Mary's Cardiff Cousin?

[Wickerman]

This 'cousin' story is a lead that I think really needs to be explored.

Someone, perhaps Chris Scott?, looked into this hospital stay in Cardiff and came up empty. The reason why escapes me at present, whether records no longer exist, or were incomplete, or the name "Mary Kelly" was not found in the records, I cannot recall.

Mind you, Mary Kelly may not have used her real name when being admitted. I believe Annie Farmer is reported to have always used the name "Smith" when she went to hospital.

The cousin, yes, this could have been either male or female. And on who's side, the mothers or the fathers? What name would we look for?
There's nothing easy in this case.

I'm sure you know a number of theorists/researchers have echoed concern that "Mary Kelly" may not have been the victims real name, and I agree.

In that case the 'real' Mary Kelly may be alive and well in the 1890's, and we are always looking for a dead Mary Kelly.
The victim in Millers Court may have been the cousin who just adopted the real Mary's bio in order to be incognito, so to speak.
So any Mary Kelly's that still exist in the 1891 census may still be worth exploring, especially for a cousin who lived in Cardiff in the 1881 census, but is no longer traceable in 1891.

As if this case wasn't difficult enough....

[Mrs. Fiddymont]

I know we've all heard the story about how after her supposed husband was killed while working as a collier, Mary moved to Cardiff. I've always wondered about this.

My first question is about her alleged stay in an infirmary. She was a young woman and apparently healthy, yet the story goes that she spent months in the infirmary. Has anyone picked up any leads on that? Did it really happen and if so, what kind of illness did she have? Do we even have the name of this institution?

My second question--that one that has always intrigued me--is her allegation that after moving to Cardiff she went to live with "a cousin", who supposedly introduced her to prostitution. The assumption seems to be that this was a female cousin who presumably was already working the streets.

But how do we know that? If this cousin did exist, what evidence points to it being a woman? A cousin can just as easily be a male. (That's one of the frustrating things about the English language: we use the identical word, in spelling and pronunciation, regardless of a cousin's gender.) A male cousin could have introduced her to prostitution, if Mary's story is true: he could have been the one who suggested that a pretty young girl like Mary could earn easy money as a prostitute. He could have benefited from it himself, if he acted as her pimp. (I know, it's a repulsive thought, but then again how many gentlemen "rent" girls out for a profit, related or not?)