Mouth damage

[Joshua Rogan]

Thanks Fish! No need to have bothered though, I posted it myself in the original post. That's what got me wondering about the truth of her tale. But this Echo report seems to say it had confirmed her story, which I can't remember reading elsewhere.
Is it possible to check the records of Woolwich Cemetary for Strides?'

[Fisherman]

Thanks Fish! No need to have bothered though, I posted it myself in the original post. That's what got me wondering about the truth of her tale. But this Echo report seems to say it had confirmed her story, which I can't remember reading elsewhere.
Is it possible to check the records of Woolwich Cemetary for Strides?'

Ha - I missed that spectacularly...!

I´ve no idea about the possibilities to check via Woolwich cemetery, sorry to say.

[DirectorDave]

From the mortuary photograph and the description of the missing roof of the mouth it sounds possible Liz had a cleft palate/hair lip.

[Charles Daniels]

I've always thought that no record of Stride losing her husband in the Princess Alice disaster was ever found, but this report seems to say that confirmation was indeed dscovered;

Echo 8th October 1888;

"With reference to the identity of Elizabeth Stride, the Woolwich newspapers of the time of the Princess Alice disaster have been referred to and it has been found that a woman of that name was a witness at the inquest, and identified the body of a man as her husband, and of two children then lying in Woolwich Dockyard. She said she was on board at the time, and saw them drowned her husband picking up one of the children and being drowned with it in his arms. She was saved by climbing the funnel, where she was accidentally kicked in the mouth by a retired Arsenal police inspector, who was also clinging to the top of the funnel. The husband and two children are buried in Woolwich Cemetery."

Does the inquest documentation still exist?

I wonder if this is a paper beefing up a story, or if perhaps they had some access to records extant at the time.

Very interesting as I thought this wasn't a case of their simply being no evidence to back up her story, but indeed strong evidence that her husband was alive and well for years after the Prince Alice disaster.

[Joshua Rogan]

Hi Charles,
It appears that a lot of documentation about the disaster exists in the London Metropolitan Archives, but not online.

http://search.lma.gov.uk/LMA_DOC/COR_PA.PDF

[Charles Daniels]

Amazing stuff Joshua! Thanks again!
I wonder if there is any way to gain access to the documents.

I imagine someone must have done so before, surely?

[Joshua Rogan]

Very interesting as I thought this wasn't a case of their simply being no evidence to back up her story, but indeed strong evidence that her husband was alive and well for years after the Prince Alice disaster.

Yes, good point about her husband being alive for several years after the sinking. That seems to indicate that the paper was perhaps mistaken about the evidence.

Just a thought, but I sometimes wonder if the tale of the "Princess Alice disaster" refers not to the sinking, but to some personal incident that occurred in the pub of the same name (on Commercial Street) which resulted in the breakdown of the Stride's marriage - perhaps that's when she lost her teeth?

[Joshua Rogan]

I'd imagine someone has surely looked into it before, but if you feel like doing a spot of research, it seems to be reasonably straightforward if you're local

http://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/things-to-do/london-metropolitan-archives/visitor-information/Pages/default.aspx

[Charles Daniels]

I'd imagine someone has surely looked into it before, but if you feel like doing a spot of research, it seems to be reasonably straightforward if you're local

http://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/thing...s/default.aspx

I live in Oxford, so not a million miles off by any stretch of the imagination, but sightly out of my way

One thing I do mean to do is find any information I can about Druitt and his time in Oxford. But that's just put off curiosity, I really don't see him as a likely candidate

[Debra A]

There are some lists here that might be of interest.
Originally posted by Chris Scott on Casebook:

http://forum.casebook.org/showthread.php?t=928

There is also this fuller list compiled from newspapers on this site:

http://www.alsbury.co.uk/princessalice/alice0.htm

And a Facebook group connected to that page linked here

http://www.alsbury.co.uk/princessalice/

I couldn't help but notice some people named Watts listed.

[Joshua Rogan]

Top work, Debs! I'd just come across the second website list myself.... No sign of any Stride, either as witness or victim, unless I've missed it.

Sad to see that GUT's relative was one of the victims. What a horrible way to go.

[Debra A]

Top work, Debs! I'd just come across the second website list myself.... No sign of any Stride, either as witness or victim, unless I've missed it.

Sad to see that GUT's relative was one of the victims. What a horrible way to go.

Hi Joshua
I wondered if the reporter checked for the name Stride or Watts in the 1878 reports? As I mentioned, there are some Watts in the list so the reporter may have still been under the impression she was Elizabeth Stokes whose first husband was named Watts when he went to check? Just a thought.

Regarding Elizabeth Stokes, I did some research here on her three marriages but there wasn't a man named Dent among them IIRC.
I'm also still puzzled by what I originally said about Mary Malcolm seemingly adopting waifs and strays- a sister and a random father:

http://www.jtrforums.com/archive/index.php/t-16036.html

Yes, very sad about GUTS ancestor.

[Joshua Rogan]

Well, it's a thought, but the article that mentions the identifying of the bodies does specifically say Elizabeth Stride, so it seems unlikely the reporter would have checked for another name, but you never know.

I have no idea what's going on with Mrs Malcolm and her sister, they do seem to have been quite strange. Liz Stokes does admit to memory problems, so perhaps both sisters inherited that issue from one or another of their fathers?

[Debra A]

Well, it's a thought, but the article that mentions the identifying of the bodies does specifically say Elizabeth Stride, so it seems unlikely the reporter would have checked for another name, but you never know.

So it does, Joshua..scrap that then.