General Chat

There is a series on one of the Sky channels about Britain's twenty worst murderers.

I can't wait for the series about the twenty best ones!

:-D :-D :-D

:-D :-D :-D :-D

I guess the twenty best ones were never discovered! :-D

The worst ones were pretty efficient.

This charmer is hanging somewhere from a branch in my tree god rest her soul:

http://murderpedia.org/female.W/w/waddingham-dorothea.htm

otoh another rellie, dec., had a connection to Albert Pierrepoint and lived in the same road as him at one time.

One of my GGF was a D.I. at Mile End and was one of the many working on the Ripper murders.

I once owned a house in Friern Barnett in which a previous occupant had been murdered. I never lost any sleep over it. OTOH I did not remove the window bars from the ground floor.

It is always interesting when yr tree throws up the unexpected.

Was the house in Friern Barnet called Colney Hatch by any chance Rollo?

Do you know about the scandal that brought down the first New Poor Law Commission?

Look up Marylebone Workhouse and all will be revealed.

That was brought about by a gentleman profiting from the ownership of ahouse that was very similar to Colney Hatch.

Oh Rollo you must have a connection to Joyous.......Nusre Waddingham is in her family tree. :-)

no of course it wasn't, by my time good 'ol N11 was usually known as New Southgate though of course the looming towers of Friern Barnet hosp. could not be missed. I don't think the phrase "Colney Hatch" has the same resonance with the denizens of Barnet, Edmonton and Hampstead that was once the case ;-)

Much has changed. The hosp. is no more and my fav pub in the area "The Turrets" is closed and derelict.

As it happens I have a guy in my tree who was on the board of guardians of Marylebone Workhouse. He was def. not on the make and did all within his power to improve conditions for people.

As it happens, neither was anybody else at Marylebone workhouse, whether they had the good fortune to grace your tree or not, but the man in question was.

Poor law administration was a prime source of bumbledum and petty corrution going all the way back to Speenhamland. In that it merely reflected how the country as a whole was run. The period was of course most famousy described by Dickens in "Oliver Twist".

By the end of the C19 the UK was vastly improved in both wealth and health. The work house system was coming to an end.

There is nothing much in the history of the Marylebone Workhouse at variance with the history of the Poor Law in London (Middlesex) parishes as a whole. Who was this guy apparantly more venal than the average ? Z.P. ?

These events happened long long ago, I was a landlord in the area 1970s though I suppose that is long ago too now. In any event none of my tenants were "on the social" or escaped renegades from Colney Hatch.

George Coode.

Was it Coode, or was it Mott??? :-D

It was George Coode. Crafty old git!

:-D :-D :-D

I am glad the Turretts is shut. Last time I was in there I was beaten senseless by a mindless group of blokes, one of them hit me so hard over the head with a bottle that it smashed leaving me bleading and unconscious. I still have the scars.

Despite being a listed building the Turrets has been demolished and a block of flats is being built on the site. However "The Banker's Draft" across the road is doing fine. Tha Banker's Draft was formerly a branch of the London & Provincial Bank. One of my lot was a director of L&P though based in Finsbury.

I had many a merry evening at the Turrets sad to see it gone.

Bit of a 'dive' then, Bob? :-(

Sharron,
I've read what I can, but Mott seems the villain to me - a greedy, slimey 'out for all he can get' lower middle class 'on his way up' toad.
Or have I totally misjudged him :-S

It is quite complicated isn't it?

You have to consider the position George Coode held I think.