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Chris Scott
Assistant Commissioner
Username: Chris

Post Number: 1182
Registered: 4-2003
Posted on Thursday, April 22, 2004 - 9:12 am:   Edit PostDelete PostView Post/Check IPPrint Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)Ban Poster IP (Moderator/Admin only)

Emma Elizabeth Smith has been elusive when it came to finding any details about her. From the contemporary notes made at the time of her assault and death a few bare facts can be garnered.
Her death was registered in Whitechapel showing her age at death to be 45. If this were reliable she would have been born circa 1842/43
She said she had come from the country so we should be looking for someone born outside London, a rural area.
She said she had not seen her friends for 10 years and so presumably moved to London circa 1878.
So we should be looking for an Emma Elizabeth Smith born outside London circa 1842/43 who appears in the 1881 London census, does not appear int the 1871 Londond census (as she would not yet have been living there) and also not in the London 1891 census as she would by that time be dead. As her name in the source material is variously quoted as Emma Eliza and Emma Elizabeth so I searched under both.
There was no Emma Eliza Smith or Emma Elizabeth Smith in the 1881 born in the region of 1842/43. However, I did find one record which caught my interest as it fulfils the above criteria.


Address: 118 Central Street, London
Central Street is located in western Shoreditch, running south from the City Road.

Head:
John Smith aged 45 born Margate, Kent - Pensioner 35th regiment (Army)
Wife:
Emma E Smith aged 37 (i.e. born 1843 or 1844)
Born Plymouth, Devon

I have searched extensively for Emma E Smith in the 1871 and 1891 census for London and she appears in neither.

I followed up the 35th regiment from which her husband was a pensioner and something very interesting emerged. The full title of this regiment was the 35th Royal Sussex Regiment of Foot. This regiment ceased to exist under this name on the 1st July 1881 when it was incorporated into Royal Sussex Regiment, the same regiment whose crest appeared on the envelope found in the yard at Hanbury Street.
The crest of the regiment is below.
Any more info on this lady I will post here.
Chris



sussex

(Message edited by Chris on April 22, 2004)
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Natalie Severn
Chief Inspector
Username: Severn

Post Number: 705
Registered: 11-2003
Posted on Thursday, April 22, 2004 - 4:50 pm:   Edit PostDelete PostView Post/Check IPPrint Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)Ban Poster IP (Moderator/Admin only)

Thanks for yet another intriguing find Chris.I have begun to notice quite a few references to soldiers and the army in this case.
Best Natalie

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