George Hutchinson in 1921

[Gary Barnett]

The first rule of Maywood research is: don’t believe a word he says. He signed his marriage cert with an x and this is from the1921 census.

[Gary Barnett]

The first rule of Maywood research is: don’t believe a word he says. He signed his marriage cert with an x and this is from the 1921 census.

And when he was in the nick after the Cambridge cattle fraud he had to ask someone else to write a postcard to his Mrs.

[Gary Barnett]

At his bankruptcy hearing Maywood came up with a long list of nicknames of people he’d allegedly paid money to and claimed he’d had £850 in gold coins stolen from his cart which he’d left unattended outside the Blind Beggar.

Dreaming up a nattily dressed foreign looking man whom he saw in MJK’s company would have come very easily to him.

[R. J. Palmer]

The first rule of Maywood research is: don’t believe a word he says. He signed his marriage cert with an x and this is from tbe 1911 census.

Yes, I dare say you are right. There's a fellow on Ancestry with quite an extensive tree for Maywood, but he has the wrong entry for 1911. I should have spotted that.

Still, while one could argue that Maywood was disguising his handwriting when signing the witness statement, how did he end up making it so similar to Toppy's? Just a coincidence?

And is a groom the same as a horse dealer, and if he was lying about his identity, why mention horses at all?

[Gary Barnett]

Yes, I dare say you are right. There's a fellow on Ancestry with quite an extensive tree for Maywood, but he has the wrong entry for 1911. I should have spotted that.

Still, while one could argue that Maywood was disguising his handwriting when signing the witness statement, how did he end up making it so similar to Toppy's? Just a coincidence?

And is a groom the same as a horse dealer, and if he was lying about his identity, why mention horses at all?

Yes, the Toppy signature does look like the witness signature.

No, a groom isn’t the same as a dealer, but according to the Booth survey of 1887 Maywood was a ‘drover’ (and his house was a brothel). You may recall that a man calling himself Lawrence who claimed to be a drover and to have once lived with Kelly turned up in Dorset Street and enquired whether a summons had been received in his name.

Maywood was essentially an Essex farm boy who somehow became rather wealthy.

[Gary Barnett]

The first rule of Maywood research is: don’t believe a word he says. He signed his marriage cert with an x and this is from the1921 census.

I hesitate to say this, RJ, but I suspect Maywood and a certain Scouse scrap metal dealer may have had much in common.

[Edward Stow]

Hutchinson lived in the Victoria Home... do you think Maywood stayed there as part of his cover.
And Hutchinfon went around with a Copper looking for the Astrakhan Man. Would Maywood have risked that?

[Gary Barnett]

Hutchinson lived in the Victoria Home... do you think Maywood stayed there as part of his cover.
And Hutchinfon went around with a Copper looking for the Astrakhan Man. Would Maywood have risked that?

I said it was an insane idea, but…

Maywood was awol from his family in 1888. The kids and probably Sarah went back to Barkingside, it seems, but where was Stephen?

A man who seemingly set fire to house after house/farm was perhaps not inordinately risk averse. Didn’t he attack a copper once when he was suspected of poaching?

[Edward Stow]

So if he didn't kill Kelly what was his game?

[Gary Barnett]

So if he didn't kill Kelly what was his game?

I’ve no idea. It just amazes me that two very unpleasant characters who knew MJK and may have once considered her their business asset, are rarely even mentioned when she is discussed.

Ironically, the people who poo poo Lechmere as a suspect because he apparently led a blameless life seem unaware of who Maywood was.

[Gary Barnett]

Yes, I dare say you are right. There's a fellow on Ancestry with quite an extensive tree for Maywood, but he has the wrong entry for 1911. I should have spotted that.

Still, while one could argue that Maywood was disguising his handwriting when signing the witness statement, how did he end up making it so similar to Toppy's? Just a coincidence?

And is a groom the same as a horse dealer, and if he was lying about his identity, why mention horses at all?

The signature I posted was the 1921 census. Apologies for the typo. Your 1911 example is correct, but I doubt that either of them are in SM’s hand.

[Rob Clack]

So you think the Stephen Maywood who signed the 1921 census form was the same person who signed the George William Topping Hutchinson 1921 census form?

[Gary Barnett]

So you think the Stephen Maywood who signed the 1921 census form was the same person who signed the George William Topping Hutchinson 1921 census form?

No I’m talking about the 1911 and 1921 Maywood censuses. They are clearly in different hands and, as I say, the evidence suggests Maywood was illiterate, so neither of the signatures are likely to be his.

Apologies for the confusion.

[Rob Clack]

No I’m talking about the 1911 and 1921 Maywood censuses. They are clearly in different hands and, as I say, the evidence suggests Maywood was illiterate, so neither of the signatures are likely to be his.

Apologies for the confusion.

Ah, ok, no problem.

[Edward Stow]

And Gary is sort of suggesting that Mzywood may have mascaraded as George Hutchinson the witness for unknown reasons perhaps because his mate Morgernstern did it? How being a presumably false witness would help Morgernstern - whose presumed motive was pimp revenge - is anybodies guess.

I'm not sure that pimps usually punish their errant prostitutes several years later by totally obliterating them with a knife.

Kelly, being a prostitute who cleary at various points in her career worked through pimps, would have known many very unsavoury characters I would imagine.

But having said that I think there was a Maywood connection to the Kelly murder. I think there is a good chance Lechmere was acquainted with him via their children attending the same school and perhaps being playmates, and through that connection Lechmere perhaps becoming acquainted with Kelly at Breezers Hill and Pennington Street.
it's just an interesting potential side line.

But Maywood is an interesting character in his own right.