Hi there,
I'm researching my paternal grandfathers side of the family, recording on ancestry.com and have just started a blog on wordpress. I absolutely love Whitby, having spent a couple of family holidays there and a romantic weekend with my husband about 25 years ago. I had known that we were related to the Foxtons in Whitby, and unless my memory is playing tricks on me I seem to recall some quite fancy graves there for the Foxton family. So imagine my shock when I came across the reality. No problem with fish sellers, hawkers or even beggars, super=interesting to find out about the history of such poverty and hardship - but goodness me that poor girl. So I've spent hours and hours trying to find out what happened to her. How terrible for this to happen, she was twelve and her brother John was 25. Of course no social services then to find out whether Elizabeth was the only victim in the family. No victim anonymity. Everyone would have known. She had three older sisters and two younger. More press cuttings and research show that Elizabeth was caught begging soon afterwards, sent out by her father along with other siblings. She was sent to an Industrial School (secure children home) in York for the next four years. I can only imagine what a life she must have had before and thereafter. The trail goes cold afterwards, I have found a girl same name and age working in the cotton mills in Manchester at 24, and a death in Sheffield the following year. There are other press cuttings, showing tales of violence drunkenness, other siblings of young Elizabeth spending time in reform schools and my Great Grandad John being described as a 'Bad' character. His wife, my great grandma was found dead in bed after no apparent ill health at the age of 50. So did you ever see the death registered in Sheffield? Or the possibility living in Manchester (shown as sister-in law). I think that after schooling it would be really unlikely that the 17 year old Elizabeth would have gone back to that miserable life, and her abuser, in Whitby. My first post - a bit long - but this story has really got to me! I do realise a lot of it is already known to you, but wondered if my leads may have been disregarded (Sheffield and Manchester) in the past, and why.
