Mrs. Hammersmith?

[Jay Hartley]

A little more digging on George Bridge.

This is The Liverpool Echo printed on 9th August 1927.


Transcribed:
Mr. George O'Neill Bridge, who has an unbroken record of sixty-four years on the Liverpool Cotton Exchange. Mr. Bridge commenced as an apprentice of Mr. Maurice Williams, who was the Liverpool Cotton King during the American Civil War, and Mr. Bridge has lively recollections of the war and of the vicissitudes of the trade. He remembers when cotton advices came by steamer and not in seconds-by cable - as they do to-day. Mr. Bridge, who is en expert in Egyptian cottons, lives at Neston, and was for many years a member of the Wirral Hunt.

[Jay Hartley]

An obituary in Liverpool Daily Post on 28th March 1939:

[Jay Hartley]

Coincidence perhaps, but in the Maybrick A-Z by Christopher Jones it mentions that James attended the Wirral Hunt Club Steeplechases on 27th April 1889. The Wirral Hunt club containing one George Bridge as a member. Perhaps the two men had horse links? Do we know if James himself was a member of the club? My guess is it is through cotton and a love of horses that Florence may have got to know Eleanor Bridge.

[R. J. Palmer]

A Bridge Too Far?

It looks to me that at the time Maybrick was scribbling in his diary, Mr. and Mrs. George Hammersmith Bridge had moved out of Liverpool and were living 33 miles to the south, in Leighton. That's rather too far to be considered neighbors.

As you can see below, George's time on the Grand Jury at the Cheshire Quarter Sessions dates to April 1889, but I'm assuming he would have had to have been a resident in Cheshire for some months in order to be selected for jury service. The couple is still in Cheshire in 1891, though they had moved house again, to Neston.




Here's my alternative theory.

[Jay Hartley]

That must have been a fun journey to the exchange every day.

There was no direct train from Leighton to Liverpool, so he must have taken his own coach into Liverpool city centre and back every day. Would that have been normal?

It is possible he used the Crewe to Liverpool train. It takes an hour and a quarter now, so god knows what that was like in 1889?

It is probably why he moved much closer again by 1891. No wonder, he most likely couldn't wait to give up the commute.

His wife Eleanor was born in Bunbury, and the couple married there. So his wife has links to the county. I'm wondering if his address resulted from inheriting some property from her side of the family? Is that possible?

[Jay Hartley]

Just to add. George died a very wealthy man. He left a will of £47,000 in 1939. That is around £3m in today's money. I'm guessing he may have done some property buying and selling along the way.

Maybe that is how he could afford handsome cabs to and from work every day from Leighton?

[Jay Hartley]

So I guess we're back to the beginning - Post 1. Sometimes nicknames are given when the real names are not remembered. Here we have a Greek/Turkish name Galati that may have been forgotten by James. Augustus Agelasto, who headed the office of the Greek family, also lived in the area but had moved to London in the 60s I believe.

Do you think R.J's post is the nail in the coffin? I certainly don't.

He spent 64 years unbroken working on the Cotton Exchange in Liverpool. It is highly improbable he commuted from Leighton, Cheshire.

[Jay Hartley]

I am confused. For some reason, I thought R.J was saying George Bridge lived in Leighton in Chesire. My misunderstanding.

He obviously meant Leighton, Neston, Wirral...

https://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/CHS/leighton2

Seems he did not need a huge daily commute into the exchange after all.

[Markus Aurelius Franzoi]

I think there's also a question about what drive we're talking about. Is it Queen's Drive or Aigburth Drive? I thought we were talking about Aigburth Dr.

[Jay Hartley]

I think there's also a question about what drive we're talking about. Is it Queen's Drive or Aigburth Drive? I thought we were talking about Aigburth Dr.

Is there universal agreement the drive in question has to be Aigburth Drive? Or because it is the most obvious one on a modern map?

[R. J. Palmer]

I am confused. For some reason, I thought R.J was saying George Bridge lived in Leighton in Chesire. My misunderstanding.

No; I admit I was similarly confused, and sent you on the wrong scent.

When I looked into this last night I also thought he was in Leighton down by Crewe, but when I tried to find his house in the 1891 UK Census on a modern map, I noticed there was a 'Leighton Road' in Neston, and started to smell a rat. You now have it sorted, I think.

Either way, it's clear that he moved to Neston sometime between 1881 and 1889, and lived nowhere near the Maybricks, who were on the other side of the Mersey.

The idea is in my opinion, D.O.A., and always was, but of course, I'm a modern hoax believer, so I'm working along different lines anyway.

I see Barrett as a magpie, gathering shiny objects from here, there, and everywhere, whether there is any logic to it or not. The name 'Hammersmith' appeared in pretty much every Ripper book of the 1980s, being MJ Druitt's curtain call.

I'll let you carry on without me.

But I notice there's a decent webpage dedicated to Liverpool cotton brokers, and it mentions Bridge as being among the first importers of Egyptian cotton. There were brokers who dealt with commodities, and brokers who were dealing in futures, and then there were capitalists who bought huge hordes of cotton and sold to the mill owners on credit. My knowledge of the cotton trade is minimal, but the impression I get is that Bridge was a lot higher on the food chain than Maybrick. He was a major mover & shaker compare to Sir Jim.

[R. J. Palmer]

If you read the Liverpool Weekly Courier for 14 July 1888, you’ll see the case of a young officer who threatened to blow the brains out of a Liverpool Cotton broker named Henry Hodson Bardswell. He didn't like the fact that the old geezer Bardswell spent so much time talking to his young lady friend. Although Bardswell worked in a firm of Liverpool Cotton brokers, his home was in Southport.

Another account from 1888 describes a Liverpool cotton broker who died under somewhat mysterious circumstances; he came home on the train one afternoon with a large gash to his head, but couldn’t remember how he received it, and died a day or two later. He lived in Blundellsands.

So it appears that it was by not uncommon for the cotton brokers on the Liverpool Exchange to commute from well outside the city center.

[Jay Hartley]

No; I admit I was similarly confused, and sent you on the wrong scent.

When I looked into this last night I also thought he was in Leighton down by Crewe, but when I tried to find his house in the 1891 UK Census on a modern map, I noticed there was a 'Leighton Road' in Neston, and started to smell a rat. You now have it sorted, I think.

Either way, it's clear that he moved to Neston sometime between 1881 and 1889, and lived nowhere near the Maybricks, who were on the other side of the Mersey.

The idea is in my opinion, D.O.A., and always was, but of course, I'm a modern hoax believer, so I'm working along different lines anyway.

I see Barrett as a magpie, gathering shiny objects from here, there, and everywhere, whether there is much logic to it or not. The name 'Hammersmith' appeared in pretty much every Ripper book of the 1980s, being MJ Druitt's curtain call.

I'll let you carry on without me.

Thanks, R.J. for the clarification.

I write the following for others.

Yes, George Bridge moved to Neston between some time of 1881 and 1889. My argument has, and always has been, why did 'Mrs Hammersmith' have to be that close a neighbour? Is that not just a huge assumption the drive is Aigurth Drive? Even if it was, could she have not been visiting someone when they met?

There are four connections here:

1. George and James were both cotton merchants from the same exchange
2. George was a member of the Wirral Hunt. The steeplechases James attended on 27th April were the Wirral Hunt Steeplechases
3. Florence herself was a keen lover of horses as well as James. There is every chance Florence at the very least knew Eleanor Bridge
4. Hammersmith Bridge was re-opened to the public in 1887, just prior to the purported scrapbook being written. The author enjoyed wordplay

None on their own are a smoking gun, but drip by drip I believe a case will only become stronger here.

As I said at the start San, not everyone is as positive as I am on this.

[Jay Hartley]

If you read the Liverpool Weekly Courier for 14 July 1888, you’ll see the case of a young officer who threatened to blow the brains out of a Liverpool Cotton broker named Henry Hodson Bardswell. He didn't like the fact that the old geezer Bardswell spent so much time talking to his young lady friend. Although Bardswell worked in a firm of Liverpool Cotton brokers, his home was in Southport.

Another account from 1888 describes a Liverpool cotton broker who died under somewhat mysterious circumstances; he came home on the train one afternoon with a large gash to his head, but couldn’t remember how he received it, and died a day or two later. He lived in Blundellsands.

So it appears that it was by not uncommon for the cotton brokers on the Liverpool Exchange to commute from well outside the city center.

- Southport > Liverpool Cotton Exchange (19 miles) and with a direct train
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liverp...thport_Railway

- Blundellslands > Liverpool Cotton Exchange (8 miles) and with a direct train
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blunde...ailway_station

- Crewe, Chesire > Liverpool Cotton Exchange (48 miles) with a direct train

More than double the distance of Southport and therefore double the travel time.

Wealthy George Bridge did not commute to Liverpool by train from Crewe on a daily basis. He lived in Leighton in the Wirral.

[Jay Hartley]

But I notice there's a decent webpage dedicated to Liverpool cotton brokers, and it mentions Bridge as being among the first importers of Egyptian cotton. There were brokers who dealt with commodities, and brokers who were dealing in futures, and then there were capitalists who bought huge hordes of cotton and sold to the mill owners on credit. My knowledge of the cotton trade is minimal, but the impression I get is that Bridge was a lot higher on the food chain than Maybrick. He was a major mover & shaker compare to Sir Jim.

This is why he would naturally do his utmost to gravitate towards George as much as he could. The wife probably came as part of the package and could have been a perceived barrier to James's ambitions. He wanted the same respect the likes of Bridge got. He was simply not equipped to reach those heights. Perhaps Eleanor was quick to remind him of that. Perhaps she preferred Florence. Who knows? Women talk. Certainly, more than we do.