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Jennifer McFall
August 2, 2019
Ripperologists are having a wonderful time with my great-grandmother, Mary Jane Wilson, nee Kelly. My grandfather was married as Arthur John Sullivan and his war medals reflect that name (John Sullivan), but his earlier war records were William John Wilson (b September 1887). He always stated his birthday was July 5 a number of years earlier than that and only in his final year did he admit he was turning “80 in September” (1967). Grandfather said that his mother was a Kelly but never admitted any association to Wilson. His father, Robert Wilson, was a baker and we are assuming that he abandoned the family.
Ripperologists are also trying to tie in my grandmother, Elsie Frances Searle, to the mystery. She was the god-daughter of the Earl of Carnarvon (her aunt was working for the Earl at the time of her birth 4 July 1881) and her mother and grandmother were dressmakers for the nobility. I think at the time she was born, “Aunt Lizzie” was working at Highclere House. Elsie’s grandmother, Eliza or Elizabeth Bateman was “disowned” by her family in Cork, Ireland, when she married a policeman, James Ryan. The couple appear in the 1851 census in Mortlake, Surrey, in a very well-appointed house which my mother lived in for her first ten years before her father lost it in a court battle.
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