RootsChat.Com

I am trying to locate two burials, one for Annie TOPLIS(S), née LANE, and one for her husband Francis TOPLIS.

Annie died on 06 Nov 1903 at Danbury, Burton upon Trent.

Francis died on 13 April 1926 at Draycott in the Clay.

Any help or insight would be welcome.

Alice DANIELS - an actress aged 30 - appeared according to numerous newspaper reports in North London Police Court on 28 Oct 1899, charged with attempted suicide.

She had been cohabiting with a "man of foreign appearance", with whom she had evidently quarrelled,  giving rise to her suicide attempt. At the first hearing - date not clear from reports - the defendant's daughter was left in the charge of the man she had been living with. The daughter is described as being approximately 18 months. At the subsequent hearing, the man asked to be relieved of caring duties, asking for the defendant to be released on bail so as to be able to care for the child. This was refused and the court ordered the child to be taken to the workhouse. Presumably the Islington workhouse. The refusal was based on the fact that the defendant had been up before Guildhall court the previous month for an earlier attempt at suicide.

Eventually - at a third hearing? - the court released both the defendant and her child, on the condition that they moved into a safe environment, a "nursing" home for the acting profession, championed by a Mr Holmes, who seems to have been a proto social worker attached to the court.

I have discovered that Alice was admitted to Islington Workhouse on 11 Oct 1899 and discharged on 13 Oct 1899. This seems to pre-date the second suicide attempt, though I must admit I am finding it difficult to keep track of the dates. I cannot, however, find an admission date for her daughter.

Indeed, her daughter remains a total mystery, even her name remaining unknown. According to reports she was 18 months to 2 years of age.

I would very much like to discover what happened to Alice and her daughter in the immediate aftermath of the court hearing. Where and what was this nursing home for the acting profession? When and where was the daughter born? And what was her name?

Alice - though I am not certain that it is her - next pops up according to the 1901 census as a boarder at the home of Hattie Taylor in Retcar Street, St Pancras. If it is her, she has no daughter.

There are numerous newspaper reports on FindMyPast relating to the case. And of course Workhouse records are to be found on Ancestry. I am, however, having great difficulties in weaving a coherent story from the various threads and sources. I find the workhouse records particularly problematic. So any help would be gratefully received.


 

James SMYTH - if the census is to be believed - was born in Orford in 1812.

He married Susannah GILBERT in 1843 in Lambeth. According to the marriage certificate, he was an iron founder. His father was named as Henry SMYTH, a wheel-wright.

He died in 1865 in Greenwich, described as an iron moulder.

I can find no record of his birth, by which I mean his baptism. Nor can I find him prior to his marriage, in the 1841 census.

I have tried looking for his father in 1841, also without success..

Any help appreciated.

The above woman turns up in the 1881, 1891, 1901 and 1911 censuses in the Islington area. In all four, she is described as single and a dress-maker. The references are: RG11 246 14 22, RG12 141 7 11, RG13 159 27 45 and RG14 800. All four censuses are clear that she was born in St Albans in 1843. She died in Islington in July 1917 and was buried at St Pancras Cemetery.

I can't find any record of her birth or baptism, perhaps because she is almost certainly Catholic. Nor can I find her in the 1851, 1861 or 1871 censuses.

I am particularly interested in her, as she had a close relationship to the Connelly family. In 1866, she was the informant on the death certificate of James CONNELLY. He died at Red Cap Cottages, whilst her address was Whittington Place, the same address as the 1881 census. So why isn't she there in 1871?

She also took in Hannah Connelly, the daughter of the above James, following his death. According to newspaper reports on FindMyPast, she was Hannah's "aunt".

She was also a witness at the marriage of another daughter, Jane Connelly, in 1884, at St Saviour de Sales in Tottenham.

Finally, she was a witness at the re-marriage of James Connelly's wife, Mary Ann Connelly (née Boyd) to John King in 1872 at the Sacred Heart in Islington.

I am really trying to research the Connelly family, but I am being hindered by not understanding the relationship of Anna Mary Walters to the family.