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can u solve where author failed?

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  • can u solve where author failed?

    I'm reading The Suspicions of Mr Whicher by Kate Summerscale at the moment, about the Road Murder of 1860.

    Jonathan Whicher was the Scotland Yard detective sent to solve this. The author who has done her research says

    "...15 April 1838 a woman who called herself Elizabeth Whicher, formerly Green, nee Harding had given birth ...to a boy named Jonathan Whicher"

    clearly she didn't get nee off the birth cert!

    She goes on to say that on the birth cert the father is recorded as "Jonathan Whicher, police constable" and that "their address" (though it could of course just be Elizabeth's!) was 4 Providence Row.

    She says there is no death cert for either Elizabeth or Jonathan junior nor do they appear in censuses.
    In 1841 Jonathan senior appears as a single man at Hunter Place police station house in Holborn.

    Can anyone track down Elizabeth or her child?

    This is the birth ref:
    Jonathan Whicher
    1838 Apr-May-Jun Lambeth Volume: 4 Page: 312
    ~ with love from Little Nell~
    Chowns, Dunt, Emms, Mealing, Purvey & Smoothy

  • #2
    Maybe a first marriage?

    Elizabeth Harding
    HENRY GREEN
    Marriage: 24 MAR 1828 Saint Mary, Newington M055631

    But I can't see a marriage for Whicher. If Jonathan junior was illegitimate, I was thinking Elizabeth might remarry under name Green but there are zillions of Elizabeth Green marriages in Lambeth alone!
    ~ with love from Little Nell~
    Chowns, Dunt, Emms, Mealing, Purvey & Smoothy

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    • #3
      If she says that it is "Elizabeth Whicher, formerly Green, nee Harding" I wonder if the cert actually says "late Harding" which would mean that Harding was her first married name, wouldn't it? Or has she swopped the order of words around?
      Last edited by KiteRunner; 11-05-08, 10:02.
      KiteRunner

      Every five years or so I look back on my life and I have a good... laugh"
      (Indigo Girls, "Watershed")

      Comment


      • #4
        Oh, there's a death registration for a Jonathan Whickers Sep 1848 Stepney. Of course it doesn't give the age on the death index so it would be expensive to find out if it's him!
        KiteRunner

        Every five years or so I look back on my life and I have a good... laugh"
        (Indigo Girls, "Watershed")

        Comment


        • #5
          But there is a Jonathan Wicker age 65 in Stepney on the 1841, so I suppose he's the one who died in 1848. Bother.
          KiteRunner

          Every five years or so I look back on my life and I have a good... laugh"
          (Indigo Girls, "Watershed")

          Comment


          • #6
            I can see this is going to be annoying.

            If Elizabeth was only pretending to be Whicher's wife, she and baby Jon may well have used either of her other surnames or taken another one - or had a different one each.
            ~ with love from Little Nell~
            Chowns, Dunt, Emms, Mealing, Purvey & Smoothy

            Comment


            • #7
              Yes, and he could be listed as John instead of Jonathan on the census...
              KiteRunner

              Every five years or so I look back on my life and I have a good... laugh"
              (Indigo Girls, "Watershed")

              Comment


              • #8
                Or even Jack!!!
                ~ with love from Little Nell~
                Chowns, Dunt, Emms, Mealing, Purvey & Smoothy

                Comment

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