Old newspapers and police reports

[Ed Bradford]

|banghead| I find myself wallowing around on different web sites not finding anything conclusive concerning the location of 1901 London newspapers and police reports. I have a 14 year old ancestor that was supposedly abducted on the docks of London, by white slave traffickers, on 21 June 1901 and I’d like to prove or disprove the family story about her. Is there an Archive that has the old police reports from that period? How about an Archive of old newspapers from that time? Unfortunately, I can’t find the family in the 1901 census, so I don’t know an exact location in the London area.
|help| ……….Ed

[Colin Moretti]

Hello Ed

My first destination would be The Times; there's a digital archive (fully searchable scanned images) dating from the year dot - or at least 1785. Unfortunately it's not free access, normally through a library subscription only; maintained by Thomson Gale. http://www.gale.com/servlet/ItemDetailServlet?region=9&imprint=000&titleCode=GALEN4&cf=n&type=4&id=171940

You could try the Black Sheep index: You'll have to pay to get a printout of the press cutting.

When (if) you can find the district, you could try the relevant local studies library; they're usually very helful and will almost certainly have some local papers, quite possibly with a name index.

Let's have her name, I'll probably be going to my local library later this week, I should be able to check The Times myself unless someone beats me to it.

Colin

[Ed Bradford]

Colin, her name in the Alice Kelly/Kelley born 10 May 1887 in Hooks Cross, Aston, Hertfordshire. Her name at birth is registered as Alice Elizabeth Kelly Devoille but she was adopted by her father who later married her mother. Her parents are Joshua and Alice Kelly/Kelley. They lived near the docks but I'm not sure where. As I said, I can't find them in the 1901 census, however, in 1897 they were in Marylebone and in 1904 they were in East Ham according to birth certificates of other children. Any help you're willing to provide is appreciated. Thanks for tips on the web sites.
:) ........Ed

[Colin Moretti]

Hello Ed

I'll see what I can do.

Pity about the name, though; Kelly's not one of the most unusual ones :) At least you have a good date for the event.

Colin

[keith9351]

Could this be her

Alice Kelly 13 Hooks Cross Hertfordshire London Hampstead Kitchenmaid

Haven't access to 1901 Census at the moment but searching index shows this.

Keith

[Procat]

Hi Ed,

I have checked the Times and can find no mention of the event.

[Ed Bradford]

Keith, I'm sure that’s her living with Dr. Henry Rayner. She has the right name, age and birth location. That census was taken 31 March 1901. The abduction supposedly took place at a later date, on 21 June 1901. Although the census record casts a little suspicion on the abduction it’s still possible to have occurred. Solid proof would be to find a police report or a newspaper article about the abduction or to find mention of her existence in some other document written after 21 June 1901.

Procat, thanks for looking. I’m not familiar with how the articles in that newspaper are arranged in the archive and how they are searched so please excuse my asking what may seem like a dumb question. Did your search include a few days on either side of 21 June 1901?

.............Ed

[Procat]

Hi Ed,

Not a dumb question at all.

The Times earch engine is word based. I searched for Alice AND Kelly, Alice AND Kelley, Alice AND docks, Alice and Slave etc etc. The results come back with the article heading and it is then necessary to open each one to see what it contains.

I searched for all of 1901 and after checking the likely articles found no results.

I can not guarantee that there is not something there but I think it is unlikely.

[Ed Bradford]

Procat, your looking and not finding an article adds to my suspicion that the story isn’t true. I’m reasonably sure that the abduction of a 14 year old girl would have made the newspaper back in those days. To me, not finding the story is just as good as finding it. I have the feeling that she has just run off for some reason. I may not be able to bring this quest to a full conclusion until the 1911 census is available. In the mean time I have other avenues to pursue that will provide circumstantial evidence concerning the story’s credibility. Thank you very much for looking.
..............Ed

[scousecan]

Hello Gentlemen, I have a similar quandry as Ed . My great grandfather was murdered on the docks in the March quarter of 1911. I know not which dock. I have yet to get the death certificate which may shed more light on his passing. Henry Connor was the wharfinger at one of the docks. Given that the transportation strike erupted a few months later, I wondered if his role as a member of management could have played a role. Or maybe he was just crooked!;) Woiuld there be a police report? We were told he took the proverbial long walk off the short pier so it may have been recorded as a drowning. The concept of a Liverpudlian mafia was often mention as being involved as well...
Any ideas anyone? Thank you! Nathalie