Lambeth Workhouse

[Debra A]

I don't doubt it was her, I'm just curious about whether the letter was misdated or what (which is a very minor point, I know, but I'm a very curious person!).

That she dates it incorrectly seems most likely, though I also wonder whether her father wouldn't have noticed it when he received the letter in May. Maybe he assumed the letter had just taken a while to reach him? Who knows.

Something I find interesting but probably meaningless is that a couple of reports mention that her father had last heard from her around Easter.

The September 3 Daily Telegraph, for example, says:



I remember seeing another one that more vaguely says something along the lines of "her father last heard from her last Easter" but I can't find it right now.

I guess this is probably just a case of misquoting or misreporting, but interesting nevertheless!

I know you didn't suggest it wasn't the same woman, it was mentioned as a possibility earlier in the thread so I was just replying to that at the same time as well.
It's a curious thing, I agree.

[Flower and Dean]

I don't doubt it was her, I'm just curious about whether the letter was misdated or what (which is a very minor point, I know, but I'm a very curious person!).

That she dates it incorrectly seems most likely, though I also wonder whether her father wouldn't have noticed it when he received the letter in May. Maybe he assumed the letter had just taken a while to reach him? Who knows.

Something I find interesting but probably meaningless is that a couple of reports mention that her father had last heard from her around Easter.

The September 3 Daily Telegraph, for example, says:

Edward Walker deposed: I live at 15, Maidwell-street, Albany-road, Camberwell, and have no occupation. I was a smith when I was at work, but I am not now. I have seen the body in the mortuary, and to the best of my belief it is my daughter; but I have not seen her for three years. I recognise her by her general appearance and by a little mark she has had on her forehead since she was a child. She also had either one or two teeth out, the same as the woman I have just seen. My daughter's name was Mary Ann Nicholls, and she had been married twenty-two years. Her husband's name is William Nicholls, and he is alive. He is a machinist. They have been living apart about seven or eight years. I last heard of her before Easter. She was forty-two years of age.

The Coroner: How did you see her?

Witness: She wrote to me.

The Coroner: Is this letter in her handwriting?

Witness: Yes, that is her writing.

The letter, which was dated April 17, 1888, was read by the Coroner, and referred to a place which the deceased had gone to at Wandsworth.

I remember seeing another one that more vaguely says something along the lines of "her father last heard from her last Easter" but I can't find it right now.

I guess this is probably just a case of misquoting or misreporting, but interesting nevertheless!

[Debra A]

Thank you, Debra A.

I suppose in that case Sluggo's question about Mary Ann Nichols's letter to her father remains... and now it's really bothering me!

As already suggested in the thread, there was probably just a mistake made with the dating, possibly by Mary Ann herself. She left Lambeth workhouse on May 12th to go to a situation so perhaps wrote April instead of May in her letter?
There is no doubt the workhouse stays at Holborn and Lambeth were the same woman later murdered in 1888 as the orders of removal registers detail her background and stays at Holborn and Lambeth Jan to May 1888.

http://www.jtrforums.com/showpost.php?p=320591&postcount=54

[Flower and Dean]

Thank you, Debra A.

I suppose in that case Sluggo's question about Mary Ann Nichols's letter to her father remains... and now it's really bothering me!

[Debra A]

The Renfrew Road Creed register also shows that Mary Ann Monk, one of the women who identified Mary Ann Nicholls, was also in the workhouse for a couple of days in May 88, the same time as Mary Ann Nicholls, as well as a few years before. Mary Ann Monk was also a regular in the Newington casual ward and was there in 1888, a few weeks either side of Catherine Eddowes going there in April 1888.

[Debra A]

I know it's been years since the last reply on this thread. I don't know about Parishrecords.com specifically, but sometimes the parish is called Lambeth St. Mary IIRC.

Ancestry UK now has workhouse admission and discharge records. I was able to find a few hits for the name Mary Ann (and similar) Nichols in Lambeth. Unfortunately, I don't have a subscription to be able to see the scans but maybe someone can do that and clear it up.

Hi F&D,
The admission and discharge and creed registers definitely show what is part of Mary Ann Nicholls established timeline.
Mary A Nicholls born 1852 was admitted to Mitcham Holborn on Jan 4th 1888 and discharged 'passed to Lambeth' on 16th April 1888.
Renfrew Rd Workhouse Lambeth Creed register then shows Mary A Nicholls age 36 (b 1852) admitted from the Holborn Union on 16th April 1888. She was described as a servant, admitted by magistrate and discharged 12th May 1888 to a 'situation'.

[Flower and Dean]

I know it's been years since the last reply on this thread. I don't know about Parishrecords.com specifically, but sometimes the parish is called Lambeth St. Mary IIRC.

Ancestry UK now has workhouse admission and discharge records. I was able to find a few hits for the name Mary Ann (and similar) Nichols in Lambeth. Unfortunately, I don't have a subscription to be able to see the scans but maybe someone can do that and clear it up.

[Sluggo]

Inquest Observation

Hello All,
I noticed in Polly's Inquest Day 1, Edward Walker's testimony, that he mentions, (Parish of Lambeth). I went to the ParishRegister.com and was unable to locate it.
Does anyone have any helpful suggestions?

Yours Truly, Sluggo

[Sluggo]

Polly's Calendar

I have attached a visual timeline for Polly, I did this to get a visual understanding of the amount of time she spent in Lambeth Workhouse. Which was a lot!!!!

[Sluggo]

Thank you Dave! (I love a "bloody well done")

I have been doing some reading on Thomas Stewart Drew. It has been suggested that Polly had a liaison with this Mr. Drew, between the time that Matilda died in March of 1884 and he remarried again in December of 1886. This hypothesis may be correct, yet unlikely. According to Polly's timeline she went to live with Thomas S. Drew in June of 1883, at which time, Matilda Drew was still alive. I think Polly was a Domestic Servant or a Nanny, or both. Matilda may have been very ill, and needed tending, as well as her children, and husband, which a domestic will come in very handy.

Any thoughts? Ideas?

Yours Truly, Sluggo

[Cogidubnus]

Sluggo's is one of those spots you kick yourself for not having made yourself.

Absolutely...bloody well done Sluggo

Dave

[Bridewell]

Sluggo's is one of those spots you kick yourself for not having made yourself.

[GUT]

I wonder if she made an error in dating the letter and dated it 17th April instead of 17th May. May would fit with her being "settled at her new place".

It's possible Colin, but it's also possible I suppose that we have two separate persons with the same or similar names...Tom's our expert here...

I'd buy either explanation as a possibility.

[Cogidubnus]

It's possible Colin, but it's also possible I suppose that we have two separate persons with the same or similar names...Tom's our expert here...

[Bridewell]

I wonder if she made an error in dating the letter and dated it 17th April instead of 17th May. May would fit with her being "settled at her new place".