George William Topping Hutchinson Records

[Sally]

As I said, Lechmere. You can always go find out for yourself.

[Lechmere]

That's what someone else said.
I believe it was on A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge .
I think I will find something else to do.

[Lechmere]

Back in chronological order:
Here is Toppy’s father George Hutchinson in the 1841 census.
The family lived in Moulsham which is a ‘suburb’ on the southern approach to Chelmsford in Essex.
They lived at Heatherley’s Passage.
The household consisted of
Hannah Hutchinson – a widow aged 45
John Hutchinson – a painter aged 20
George Hutchinson – a labourer aged 15
They were all born in Essex and clearly George and John were brothers and the sons of Hannah.
The father (i.e. Toppy's grandfather) was dead.

[Lechmere]

Here is Toppy’s father George Hutchinson in the 1851 census.
He is still living in Moulsham, in the parish of St John the Evangelist (the church was built in 1837)

George Hutchinson was living as a lodger, in a small lodging house. I am fairly sure the address is Writtle Lane.
He was now a plumber, aged 23. It specifies that he was born in Chelmsford in Essex.

It is interestingly that his mother Hannah Hutchinson is listed a few entries above, also on Writtle Lane, as a pauper aged 60. She is listed as having been born at Great Tey, which is near Colchester in Essex.

[Lechmere]

This is the marriage certificate of Toppy’s parents.
They were married on 25TH May 1858 in St Leonard’s Church, Shoreditch.

Thirty years later Mary Jane Kelly’s body was laid out in the mortuary of this very church. One of the last people to claim to have seen her alive was called George Hutchinson.

Toppy’s father, George Hutchinson is listed as living at 7 Hollywell Row. He was a 31 year old plumber. We also learn that his father (long deceased as we have seen) was also a plumber called John Hutchinson.

Toppy’s mother was called Jane Topping (hence when Toppy came along he was christened George William Topping Hutchinson). She is listed as living at 7 Worship Square. She was 26 and a servant. Her father (who also witnessed the certificate) was called William Topping. I am not sure what his profession was.

Worship Square was by Worship Street. Hollywell Row runs into Worship Street, so clearly husband and wife had been near neighbours.

[Lechmere]

Here is the new Hutchinson family in the 1861 census.
They are living at High Street Hornchurch. This is in Essex, now part of the London Borough of Havering (which includes Romford, if that has any significance).

Toppy’s Parents are listed as follows:
George Hutchinson - aged 34, a plumber, born in Chelmsford, Essex
Jane Hutchinson – aged 28, a dressmaker, born in Cambridge

Unfortunately it is not clear what the street number was, but living in their house was a 15 year old lodger called William Roast, a painter from Writtle in Essex. Writtle is a suburb of Chelmsford, lying just to the west of that town. It is possible that he was known to George Hutchinson via the Chelmsford connection.

[Lechmere]

At last Toppy himself!
His baptism record from St Luke’s Church, Norwood in Surrey.
It is dated 30th December 1866.
He is christened George William Hutchinson – no reference to Topping here strangely enough.
His parents are George and Jane Hutchinson and they lived in Lower Norwood. George was a plumber.

Remember that in the 1871 census the family lived in St Luke’s, Norwood – George and Jane Hutchinson, their son George (again no Topping, aged 4, born in Surrey) and daughter Jane (aged 10, born in Hornchurch, Essex).
This exactly matches their movements from Hornchurch to Norwood and suggests that Jane was born just after the census in 1861, and George 'Toppy' was born just before he was baptised. This is of interest as some people are baptised a long time after their birth.

[Malcolm X]

great work thanks, i didn't notice the first 3 pages, now this tells me quite a lot

[Malcolm X]

If Toppy were Hutch then it does make it less likely that he was the Ripper, but not of course impossible. The existing theories would have to be re-written to account for it though.
I suspect we will never prove it one way or another, however with more information we will be able to make a better assessment of the likelihood.

very true, but the records of where he was living does not mean that he was at home all the time, he might have been away from home quite often, maybe GH went were the work was and returned home at the weekends.

but what weakens any JTR suspect that's a local, is no more Ripper style murders here in the U.K after Kelly.

therefore, Toppy didn't kill whilst away from home working did he.

conclusion :- Toppy either downgraded and eventually stopped killing, or he's not JTR..... it's highly unlikely JTR stopped, he either moved on, died or went insane.

GH is either another person who left the area, or this Toppy is either lieing or telling the truth.

Abberline would've checked out this guy quite carefully, so i doubt he's an imposter, my guess is this guy could be another GH who lived in the Victoria homes, but i'm not sure.

final conclusion, great thread but we're still screwed arent we

[Lechmere]

Patience Mr X

From Norwood in 1871, we know they moved to Eltham by 1881.
They are both south London suburbs and are not very far apart.
In 1881, the father George Hutchinson was aged 54 and was still a plumber.
The daughter, Jane was now aged 19 and was a housekeeper. Young George (actually listed as George W) was a scholar aged 14.
The main change is that the mother, Jane, has died. George Senior is a widow.

As we have seen by the 1891 census, George Junior had moved out to pastures new. He was living in a lodging house in Warren Street. An area that has no family connections, although he was listed as a plumber which was his father’s and his grandfather’s (who he never knew) profession.
It is interesting that in this census record he was listed as George W T Hutchinson.
That T is the first reference to his use of the name Topping.

The middle name Topping was written in full on his son, George William Hutchinson’s, baptismal record from 1899 and on his own marriage certificate in 1898.
In his entries on the Electoral Register, Topping is only found in 1936 and 1937 – just before he died.
In 1901 and 1911 he is just George Hutchinson.

The Warren Street lodging house had no electors at all registered there in 1891. This is slightly odd as although at the time of the 1891 census the lodging house keeper and her assistant were women and so did not have the vote, there were two other families that included men, who should have been listed.
I have found lodgers from other lodging houses listed in the electoral register before. This implies to me that the inhabitants of 69 Warren Street were somewhat transient, although I have more things to check before than can be said with any degree of certainty.
On maps it is clearly a larger building than its neighbours.
It was bomb damaged during the war, along with the houses between it and Tottenham Court Road. That is clearly why the rest of the street still consists of nice period properties.

[Malcolm X]

hi and thanks

do you have anything with regards to the 1888 Victoria lodging Homes ?

[Lechmere]

Not really. An Electoral Register wasn't compiled for 1888 and there is no census that year - so we have to fill in the blanks.

[Lechmere]

I will revisit the 1891 census entry for Toppy’s dad George Hutchinson Senior.
Robert has already posted it up on post no 50.
George Senior was living at 4 Lenham Road which is just off Lee High Road. It is about 2 miles away from where he had been living in 1881 (Roper Street, Eltham).
Lee comes under the Lewisham in the parish of St Margaret’s.

The household consisted of:
George Hutchinson, aged 65, a plumber born in Chelmsford, Essex.
Emma Hutchinson, his wife aged 41, from Upton (in Devon by the look of it).
Herbert Hutchinson, their son aged 1, born in Lee, Kent
Agnes M Wratton, their niece aged 14, also born in Lee, Kent.

So Toppy’s dad remarried a woman 14 years younger than himself and fathered another child.
Is this the reason Toppy moved away?
Is this the reason Toppy suddenly started calling himself Toppy?

It has been pointed out before that in 1881 George and Harriet Wratten lived in Lee with a daughter called Agnes.
Harriet was born in Upton, Buckinghamshire. Note that Emma Hutchinson was born in Upton so it is possible that Harriet and Emma were sisters, which would make Agnes Emma’s niece. Agnes was 4 in 1881, which is the right age, although was listed as being born in Blackheath, rather than Lee. However more research needs to be done as some aspects do not wholly add up. For a start it seems Emma is from Upton, Devon and Harriet from Upton, Bucks!
Also I have been unable to find that family anywhere prior to this... although sisters Harriet and Emma lived in Upton-upon-Severn... but the ages are I think out by about ten years.
It might however explain the move from Eltham to Lee.

[The Good Michael]

Lechmere,

GH senior was a labourer in the 1841 census at age 15 and then was a plumber for sure by the age of 31. This does throw a wrench in the old (but wrong) suggestion that all plumbers were apprenticed at age 14 for a seven-year period. If GH is GWTH, there seems to be a parallel of not following the exact apprenticeship "guidelines". Indeed, a father could almost understand his son deciding to take up the trade later in life. In fact, we don;t know when GH senior became a plumber except after the age of 15 and before 31. It is interesting and though I had no doubts before, the noose is tightening even more,

Mike

[Lechmere]

Mike
The fact that George Senior was a labourer at 15 in 1841 does suggest he didn’t do one of those apprenticeships. However he was a plumber in 1851 when he was about 25.
It is possible that Toppy took a similar career path – being a labourer (or even a groom) before becoming a plumber by 1891.
The idea that it is ‘impossible’ can be rejected. But we knew that anyway as plumbing apprenticeships had gone out fashion by the 1880s.

It is also of interest that in 1891 Toppy was living in a common lodging house in Warren Street and in 1899 was living in what was the south London equivalent of Dorset Street and a real rival for the title of ‘worst street in London’, namely Barbel Street. That was a real hell hole.
Yet some also claimed that it was ‘impossible’ for a violin playing scholar to live in the Victoria Home as it was a common lodging house.

I think the balance of probability has tilted significantly in favour of Toppy being the man.