Just did a search through some of the Stepney Workhouse Records via Ancestry and came across a Mary A. Dunlop being admitted off and on in the period between July 1886 and January 1888. There are various ages provided for this Mary A. Dunlop, varying from 25 in 1886 to 24 in 1887 and then 27 in the same year. In all of the listings, the woman’s address is given as 16 Thrawl Street, which- presumably- was one of the Cooney-owned doss houses (among which was 55 Flower and Dean Street, if I’m not mistaken).
Mary Dunlop
16 Thrawl St.
Admission: 13-7-1886
Discharge: 24-7-1886
Age: 25
Profession: prostitute
Cause: Abscess
Mary A. Dunlop
16 Thrawl St./Workhouse
Admission: 27-7-1886
Discharge: 31-7-1886
Age: 25
Profession: prostitute
Cause: Abscess
Mary A. Dunlop
16 Thrawl St.
Admission: 12-2-1887
Discharge: 8-3-1887
Age: 24
Profession: prostitute
Cause: Dyph y sore throat
Mary A. Dunlop
16 Thrawl St.
Admission: 29-12-1887
Discharge: 14-1-1888
Age: 27/28
Profession: charing
Cause: Injury to face
In all save the last record her profession is given as “prostitute”, the last one listing it as “charing”. The causes for admission also vary from twice “abscess” in 1886, once for dyphtery/sore throat” in 1887 and finally (end ’87 to beginning ’88) for “injury to face”.
The reason I found this interesting because of the lack of entries for this Mary A. Dunlop prior to 1886 or following January 1888, which could of course have several explainations.
I did find several admissions for a London-born Mary Dunlop (roughly the same date of birth but without the intermediate “A” between the christian- and surname) in the Poplar Workhouse covering a period of roughly 10 years (from 1865 to 1875). Between those admissions of a Mary Dunlop (sometimes with her mother) and the admissions of Mary A. Dunlop from 1886 onward exists an hiatus of a full decade, which makes me wonder if they are one and the same. In also wonder what happened to Mary A. Dunlop after her last recorded discharge (January ’88).
Of course the dates of admission and discharge do not exactly coincide with the presumed timeline of Mary Kelly’s movements after she (presumably) left Breezer’s Hill to go and live with Joseph Fleming until Easter 1887 (at the latest) by which date she reportedly cohabited with Joseph Barnett at “Cooley’s” (Cooney’s), George Street (Spitalfields), Paternoster Court
and Brick Lane respectively before finally landing at Miller’s Court somewhere between January and March of ’88 (depending on Barnett or McCarthy's version of events).
I did a casual search through some South-Wales census records, and did find a Mary Agnes Dunlop (born 1863) born in Bedwellty, and a 1871 census record listing this Mary A. with her brother, sisters and widowed mother living in Mumbles, Glamorganshire (near Swansea).
Mary Dunlop
16 Thrawl St.
Admission: 13-7-1886
Discharge: 24-7-1886
Age: 25
Profession: prostitute
Cause: Abscess
Mary A. Dunlop
16 Thrawl St./Workhouse
Admission: 27-7-1886
Discharge: 31-7-1886
Age: 25
Profession: prostitute
Cause: Abscess
Mary A. Dunlop
16 Thrawl St.
Admission: 12-2-1887
Discharge: 8-3-1887
Age: 24
Profession: prostitute
Cause: Dyph y sore throat
Mary A. Dunlop
16 Thrawl St.
Admission: 29-12-1887
Discharge: 14-1-1888
Age: 27/28
Profession: charing
Cause: Injury to face
In all save the last record her profession is given as “prostitute”, the last one listing it as “charing”. The causes for admission also vary from twice “abscess” in 1886, once for dyphtery/sore throat” in 1887 and finally (end ’87 to beginning ’88) for “injury to face”.
The reason I found this interesting because of the lack of entries for this Mary A. Dunlop prior to 1886 or following January 1888, which could of course have several explainations.
I did find several admissions for a London-born Mary Dunlop (roughly the same date of birth but without the intermediate “A” between the christian- and surname) in the Poplar Workhouse covering a period of roughly 10 years (from 1865 to 1875). Between those admissions of a Mary Dunlop (sometimes with her mother) and the admissions of Mary A. Dunlop from 1886 onward exists an hiatus of a full decade, which makes me wonder if they are one and the same. In also wonder what happened to Mary A. Dunlop after her last recorded discharge (January ’88).
Of course the dates of admission and discharge do not exactly coincide with the presumed timeline of Mary Kelly’s movements after she (presumably) left Breezer’s Hill to go and live with Joseph Fleming until Easter 1887 (at the latest) by which date she reportedly cohabited with Joseph Barnett at “Cooley’s” (Cooney’s), George Street (Spitalfields), Paternoster Court
and Brick Lane respectively before finally landing at Miller’s Court somewhere between January and March of ’88 (depending on Barnett or McCarthy's version of events).
I did a casual search through some South-Wales census records, and did find a Mary Agnes Dunlop (born 1863) born in Bedwellty, and a 1871 census record listing this Mary A. with her brother, sisters and widowed mother living in Mumbles, Glamorganshire (near Swansea).
Comment