Bucks Row Street Scavengers

[Jon Guy]

Hello

At the Nichols inquest the Coroner asked the slaughterman, Henry Tomkins:

The Coroner: Have you read any statement in the newspapers that there were two people, besides the police and the doctor, in Buck's-row, when you arrived?

Witness: I cannot say, sir. When he arrived at Buck's-row the doctor and two or three policemen were there. He believed that two other men, whom he did not know, were also there.

I found this in the press reports section:

East London Observer
Saturday, 1 September 1888.

Constable Neale at once called for assistance, and with the help of some scavengers who were cleaning the roads at the time, managed to carry the body to the mortuary, which is situated in the Pavilion Yard close by. Mr. Edmunds, the keeper of the mortuary, was in attendance, and assisted by the officer and the scavengers, undressed the poor creature and placed her in one of the black coffins lying about the mortuary.


The facts seem to be twisted with regard as to whom conveyed the body to the mortuary, and whom Neal initially called for assistance, but perhaps these were the men at the site Tomkins didn`t recognise, and whom Baxter asked about.

[Belloc]

East London Observer
Saturday, 1 September 1888.

Constable Neale at once called for assistance, and with the help of some scavengers who were cleaning the roads at the time, managed to carry the body to the mortuary, which is situated in the Pavilion Yard close by. Mr. Edmunds, the keeper of the mortuary, was in attendance, and assisted by the officer and the scavengers, undressed the poor creature and placed her in one of the black coffins lying about the mortuary.

The 1891 England Census identifies twenty-five men, living in the Whitechapel area, as scavengers. None lives in Buck’s Row, but there are two in Spring Gardens, within a ten-minute walk away. Their homes are the closest to the murder site. They are:

• William Cecil, 39, married with three children, living at # 8

• John Donovan, 40, married with five children, living at # 13

Perhaps these are the two street scavengers who helped Constable John Neale carry Mary Ann Nichols’s body to the mortuary.

[Tom_Wescott]

The 1891 England Census identifies twenty-five men, living in the Whitechapel area, as scavengers. None lives in Buck’s Row, but there are two in Spring Gardens, within a ten-minute walk away. Their homes are the closest to the murder site. They are:

• William Cecil, 39, married with three children, living at # 8

• John Donovan, 40, married with five children, living at # 13

Perhaps these are the two street scavengers who helped Constable John Neale carry Mary Ann Nichols’s body to the mortuary.

Very interesting. I took a quick look at John Donovan who happened to have had a son (Edward John 'Tiddy' Donovan) in 1888. At that time, the family was living in St. George's in the East.

Yours truly,

Tom Wescott

[jerryd]

Thanks Belloc,

Scavengers were Street Sweepers. They most likely worked for the Board of Works. Other mentions of scavengers/street sweepers were the Mary Jane Kelly murder, the Eddowes murder and the Pinchin Street victim.

The mortuary in Whitechapel was right next to the Board of Works.