Maria Louisa Roulson (aka Old Ma Lechmere)

[Dusty Miller]

>>Megan James is of the opinion that Maria's legacy would have been safe from her husbands (post 45 of the thread below). So it's possible that she held the purse strings for the extended family and that Charles in turn inherited something when she died.<<

I saw Megan's posts over in the Mary Kelly section, another great thread.

If Hubby didn't take all the money, I wonder why the, seeming, downfall from Sion Sq. to Tiger Bay coinsided? Another bloody mystery!!!

[Gary Barnett]

For all the scores of Lechmere related threads, this is the first one in donkey's years that actaully has new (to me at least) information and is civil!

Re: The Crootes, the Potton crowd featured quite a bit in the local papers.

Thanks for the fascinating Potton Croote stuff, Dusty. I'm sure you know that one of them, Jesse, a dodgy horse dealer, hooked up with Kate Eddowes' cousin in Wolverhampton. He had earlier married a Wolverhampton woman in Islington, where his brother (Richard or Robert?) was a manure dealer. And a few streets away the Tomkins mob lived and worked, initially in the manure trade, then later as horse-slaughterers. In fact, Henry Tomkins's dad was convicted of stealing horse fat from John Harrison (of Harrison, Barber fame) and hiding it in a manure heap. As a result he spent some time in Coldbath Fields prison before moving his family to Manchester.

I'm off to Clerkenwell today and hope to get some pics of the prison site (Mount Pleasant).

You're right about the 'mystery'. In 1887, CAL's family were described as 'v. decent' by Charles Booth's researcher. Was that status achieved on a carman's wages alone?.

But to get back to Maria, I suspect she may have kept in touch with some of her Lechmere in-laws after John Allen did a runner, though that's little more than a guess based upon one of her several occupations in later life. (Possibly no more than a coincidence, as may be the Croote/Tomkins links.)

[Dusty Miller]

There was some talk a while back about the possiblity of Chuck and family living in houses owned by his wife's rels. So, he may have climbed a minor social ladder with their help.

Hope the weather is better there than here for your trip, it's winter down under at the moment and bloody cold and windy by Aussie standards.

[Gary Barnett]

There was some talk a while back about the possiblity of Chuck and family living in houses owned by his wife's rels. So, he may have climbed a minor social ladder with their help.

Hope the weather is better there than here for your trip, it's winter down under at the moment and bloody cold and windy by Aussie standards.

That's interesting. Where was that discussed - here or Casebook?

It was pi**ng down virtually all day yesterday, but so far so good today.

[Gary Barnett]

Is this Tom (50H) getting duffed up in 1864?

From the Morning Advertiser 2nd Feb., 1864:

[ATTACH]17869[/ATTACH]

Ed Stow has confirmed that Thomas Cross’s badge number was 50H.