Charles Lechmere’s Lair?

[Gary Barnett]

I can’t remember off the top of my head exactly where the Cross/Forsdike residences were in Pinchin Street. Definitely on the north side in the Pinchin/Mary Ann/Severne Streets block, though, so possibly still there in the earlier aerial photo and definitely there in 1888/9.

[Rob Clack]

It's a shame most of their photographs are post war. I think the archive is near Swindon and I will have to plan a trip at some point.

[Gary Barnett]

This is from 1949. And is from this site which is excellent.
https://www.britainfromabove.org.uk/en
You need to register to be able to zoom in and out.

Thanks, Rob. I have been registered there for a while. For some reason, though, I’d never looked for this area before.

[Rob Clack]

This is from 1949. And is from this site which is excellent.
https://www.britainfromabove.org.uk/en
You need to register to be able to zoom in and out.

[Gary Barnett]

The ‘Pinchin Street Area’ from the air. This photo shows Pinchin Street, Mary Ann Street, Splidts Street and Severne Street. The curve of the railway viaduct (bottom left) shows approximately where the torso was discovered, on the corner of PS and Backchurch Lane, and behind that - less than a minute’s walk away - was the location of the cats meat sheds.

This was Lechmere/Cross/Forsdike central for decades.

I have to thank another researcher for discovering this.

[Edward Stow]

Perhaps he also needs to check out the route from James Street to Pimchin Street.in
and Cable Street to Pinchin Steet via the underneath the arches lair on Backchurch Lane.

[Caroline Brown]

Getting back to his coffin well before sunrise I imagine, Gary.

[Gary Barnett]

Actually, I think Lord O does get out and about, I believe he has personally checked out CAL’s work route.

[Gary Barnett]

Ah
Well colloquially, as I probably said before, CAL's James Street could quite well be described as being in Stepney but that has no bearing on CAL's continuing close relationship to and proximity to Pinchin Street. It was probably 5 minutes walk away. Perhaps LO had never traipsed those streets.

Yes we made that point, and the point that by the same token Pinchin Street would also have been in Stepney. Lord O was trying to give the impression that CAL had moved away from the area by 1881.

[Edward Stow]

Ah
Well colloquially, as I probably said before, CAL's James Street could quite well be described as being in Stepney but that has no bearing on CAL's continuing close relationship to and proximity to Pinchin Street. It was probably 5 minutes walk away. Perhaps LO had never traipsed those streets.

[Gary Barnett]

I'm at a loss to recall the relevance of this Stepney business. I doubt there is any and I don't know if I can motivate myself to check.

In an attempt to counter my claim that CAL had a long-standing connection to the Pinchin Street area, DB commented that by 1881 he had moved to ‘Stepney’ and was no longer living with his mother. He described the PS connection as a ‘so-called’ connection.

When I demonstrated that he was wrong, he responded by providing 5 examples of ‘James Street, Stepney’ to prove he had been right. Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem that any of the 5 examples referred to the JS off Cannon Street Road.

[Gary Barnett]

Hi Gary,

Orsam's problem is that he is so obsessed with proving the likes of you and me wrong at all costs, that he fails to check if his own sources are not leading him astray.

For example, using Mike Barrett as a reliable source for anything has always been one of the big O's most unfathomable mistakes - yet he just can't help himself. On he goes, deeper and deeper down the same rabbit hole. He's done it again recently, and it amazes me to see otherwise intelligent and discerning readers following him slavishly into the darkness. As one highly respected researcher described Orsam's latest attempt to prove something, it's "nonsense on stilts".

Love,

Caz
X

It’s a shame. He’s a talented researcher, but his main motivation seems to be to prove others wrong.

[Gary Barnett]

We’ve disposed of 3 of Lord Orsam’s 5 James Streets, which leaves 2 to investigate.


One concerns the suicide of an ex soldier named James Welling whose body was found in Limehouse Cut in 1864. His sister, a Mrs Crouch, gave evidence at the inquest and her address was reported as 5, James Street. I haven’t conclusively identified Mrs Crouch or James Welling yet, but there was an Ann/Mary Ann Crouch who was living in Limehouse some years previously. There was a James Street in Limehouse.


The other example concerns a Benjamin Jordan, who went by the nickname of ‘Dick Turpin’. He’s rather interesting, more about him later. He seems to have been based in Mile End/Stepney though, not St Georges, so it seems unlikely that he lived in Charles Lechmere’s Street.


So, it seems Lord O drew a complete blank when looking for evidence of the St George’s James Street being described as being in Stepney. But I’m grateful for the discovery of ‘Dick Turpin’ He’s another interesting East End rogue to add to my collection.

[Edward Stow]

I'm at a loss to recall the relevance of this Stepney business. I doubt there is any and I don't know if I can motivate myself to check.

[Caroline Brown]

Hi Gary,

Orsam's problem is that he is so obsessed with proving the likes of you and me wrong at all costs, that he fails to check if his own sources are not leading him astray.

For example, using Mike Barrett as a reliable source for anything has always been one of the big O's most unfathomable mistakes - yet he just can't help himself. On he goes, deeper and deeper down the same rabbit hole. He's done it again recently, and it amazes me to see otherwise intelligent and discerning readers following him slavishly into the darkness. As one highly respected researcher described Orsam's latest attempt to prove something, it's "nonsense on stilts".

Love,

Caz
X