Widow of Joseph McKenzie?

[Debra Arif]

Looking through the workhouse and infirmary records today I came across an Alice McKenzie b c 1846 listed in the Whitechapel Infirmary a few times in 1883. She is recorded as the widow of Joseph (one looks like John) McKenzie, described as a carpenter and cabinet maker. On two occasions this Alice was picked up drunk in the streets by police, on one occasion she was picked up drunk by an H division copper in Dorset St.
There's also an earlier 1877 Southwark entry that could be the same woman.

Has anyone looked in to this before? I haven't managed to get much further but can't find any other Alice McKenzie that might fit, as yet.

[Howard Brown]

Sounds very promising, Debs !
First I've ever heard of any of it....

[Lynn Cates]

hopeful

Hello Debs. Good work. Hopefully, this is the one.

I have heard that Alice is as difficult to pin down as "MJK." Perhaps that is now changing.

Cheers.
LC

[Debra Arif]

Thanks Lynn and How.
Whoever this Alice McKenzie was (supposedly widow of Joseph) she is also proving difficult to trace so far!

[Debra Arif]

Here are transcripts of some of the entries:

Admitted Aug 11th 1883 Whitechapel Infirmary admission and discharge register StBG/WL/123/16
Alice Mc Kenzie age 37 admitted from 36 F & D St (Flower and Dean) widow of Joseph, cabinet maker.
admitted with ulcerated sta??? CofE admitted 8pm settlement 3 weeks discharged 24.8.83



Admitted Mon Nov 5th 1883 Whitechapel Infirmary admission and discharge register StBG/WL/123/16
Alice Mc Kenzie age 37 admitted from - PC 267H found in Dorset St, widow of j?? carpenter
admitted for alcoholism. C of E admitted 3.40am settlement 6 months discharged 16.11.83



Admitted Thurs Dec 28th Whitechapel Infirmary admission and discharge register StBG/WL/123/16
Alice Mc Kenzie age 37, admitted from- PC 1162 H Leman St, widow of j?? carpenter,
admitted for alcoholism and fits, ditto marks for religion as RC, admitted 3.10am settlement 2 years discharged 2.1.84



Aug 1st 1877 Saint George´s Workhouse, Mint Street Register, 1877-1878 SOBG/106/8
Alice Mackenzie, hawker, church of England, birth year 1846, admitted from St george parish brought in by PC 110L
charged with being drunk discharged wed Aug 1st -how discharged- (for court?) by PC256L

[Debra Arif]

A close up of the mentioned ulcerated 'thingy' from the Aug entry listed. Anyone got any ideas on this?

[Debra Arif]

Hmmm.

[Gary Barnett]

Debra,

I've tried, stamma, stamina, staunma, staumna, staurma, staurima...

Gary

[Debra Arif]

Debra,

I've tried, stamma, stamina, staunma, staumna, staurma, staurima...

Gary

Thanks for trying, Gary. It's driving me mad.

[Robert Linford]

I wondered if this was an assistant misspelling 'stoma' - I think stomas were around in the late 19th century - but apart from the extra 'm,' that certainly looks like an 'a' not an 'o'.

[Phillip Walton]

Stomach?

[Debra Arif]

Thanks Robert and Philip. I was put off anything Stoma related as I didn't think it matched the 'ulcerated' description until I googled...

[Gary Barnett]

I've just noticed the note beside Alice's last 1883 infirmary stay: 'Taken out by police'. That was on 21/12/83. Did she commit a crime while in the infirmary or, as Debs has conjectured might have been the procedure, was she technically in police custody there from the point of admission? She had, after all been brought in by the police from Leman Street (presumably police station). If she started having fits while in a cell they most likely stuck her on an 'ambulance' and wheeled her round to the infirmary. Then when her medical condition improved it would presumably have been back to the nick or court.

There should be a trial record somewhere.