would be kept at the West Sussex records office,Im not saying it wasnt,just surprised somewhat that it was kept there,thats all.
regards

[Johnr]

Sorry Dougie,
Now I understand your perplexity.
I suppose it just sits the because few people in the past realised it was there, and that one day Ripperologists would travel all the way fron the New World to admire it.
Off the top of my head, I think both Byron and Lord Nelson sent locks of their hair to lucky recipients.
Interestingly, Georgiana, or Georgina, was the Australian link, Archdeacon Thomas Druitt's second daughter ( born 1853).I thinkshe accompanied her aged fatheron his 1883 visit to London. JOHN RUFFELS.

[aspallek]

John
Yeah I was aware of the "keepsake" practice of course,it wasnt that that bemused me,I was just surprised it would be kept at the West Sussex records office,Im not saying it wasnt,just surprised somewhat that it was kept there,thats all.
regards

There is a very large cache of Druitt material at the West Sussex Record Office in Chichester, most of it relating to the family of Robert Druitt. I don't know why it is housed there as opposed to somewhere else. I presume that probably some family member settled in West Sussex, perhaps Gertrude herself.

The archivists are well aware of the significance of their holding. Although any member of the public is welcome to peruse it (once you have obtained a reader's ticket), they are guarded about allowing copies to be made.

[dougie]

ASPALLEK
Ive only just finished listening to the "Druitt" podcast ..episode 5,I thought you did very well presenting the facts as known.an enjoyable hour or sos listening.Two questions....Is Druitt the "best of the bunch" for you? and have you ever managed to communicate in any way with any surviving member of the Druitt family ? If so,without betraying any confidences of course, were any members of the family you might have contacted aware of the suspicions regarding monty,suspicions found independently of anything read in books ?family anecdotes etc?
regards

[aspallek]

Thanks. For me Druitt is the best of the known suspects though I admit the chances are far less than 50-50 that he is guilty.

I have never communicated with the Druitt family but from those who have I am told they really don't know anything about it. I have met the great-granddaughter of John Henry Lonsdale, however.

[Johnr]

Hello Andy and Dougie,
Interesting angle the Druitt hair sample and the Druitt archive.
Of course, the big question if DNA were obtainable from the hair, what would you try to match it with? Surely not the letters?
Andy wonders aloud about just how Gertrude's - silly me, saying it was Georgina- and other Druitt family's papers ended up in West Sussex.
I had a bit of a look at my Druitt family tree records,and only two slim links showed: Dr Lionel's daughter Isabella ("Sally") married a Gordon Burder in Australia. His parents hailed from and still resided at, "The Beeches" Barcombe, Sussex in 1916.
In Montague's family, his brother Arthur (b.1863) had a son William Arthur Harvey Druitt ( later Sir William) who married Joan Holdsworth Swift of Eastbourne in 1940.Tenuous links.
Dougie's apposite question about what did the Druitt family itself think of the Druitt Suspicion? Well, one I heard from liked McCormick's book.And his conclusion that Druitt could not have done it: team sport: cricket, etcetera.
JOHN RUFFELS.