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Chris Scott
Inspector
Username: Chris
Post Number: 472
Registered: 4-2003
| | Posted on Wednesday, September 10, 2003 - 4:04 am: | 
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I have been doing some research regarding 27 Sun Street, Finsbury Square, where Smith allegedly took a room. What I found is posted below
Chris S.
27 Sun Street, Finsbury Square.
In August 1888, G Wentworth Bell Smith allegedly took rooms at 27 SunStreet occupied by a Mr. E Callaghan and from where he carried out the Whitechapel murders, if Forbes Winslow is to be believed.
I have traced the occupation of this address in three consecutive census returns as follows:
1881: Uninhabited
1891:
Head
Joel Bitton aged 46, born St Mary's. Whitechapel
Shirt collar dresser
Wife:
Fanny Bitton aged 46, born Stoke Newington
Children:
Montague aged 9, born Finsbury
Scholar
Others:
Elizabeth Gee aged 21, born Pimlico
Servant/Laundress
Ludlow Cunningham aged 32, born Kingston on Thames
Stationer
1901:
Head:
Francis Williams aged 32, born in Colchester, Essex
Profession illegible
Wife:
Rose Williams aged 32, born in Londonderry, Ireland
Milliner
Child:
Robert aged 10, born in Watford, Herts
The Mr. Callaghan who allegedly rented the rooms to G. W. B. Smith moved the following year (i.e. 1889) to Gainsborough Square, Victoria Park which for census purposes comes under the parish of Hackney. I have looked in the 1891 census at all entries for Gainsborough Square and there is no listing for anyone under the name of Callaghan.
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Chris Scott
Assistant Commissioner
Username: Chris
Post Number: 1098
Registered: 4-2003
| | Posted on Friday, March 26, 2004 - 2:51 pm: |
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I have found another record tday which convinces me even more that GWB Smith's real surname was either Bellsmith or Bell-Smith and that the conjuction with the unusual Christian name Wentworth was a family custom, as posted in greater detail on another thread.
A Henry Wentworth Bell Smith was registered married in Banbury, Oxfordshire in the early part of 1871. However the record is entered twice on the register in two different formats as though this confusion arose even then.
Name: Smith, Henry Wentworth B
Record Type: Marriages
Quarter: March
Year: 1871
District: Banbury
County: Northamptonshire Oxfordshire Warwickshire Volume: 3a
Name: Bell-Smith, Henry Wentworth
Record Type: Marriages
Quarter: March
Year: 1871
District: Banbury
County: Northamptonshire Oxfordshire Warwickshire Volume: 3a
I suggest again that the Sun Street suspect was actually named G Wentworth Bellsmith (or Bell-Smith)
All the best
Chris |
Chris Scott
Assistant Commissioner
Username: Chris
Post Number: 1765
Registered: 4-2003
| | Posted on Saturday, March 12, 2005 - 5:24 pm: |
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"In "The Jack the Ripper A-Z" it is suggested by the authors that Smith was an agent of the Toronto Truss Company which had offices in Finsbury Street."
The A-Z actually says "The authors suspect mistranscription of Truss Society which had offices in Finsbury Square and solicited donations."
This was the City of London Truss Society, founded in 1807 and based at 35 Finsbury Square. below is an advertisement from the 4th June 1888 which gives more details of the Society:
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Chris Scott
Assistant Commissioner
Username: Chris
Post Number: 1766
Registered: 4-2003
| | Posted on Saturday, March 12, 2005 - 5:27 pm: |
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Below is another advert from the 8th October 1888:
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