Who's the Daddy??

[Chris Scott]

The passage below is a new one on me!
This (from the Ipswich Journal of 16 Nov 1888) asserts that Kelly at one time lived with a man named Daddy. Whether this was a nickname or his real surname is not made clear
Anyone know any more about this please?
Chris

[Mascara & Paranoia]

Could 'Daddy' be a nickname for her husband who was older than her and died in an explosion[?]? Assuming I'm not getting the victims mixed up.

[Chris Scott]

But her husband, Davies (and we have no evidence as to his age) allegedly married her and lived with her in Wales so it seems unlikely that "local witnesses" (i.e. in the East End) would have known him
Chris

[m_w_r]

Chris -

It must be a garbled version of "Danny", mustn't it?

Regards,

Mark

[Chris Scott]

Whether this was a nickname or his real surname is not made clear

Just to give some perspective to this, the number of men in London of the surname Daddy in censuses are:
1881: 4
1891: 0

Those in 1881:
Amos H. Daddy Julia abt 1849 Dalston, Middlesex, England Head Islington, London
Bartram Daddy Isabella abt 1874 London, Middlesex, England Son Lambeth, London
William Daddy abt 1815 Crich, Northamptonshire, England Boarder St Pancras, London
Wm. Daddy Isabella abt 1872 London, Middlesex, England Son Lambeth, London

[Chris Scott]

Hi Mark
The Danny idea is certainly feasible as this was an alleged nickname of Joseph Barnett
However, the sentence following
"The woman seems to have been living recently with a man who is said by those who knew her to have been her husband"
seems to refer to Barnett as a different individual from "Daddy" who she is said to have lived with "some time ago"
Regards
Chris

[m_w_r]

Hi Chris,

Yes, this did occur to me too.

Just as a matter of interest, John C. Hotten's A Dictionary of Modern Slang, Cant, and Vulgar Words (1874 edition), apparently gives a slang meaning of daddy as "the old man in charge, generally an aged pauper, at casual wards". This has a very East End flavour. I like this one, too, from the same book (but the 1864 edition): "At mock raffles, lotteries, &c., the Daddy is an accomplice, most commonly the getter up of the swindle, and in all cases the person that has been previously arranged to win the prize".

Evocative stuff, but probably entirely unhelpful.

Regards,

Mark

[Sam Flynn]

Perhaps someone who was very tall would have gone by the nickname "Daddy", on account of his making those around him appear rather small. If so, I wonder who he could be...?

(Probably less helpful than Mark's suggestion )

[c.d.]

At first I thought it said "who's your daddy" as in....uh, you know...who's your daddy, who's your daddy.

c.d.