You're right, of course - silly of me. The death certificate must have said the same. Not that 2 is quite correct either, as the burial was on the 1 December, before his birthday....

That age is the one given in the burial register (and probably on the death certificate too), but is obviously a bit wrong. So whatever the source was, it would also have given the date of death or burial.

Probably the Sheldens gave her details of the death/burial as well as the birth....

All of which was well known to the person who wrote this page on the "Find a Grave" website for his burial at the City of London and Tower Hamlets Cemetery!
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/...walker-nichols

It includes images of his entries in the baptism and burial...

And finally, Rubenhold acknowledges Neal and Jenni Shelden for the discovery of the eldest son, William Edward Walker Nichols (b. 17 December 1864). A bit later she gives a cryptic clue about his death - she says he "failed to live more than a year and nine months". That indicates he would...

Thanks. That is reassuring in a way, because I certainly can't find a registration of the birth of an Edward John born on 4 July 1866.

A look at Shelden's books explains things. In his original book he says Edward John was born in Camberwell in 1865 or 1866, which is what the 1881 census...

Coupled to the difficulty of finding a death for the eldest child William, I can't find a birth for the second one, Edward John. Rubenhold says he was born on Trafalgar Street on 4 July 1866, but doesn't state any source for the information.

Maybe I'm somehow missing it, but I am sceptical...

I am doubtful about that burial in Kensington. Here is the entry from Ancestry (the date given is 17 July for the burial, not 17 June for the death):



Although the age is about right, there is only one given name, and it's a different part of London from the family's other...

Thanks for posting this, which looks excellent. Obviously a lot of work has gone into it. It's very useful to have the biographical facts laid out clearly and succinctly, with source references.

Howard uploaded links to several issues of the Whitechapel Society journal, including the one where this article appeared:
https://www.jtrforums.com/filedata/fetch?id=589306

I think there is some additional material in your post, though, including the burial entry of Rhoda mentioning...

That would go along with Maria's employer being a toy dealer, I suppose....

A new musical play entitled "Kill the Ripper" by a Canadian playwright, Fairlith Harvey, is described as ""darkly comic female-led Victorian era revenge fantasy featuring over-the-top fight and movement sequences set to an original murder ballad meets-modern music score", about...

That's a good point. Thinking she should be easier to find in the census than Wilhelmina, having been born in the Netherlands, I couldn't resist having a quick search, and this looks like her in 1891, in service at 57 King's Road, St Luke's Chelsea. I would never have thought of searching for the spelling...

I haven't seen anyone doing that on this thread. Can you quote a single example of it?...

I think we really are all well aware of that already.

Perhaps it would help if you could explain what point you're trying to make by saying that....

It would be interesting to know where that brothel was and who ran it. It was supposed to be in Limehouse, not Fulham.

But as far as I know, her history is a complete blank between 1881 (when she was 4) and her marriage in 1897, apart from the statement by Grant Fenwick:
"I have...