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

[ET in the USA]

You may have your work cut out for you searching for a 23 year old named Alice on the 1911 census. A quick free search shows 387 entries for Alice, Born 1887 +/- 2 years in Hertfordshire. Maybe if you look at them you will get vibes.

Elaine

[Ed Bradford]

Thanks Elaine. There are several on there that are possibilities. Also she could have married by then. I checked RootsWeb and found several possibilities there as well. She may not have listed a father's name on the marriage certificate so that might be a dead end and to run down every lead could get expensive. I'll dig around and see if I can narrow my search further. Can you think of any other way to approach this problem? ..............Ed

[ET in the USA]

Can you think of any other way to approach this problem? ..............Ed

Have you tried researching Dr. Henry Raynor ? Where he was after 1901, what type of doctor was he, etc ?

Even if she died later using her own name, she still might have been outside the Free B/M/D range. If it wasn't, there are lots of possibles.

We are looking for a 13 year old run-away/abducted kitchen maid named Alice Kell* who may or may not have changed her name through marriage or whim, and who may or may not have been "in the family way" or madly in 'love'. :confused:


I searched "Police records" + "london docks" and found the source below. Have you tried that ?

THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES


(of England and Wales and the United Kingdom)

Until April 2003 known as “The Public Record Office”
Address: Ruskin Avenue, Kew, Richmond, Surrey TW9 9DU
Telephone: 020 8392 5200 From U.S.: 011 44 20 8392 5200
Website: www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ (http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/)
Online catalog: www.catalogue.nationalarchives.gov.uk (http://www.catalogue.nationalarchives.gov.uk/)

Police records: London Metropolitan (1829-1932) and Royal Irish Constabulary (1836-1922)

***************************

I came at my own London mystery from the other direction. Jennie Marion Wood was born in London on 14 Feb 1864 & was my husband's G Grandmother. Who were her family ? I found a likely girl/family on the 1881 census, but she was named Sarah Jane Maria Wood, Occ: General Servant. I ordered her birth cert, and she was born 14 Feb 1864. I also researched her sisters based on family information. They had the correct married names & 1 was even in the household of Jennie in 1891. Same person to be sure, but why she left London, went to Weston-super-Mare, Somerset & changed her name [but not her surname], total mystery. I also have never found where/when she married G Grandfather, so maybe the mystery is she was already married ??? Doubt we will ever find an answer.
Good Luck :)
Elaine

[ET in the USA]

|idea|There is an Alice Kelly who received a medal for being a Nurse in the war 1914 - 1920. Medal cards don't say much about family, maybe an***y war info would say more ? Long shot, but why not.
ET

[Ed Bradford]

Elaine, your summation of the facts is spot on. No, I haven’t tried looking for Dr. Raynor any further and that’s a good tip.

Someone did look through the police reports and newspaper articles for me and found nothing. Finding nothing may mean that the abduction didn’t occur and that I’m looking for someone that doesn’t want to be found.

The family story goes that after the abduction her father, Joshua Kelly, joined the merchant marine and sailed the seas for many years in search of her. Yet I find him living by himself in Ohio in 1906 and that he had sent tickets to England for two sons to join him there. Sometime later, Joshua has rejoined the remainder of his family in England. He died in December of 1920 on the eve of moving his entire family to America. For some reason his wife buried him in England under the last name of O’Kelly. The wife, Alice, and the remaining children do move to Pennsylvania about a year later. It was about that time she started using the surname Kelley full time.

I have acquired a copy of a diary kept by Alice Kelly/Kelley the mother of “abducted” Alice. In it for 21 June 1901, the date of the supposed abduction, she wrote “Alice left home.” From that I conclude that I may very well be chasing a figment of imagination.

This family has caused me to use every research skill I possess.

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

[ET in the USA]

The family story goes that after the abduction her father, Joshua Kelly, joined the merchant marine and sailed the seas for many years in search of her. Yet I find him living by himself in Ohio in 1906 and that he had sent tickets to England for two sons to join him there.

What did you find him on from 1906 ? I looked at the census records on HeritageQuest for 1910 - searching <Joshua> born <England> living <Ohio> and found nothing close to Kelly/Kelley.

Have you looked at passenger records or Merchant Marine records ?
Elaine

[Ed Bradford]

I found the information about Joshua's location in 1906 when I began looking for his two sons who came to America early. It was in the Ellis Island records of the two sons. It states that they were traveling on to Kent, Ohio to join their father and gave his mailing address. It also states that the father paid for the passage. I too couldn't find Joshua in the 1910 Ohio or Pennsylvania census. His two sons are there. I also couldn't find him or the remainder of his family in England during the 1901 census and also no luck in the 1911 census so far.

I've tried some passinger records looking for Joshua but haven't found him. He may have entered the USA through a port on the Great Lakes or through Canada. I need to go to the archives to dig through their records to see if I can find him.

I don't know how to track him through the merchant marine but that sounds like a good idea.

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

[ET in the USA]

Ed,

Have you looked at this thread that conveniently started after I suggested the Merchant Marine records ?

http://www.british-genealogy.com/forums/showthread.php?t=40852

Elaine

[Ed Bradford]

Elaine, That one did catch my eye. Thanks for pointing it out though. .........Ed