The Real Mary Kelly - Wynne Weston-Davies

[Gary Barnett]

And here's 347 for completeness.

[Debra Arif]

I deleted my previous post because it may have been confusing - sorry.

Here's the ER entry:

[ATTACH]14670[/ATTACH]

I posted a news snippet about the electoral registers a few weeks ago that reported a query where 306 MER had wrongly been described as a dwelling in the published electoral when it should have been described as an 'office' as the original form had described it and that it was the office of the ELA.

http://www.jtrforums.com/showthread.php?t=24151&page=2 post #77

edit: I thought it was the same name in the snip and ER but obviously not.

[Gary Barnett]

I posted a news snippet about the electoral registers a few weeks ago that reported a query where 306 MER had wrongly been described as a dwelling in the published electoral when it should have been described as an 'office' as the original form had described it and that it was the office of the ELA.

http://www.jtrforums.com/showthread.php?t=24151&page=2 post #77

edit: I thought it was the same name in the snip and ER but obviously not.

So was Hasted connected to the ELA?

[Debra Arif]

So was Hasted connected to the ELA?

I think he was a printer but don't know if he was connected or not, Gary.

I just realised we had this ER entry before and Halsted was living at 306 in 1891, I think Ed posted it? I don't suppose there was re-numbering or anything?

[Gary Barnett]

I think he was a printer but don't know if he was connected or not, Gary.

I just realised we had this ER entry before and Halsted was living at 306 in 1891, I think Ed posted it? I don't suppose there was re-numbering or anything?

Yes, he was a printer. I'm now wondering whether there was any connection between the business premises and the accommodation above it? Perhaps the ELA and Hasted were both tennants? In which case, FSC's use of the address wouldn't prove a connection to the paper?

Lots of question marks. I'm not really up to speed on this. I did buy the book, but it's in Romford and I'm in sunny Lyme Regis, so I can't look stuff up.

[Debra Arif]

Yes, he was a printer. I'm now wondering whether there was any connection between the business premises and the accommodation above it? Perhaps the ELA and Hasted were both tennants? In which case, FSC's use of the address wouldn't prove a connection to the paper?

Lots of question marks. I'm not really up to speed on this. I did buy the book, but it's in Romford and I'm in sunny Lyme Regis, so I can't look stuff up.

Hasted is listed at the address in 1886 when he was appointed a Manager of the Stepney and Mile End Old Town Group of Schools in a school board publication. I already posted the Sells' Dictionary of the World's Press for 1886 too, that listed the ELA at this address in that same year.

[SGerrard]

What's the history of the ELA? Does anybody know?

[Debra Arif]

From a 1908 Dictionary of Biography:
East London Advertiser. no. 1, etc. Nov. 29, 1862—March 31, 1866. Discontinued March 31, 1866.
East London Advertiser. no. 927, etc. Jan. 3,1885, to date. [Formerly published as:] Tower Hamlets Independent.

The Tower Hamlets Independent had two different addresses listed at different time but both in Mile End Rd.

[Gary Barnett]

What exactly was a 'penny a line' reporter? Would they have been staff or freelance? Couldn't FSC have lived in Hammersmith and delivered his copy once a week to the ELA?

Of course, WWD wants his guy to both live and work at 306, MER. The living bit gives him the opportunity to stalk MJK in the East End and the working bit supports his identification of him as the man in the sketch.

[Edward Stow]

The most likely explanation is that he used his work address as a correspondence address - for whatever reason - and lived in Hammersmith, commuting to work.

[Chris G.]

What exactly was a 'penny a line' reporter? Would they have been staff or freelance? Couldn't FSC have lived in Hammersmith and delivered his copy once a week to the ELA?

Of course, WWD wants his guy to both live and work at 306, MER. The living bit gives him the opportunity to stalk MJK in the East End and the working bit supports his identification of him as the man in the sketch.

In regard to the characterization "penny-a-line reporter," I would assume he would have been on the staff of the newspaper, particularly as he reported on court proceedings on a regular basis.

Best regards

Chris

[SGerrard]

Thinking about the size of 306 MER - it was occupied in 1911 by William Hasted and by William Smith, a caretaker; his wife Catherine, a housekeeper and their daughter Amelia, a dressmaker. The Smith’s occupied 4 rooms in the property. 306 MER is listed on the ER for 1911 as a ‘house and printing office’ occupied by William Hasted, of Wilholme, Chadwick Road [which was a no. 8] Walwood Park, Leytonstone, which was a substantial house contianing 10 rooms excluding the usual. Hasted is listed on the census for 1911 as a Printer and Stationer and an employer living with his wife Annie, their four children; his sister-in-law Helena Leshaw; and three servants. Nearby properties [302-18] appear to have had 5 or 6 rooms; which might suggest that 306 was one of the smaller properties on MER, perhaps like that at 322, as posted by Gary.
In terms of 306 having housed a printing office, the offices of the ELA and Craig’s lodgings in 1886-8, it’s possible – although all things considered it seems more likely to me that Craig was using the address, quite plausibly his workplace, as a correspondence address during this period.

[SGerrard]

As an aside, here's Hasted in trouble for flouting employment rules in 1900:



London Evening Standard 26th April 1900

[Robert Linford]

About re-numbering : 1881

[Gary Barnett]

It seems, then that 306, MER was probably a ground floor shop/business premises with 4-roomed accommodation above. That would seem a tight fit for the Hasted family alone.