Fame at last

[Gallicrow]

Perhaps "The Lighter Side" isn't quite the right place to put this story as it involves a rather unpleasant murder...

I've finally found a relative of mine who had a brush with fame - My third cousin, twice removed was called Mabel Dorothy Bowdidge. She feels like a closer relative because my mother's maiden name was Bowdidge and I spend a lot of my time researching Bowdidges.

Anyway, Mabel was born in 1898 and in 1928 she married an Italian called Bianco Bonati. Bianco's first wife had died just the year before, though they had been separated for some time before then. She was called Minnie Alice Bonati (nee Budd) and she was murdered in 1927 by someone called John Robinson. Having done the deed, Robinson chopped Mabel up, put her in a large trunk and left the trunk in the left-luggage office at Charing Cross Station.

The body was soon discovered due to the smell and the police did an excellent job at working out who the victim was and tracking down her killer.
See: https://murderpedia.org/male.R/r/robinson-john.htm

[Rosinish]

This was a great find although I don't think I'd call it 'Fame' but the story is certainly gruesome, moreso being a relative and due to events gave your relative 'worthy' recognition.

I could almost relate to Victoria Station except it was Victoria Bus Station I arrived at in London, 50 yrs after this crime (1977).

However, regardless of what we find, it's all part of our family history & worth keeping note of for future generations.

When I said 'worthy', I was meaning nobody deserves to die in the way your relative did, regardless of being a prostitute, she was a human being.

A very sad ending to her life whatever the reason for her decision to be in the trade she was 

Annie

[Ruskie]

“Notoriety” at last”, might be a more appropriate title. 

If I understand the connection, Minnie, the poor murdered lass wasn’t related to you was she?  She was the first wife of someone who married into your family?

[Gallicrow]

Yes, the connection to my family is tenuous at best.

[andrewalston]

Ne'er-do-wells always seem more interesting, and they have the advantage that they have more official records surviving than those who just stayed home and begat another generation.

I did some research for someone whose ancestry was a little mixed up - with married people cohabiting with someone else, then marrying later (bigamously, it turns out).

When I came across their great grandfather appearing in court, they were intrigued, and I said I would look further before their next visit.

The newspapers turned up many references to him, and he had a name unique enough for the identity to be certain. Besides the attempt to claim an allowance for his "wife" when joining up under a false name in WWI, there were several other appearances in court. Three of them were for "keeping a disorderly house", one of which gave the identity of the woman who was his "wife" in 1911.

I worried about delivering the evidence, but they were delighted. "Something interesting to tell the relatives!"

[Gallicrow]

I think as long as the events are long enough ago we tend to see bad behaviour as entertaining rather than something to be embarrassed about.

That's not the case with those relatives that we discover in dire circumstances. I remember the first time I discovered a direct relative staying in a workhouse in the 1911 census - I couldn't sleep that night, worrying about what happened to them.

I still get upset when I discover someone has died in their teens. Dying under the age of five seems par for the course, but if they get to 10 or so you're eagerly looking for information about who and when they married, how many children they had, whether they stayed local or emigrated; and then you find a stark burial record showing that their life ended before it had properly begun.

[coombs]

Poor Mabel, glad her killer was caught. Your story does ring a bell, I am sure I heard about a body left inside a trunk at a London station.

I always find ancestors who moved around, had brushes with the law, or who fell under poor law more interesting than ones who just stayed in the same village all their lives and were normal. We love a soap opera life for ancestors, makes them easier to trace.

[Gallicrow]

Sorry, it was Minnie (first wife of Italian waiter and non-relative) rather than Mabel (second wife of Italian waiter and relative) who was murdered. I see I inadvertently wrote "Robinson chopped Mabel up" rather than "Robinson chopped Minnie up". Mabel, as far as I am aware, remained un-chopped up for her entire life, which is as much as you can hope for really.

[coombs]

Oh yes, Minnie Bonarti (Nee Budd). What a nasty man, whether it was 10 years ago or 100 years ago, but as it did happen so long ago, we do tend to see the more intriguing side.