Suggested annotations for Hallie Rubenhold's book "The Five" (2019)

[Gary Barnett]

This caught my attention, she described Dawes Court as if she had been there, down to the most insignificant detail, but nevertheless she did not mention such a basic and fundamental detail as that the house was at number 1 of the street. Things like these lead me to think that she has not seen any documents.

1, Dawes Court?

[Jose Oranto]

1, Dawes Court?

Yes, 1 Dawes Court

[Gary Barnett]

Yes, 1 Dawes Court

Where is that shown?

[Jose Oranto]

Where is that shown?

Birth Certificate

[Gary Barnett]

Birth Certificate

Thanks, Jose, I hadn’t seen that.

[Gary Barnett]

Something that surprised me when I waded through all the Street of Ink stuff, was that there was no mention of Dr Johnson. His house in Gough Square was just a few yards from Dawes Court and it is still there.

I think I’d have made more of that rather than relocate fictional Fagin and his boys from the other side of Holborn and claim Polly spent her early life in the same lodgings as them.

[Jose Oranto]

1, Dawes Court?

Dawes Court or Daw's Court?

Daw's Court - South out of Gunpowder Alley, in Farringdon Ward Without (Lockie, 1810-L.C.C. List, 1901). Not named in the maps.https://www.british-history.ac.uk/no...-court#h2-0020

Gunpowder Alley, Shoe Lane 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7; Dawes Court 1, 2 and 3. City of London 1894. Report on the sanitary condition of the City of London for the year 1894. https://wellcomelibrary.org/moh/repo....8903%2C0.7379


Any idea what it says below Daws Court?

[Gary Barnett]

I’ve also seen it rendered as Daw Court.

However, I believe it may have been named after someone named Dawes who owned property in Gunpowder Alley as early as 1693, so that’s the spelling I use.

[Gary Barnett]

Dawes Court or Daw's Court?

Daw's Court - South out of Gunpowder Alley, in Farringdon Ward Without (Lockie, 1810-L.C.C. List, 1901). Not named in the maps.https://www.british-history.ac.uk/no...-court#h2-0020

Gunpowder Alley, Shoe Lane 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7; Dawes Court 1, 2 and 3. City of London 1894. Report on the sanitary condition of the City of London for the year 1894. https://wellcomelibrary.org/moh/repo....8903%2C0.7379


Any idea what it says below Daws Court?

It says St Brides.

[Jose Oranto]

I’ve also seen it rendered as Daw Court.

However, I believe it may have been named after someone named Dawes who owned property in Gunpowder Alley as early as 1693, so that’s the spelling I use.

Thanks Gary, Dawes makes more sense

Dr. Johnson's House... Well spotted!

[Gary Barnett]

Thanks Gary, Dawes makes more sense

Dr. Johnson's House... Well spotted!

I used to work nearby, so I know the area fairly well. My company’s auditors had their offices in Little New Street and I think their building may have been on the site of Dawes Court.

[Gary Barnett]

There is some stuff about Polly on page 51 that interests me.

Hallie suggests that William Nichols’ claim that she was a drinker must have been rejected by Thomas Taverner, the Lambeth relieving officer, otherwise she wouldn’t have been awarded the 5s weekly allowance that her husband was asked to pay her. She (HR) quotes from A Handy Book for the Guardians of the Poor:

‘Whenever it is found that a deserted wife is known to drink…out-door relief should not be given, but the workhouse alone offered.’

Knowing Hallie’s methods as I do, the … worries me somewhat. What did she leave out? And would an allowance from a husband constitute ‘out-door relief’?

Hallie picks up her mournful violin again as she tells us that the meagre 5 shillings William paid Polly would barely have been sufficient to keep a roof over her head, ‘If rent for one room in a down-at-hill part of town cost 4 shillings a week…’

But hold on, weren’t MJK and Joe Barnett paying 2s 6d a week for their room in Millers Court? And I’ve seen a 1911 census form where the occupant of a single room in Paternoster Row revealed that his rent was 2s or 2s 6d. Where did Hallie get her 4 bob from?

[Jose Oranto]

I can't quote verbatim, but my book 'The Five' says something like Caroline died without knowing that she had infected her son Frederick. From memory, I think that was also suggested by Shelden. Well, Caroline died on November 29, 1852 and her son Frederick contracted the disease 6 months before his death on April 12, 1854, that is, between Caroline's death and when Frederick fell ill, ten and a half months passed.

I have no idea about phthisis, but, could Frederick have caught it from his mother and incubated the virus for all those almost 11 months until the disease showed up? I think Frederick's death had nothing to do with his mother's death.

[Gary Barnett]

HR says, ‘Less than 18 months after his mother’s death, Frederick too began to sicken.’

His mother died on 29th November, 1852, and according to his death certificate Frederick had been sick for 6 months when he died on 12th April, 1854, so he had been ‘sickening’ since at least November, 1853 - a year after his mother’s death.

A year is less than 18 months, so Hallie didn’t make a mistake this time. ;-) Although I suspect her less than 18 months was the time between their two deaths.

[Howard Brown]

Not sure if this was noticed before....