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I do hope we can raise some sort of monument to Frances Coles as suggested on the burial thread. As tnb mentions, this might necessitate the permission of descendants of the Coles family.
I've been undertaking some genealogical research on Frances Coles and had some surprises. I don't know whether this is the same as Bulldog has already found, so apologise if I am duplicating something already discovered (but America was actually 'discovered' many times over and it's still a jolly spiffing place!)
To start. We know something about Frances' family from the contemporary press reports and the Inquest. She was aged 26 according to her burial record (presumably therefore born c.1865). Her elderly father James Coles was living in Bermondsey workhouse and she had sisters named Mary Ann and Selina.
I had no difficulty in finding James Coles, a boot-maker and Somerset man by birth, in the workhouse in the 1891 (and 1881) census. I had my first surprise when I looked for him in 1861. He was living in Horsleydown, Middlesex, with his wife Mary Ann and daughters Mary Ann (9), Selina (4) and Frances (2), born St Johns Southwark. Clearly Frances was older than we were told.
Sure enough, I found the record of her birth in St Olave in the 4th quarter of 1859. So she was in fact 31 at the date of her death. This is rather odd because it was Mr Coles who identified her body, so why the incorrect age?
I found the family again in 1871 (with difficulty, their name being mis-spelled Cole) in White Lion Court Bermondsey, and Frances now has a brother, James, aged 8. Mary Ann was unmarried according to the press, but might Selina and/or James have descendants?
I could not find Frances Coles at all in 1881 and James senior, as I say, was by now in Bermondsey workhouse. According to her victim page on Casebook she was also known as Hawkins, although I am unsure where this information comes from. It occurred that she might have been married.
I looked for marriages of women named Frances Coles between 1871 and 81. There was a Frances Coles married in Chelsea in the first quarter of 1876 when our Frances would have been 16. If people think I am on the right track here I will send for a copy of the marriage certificate, but if you think I'm off my rocker, please do tell me and I won't waste ten quid; I'll spend it on a pizza instead.
I've been undertaking some genealogical research on Frances Coles and had some surprises. I don't know whether this is the same as Bulldog has already found, so apologise if I am duplicating something already discovered (but America was actually 'discovered' many times over and it's still a jolly spiffing place!)
To start. We know something about Frances' family from the contemporary press reports and the Inquest. She was aged 26 according to her burial record (presumably therefore born c.1865). Her elderly father James Coles was living in Bermondsey workhouse and she had sisters named Mary Ann and Selina.
I had no difficulty in finding James Coles, a boot-maker and Somerset man by birth, in the workhouse in the 1891 (and 1881) census. I had my first surprise when I looked for him in 1861. He was living in Horsleydown, Middlesex, with his wife Mary Ann and daughters Mary Ann (9), Selina (4) and Frances (2), born St Johns Southwark. Clearly Frances was older than we were told.
Sure enough, I found the record of her birth in St Olave in the 4th quarter of 1859. So she was in fact 31 at the date of her death. This is rather odd because it was Mr Coles who identified her body, so why the incorrect age?
I found the family again in 1871 (with difficulty, their name being mis-spelled Cole) in White Lion Court Bermondsey, and Frances now has a brother, James, aged 8. Mary Ann was unmarried according to the press, but might Selina and/or James have descendants?
I could not find Frances Coles at all in 1881 and James senior, as I say, was by now in Bermondsey workhouse. According to her victim page on Casebook she was also known as Hawkins, although I am unsure where this information comes from. It occurred that she might have been married.
I looked for marriages of women named Frances Coles between 1871 and 81. There was a Frances Coles married in Chelsea in the first quarter of 1876 when our Frances would have been 16. If people think I am on the right track here I will send for a copy of the marriage certificate, but if you think I'm off my rocker, please do tell me and I won't waste ten quid; I'll spend it on a pizza instead.
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