French women in Knightsbridge

[lynn cates]

appearances

Hello Robert.

"We British have the sea in our blood." (Hyacinth)

"My blood is in no way diluted, thank you." (Richard)

Cheers.
LC

[Zodiac]

But Hyacinth, it's a long way to go just on the off chance that the Queen's in.

LOL

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LaDcJyLzgnQ

Best wishes,

Zodiac.

[Robert]

Ah, Richard was good in the Barchester Chronicles too.

[j.r-ahde]

Hello you all!

Cannot help asking the following question;

What would have JtR done after meeting mrs. Buck... Bouquet?!

All the best
Jukka

[Rubyretro]

.

So is Madame Pochet an englishwoman pretending to be french? why?

Cheers Miss Marple[/QUOTE]

I had one of my, usually to be regretted, -'brainwaves'...and realised that Mrs 'Buki' was really Bouquet' (surely the influence that made Mary Jane use Marie-Jeanette ) and it inevitably brought me back to this thread...

Has any more work been done on Mme Pochet ?

Or anything at all in this direction ?

[miss marple]

Hi Ruby,
There was a very close relationship between brothel keepers and some dressmakers. Dressmakers would supply fancy clothing to brothel girls in 'dress houses' who would have to pay out of her earnings. The girls would then be in debt to the brothel keeper and would have to work until the debt was paid off, which was never.If the girls left the brothel keeper would keep the glad rags.
The two interesting things about Mary Kelly's life as a prostititute (if true) is that if she went to France and ended up in a brothel( many english girls were imported into french brothels) is that she was smart enough to escape and get back to England ( who paid for her to get back?) AND if she had got in involved in a dress house and had prostituted herself for finery, and had left.She had the nerve to believe the dresses that she had 'bought'through prostitution belonged to her and was stroppy enough to go and try and get them back.
It would be interesting to look at press reports of the to see if there are any accounts of west london brothels or french dressmakers involved in prostitution.
Regards Miss Marple

[Rubyretro]

Thank you very much Miss Marple -that is fascinating !

-do we know how old Mrs 'Buki'/Bouquet was ? From the 'Mrs' I had assumed that she was a 'landlady', alot older/better off than MJK. Maybe it was SHE who had been to France/was boshy enough to claim back the dresses -and simply sub-let to Mary, who 'borrowed' her story ?

You didn't say how far you had got with Mme Pochet ?

[miss marple]

pockets and pochet

Ruby,
if you look at page one of this thread, Robert found the Pocket family living at 150 Montpelier Sq Knightsbridge. in 1881 census.Josephine Pocket 66, dressmaker, born in France. IF she was a frenchwoman who had married an englishman, for professional purposes it would be better to frenchify her name to pochet, as french fashions were regarded as superior to english.
Everything Mary Kelly had claimed about her life is based on verifiable facts that fit in with historical truth, which leads me to think most of what she said about her life was basically true, she just changed names or details.
For example,there were Mary Kelly's born in Limerick in the 1860s
There were a number of Irishmen who went to Wales (Carmarthen had ironworks}to work in iron mines. There were a number of mining accidents in Wales in the late seventies and a number of men called Davis died.
English and irish girls often ended up in french brothels throughout the 19th century
A fair number of frenchwomen working as dressmakers lived in Knightsbridge.
I don't believe Mary got the dress story from Mrs B, It makes more sense that she took Mrs B as back up. Mary was young and pretty and had needed dresses for prostitution, they were her only asset,either she had not paid for them, or been ripped off by a brothel keeper, felt that she had paid for them.Dressmakers could act as procuresses. Either the dressmaker would dress her and introduce her to the brothel keeper, or the brothel keeper would send her to the dressmaker for the clothes, either way the girl was in hock.
Miss Marple
We could be very unfair to Mrs Pochet maybe she was respectible !

[Rubyretro]

Thanks once again Miss Marple.

I have always wondered if Mary 'Kelly' was born Kelly at all (I have no 'opinion' on this whatsoever -I've just mentally put a question mark to it).

I think Richard mooted that the McCarthy family said that it wasn't her real name -but was taken from a man that she had lived with (this might explain why no one has suceeded in tracing her, or her brother -although I see that it was common to enlist in the army under a false name).

[Cogidubnus]

Not a Mrs Boucher perhaps?

There's an interesting Mr Boucher with Whitechapel connections at

http://www.elta-project.org/browse.html?recordId=2175

Might explain the interest in the frocks at any rate?

Just an idle thought...

Dave

[Bridewell]

On the subject of Mrs 'Buki', I've always wondered if this is a type-setter's misreading of a journalist's script. There are examples of Cadosch being mis-spelt as 'Cadoseh. I think 'Buke' is as likely as any possibility.

Regards, Bridewell.

[Simon Wood]

Hi All,

Why should the name Buki be a typesetter's error?



Regards,

Simon

[Simon Wood]

Hi All,

And then there's this -



Regards,

Simon

[Cogidubnus]

Hi Simon

Yes this was produced before on another thread, was it not? And followed up by another similar entry showing the business address? It was a great result, but, and I may be wrong, I had the impression it didn't lead anywhere?

Unless of course, you've managed to move things forward since then?

All the best

Dave

[Cogidubnus]

Crossed posts!

Dave