Spooky Trees

Lavinia Stratford – A Candidate for Bella in the Wych Elm?

A few months back, I read M.J. Trow’s 2023 volume on the Bella in the Wych Elm mystery. The book was a disappointment. It suffered from a number of errors and inaccuracies. On top of that, the dearth of source citations meant that readers and researchers were left wondering what was fact and what was speculation.

Trow’s theory was that Bella might have been a Romany, perhaps a prostitute, who may have been identical with a woman named Lavinia F. Stratford. I won’t go into Trow’s theory in detail as it involves a lot of “maybe” and “might have” and “perhaps” but an overview follows.

As an aside, the name associated with the woman is sometimes Lavonia (in a police report), mostly Lavinia (genealogical records) with one occurrence of Lavina (passenger manifest). This is likely due to transcription/handwriting errors but other evidence indicates that the woman is the same, regardless of how her first name is spelled.

Lavonia Stratford – A London Prostitute?

Trow had come across a police report documenting the 1935 arrest of a London pimp (Fernand Modena). One of the women apparently associated with him (and possibly a prostitute) was 21 year old Lavonia Stratford from Birmingham (born 1914). Most of Modena’s prostitutes were French and he, and most of his girls, were all apparently deported back to the Continent with the exception of Lavonia, who was British.

Trow notes that Lavinia and Lavonia are very similar names and that they are common Romany names, with the Romany word luvvani meaning prostitute. Curious, Trow searched for Lavinia/Lavonia Stratford in the genealogical records and found a 1939 National Registration entry for Lavinia F. Stratford born 17 October 1914, living at 120 Princess Court, Paddington, London. While Trow states that Lavinia was born in London, this is inaccurate as the National Registration records do not list places of birth, just the date of birth.

While knowing nothing of her parents, Trow theorized that they were perhaps gypsies and perhaps came from the Black Patch gypsy centre on the northwestern outskirts of Birmingham. A long stream of speculation follows in order to support his statement that “I believe that Lavonia Stratford was Bella”. Trow provides no further documentation or original source records to support this belief, which is unfortunate. A belief without facts is simply wishful thinking. My goal in this blog is to dive deep into the genealogical records and see what we can find on Lavinia Stratford.

Lavinia Stratford’s Birth

The 1939 National Registration is always a particularly helpful genealogical record as it provides us with the exact birth date of a person. In this case, we know that Lavinia was born 17, October, 1914. In searching through the records on Ancestry, the first record I came across was a 1916 baptism record of a Lavinia Tandy Stratford.

Now the first thing to note is that the record was indexed as Lavinia Sandy Stratford, but if one examines the record, it looks very unlike an “S” and more like a “T” (very similar to the “F” in Frederick and Francis). So we have a Lavinia Tandy Stratford who was baptized on 14 January 1916 at St. David’s Church in Birmingham. The date of her birth is noted in the side margin and is 17 October, 1914, matching the 1939 National Registration record for Lavinia F. Stratford

The odds that there could be two Lavinia Stratfords (one with an “F” and one with a “T” as their middle initials), both born on 17 October, 1941, is highly unlikely. And, as we shall see, there is confirmation from a 1939 electoral register that the Lavinia F. Stratford in the 1939 National Registration was indeed Lavinia T(andy) Stratford).

We also see, from the baptism registration, that Lavinia had an older brother, Francis MacDonald Stratford born 7 January 1913, who was also baptized on 14 January, 1916, in the same Birmingham church.

The parents of both children are Frederick Ernest and Mary Eleanor Stratford, residing at 89 Pershore Street in Birmingham. Frederick’s occupation is “chauffeur”, most likely the driver of one of the newish-fangled motor cars that were taking the world by storm at that time. A chauffeur would not only have driven the motor car but would also have been expected to repair it and fix flat tires along the way. Frederick was one of the early breeds of automobile mechanics.

The church in which they were bapitzed is most likely St. David’s Parish Church (Church of England), that used to be located on Bissell Street in Highgate, Birmingham. (St David’s Church, Highgate – Wikipedia). The Stratfords resided at 89 Pershore Street, which is 650 metres from the former location of St. David’s Church, or about a 10 minute walk. St. David’s was possibly damaged during the Second World War and was torn down in 1947, with the parish being re-assigned to St. Luke’s.

This one record has provided us with a lot of valuable information – names of parents, occupation of father, name of brother and an address. From this, we can expand our search for Lavinia.

1939 Electoral Register & National Register

We are now going to jump forward 25 years or so to make the Lavinia Tandy Stratford connection as it will be important for investigating other records. The trail of genealogical bread-crumb clues is very rarely a straight-forward chronological line!

First, the 1939 National Register which Trow had referenced. The extract is below…

The address (ditto’d from the top of the page) is 120 Princess Court, Paddington, London. Lavinia’s schedule number is 308/1 and her National Registration identity card number would have been APAG 308/1. Lavinia was female, born 17 October, 1914. Note that there is no place of birth on the record. She was single and had no occupation, being of “private means”. There is no entry on the facing page, which often noted wartime occupations or wartime volunteer duties.

As for her name, at first glance, it could be read as “STRATFORD, Lavinia F.” and that is indeed how it is indexed in Ancestry. But if one zooms in on the image…

One can see several “T”s and “F”s written by the census taker. We should also note that the paper suffered damage at some point and scotch tape was used to hold it together (the dark stain behind her name). The initial after “Lavinia” would, to me, appear to actually be a “T”, and there is simply a random dot that makes it look as if it has the cross-piece of an “F”.

This theory is supported by the 1939 Electoral Register from London where we find…

… Lavinia Tandy Stratford residing at 120 Princess Court in London. She was qualified to vote in the Parliamentary elections (with a Residence (woman) (Rw) qualification) and was entitled to vote in the local elections (with an Occupational (woman) (Ow) qualification). She was not able to be a Juror (no J behind her name). This is obviously the same individual as on the 1939 National Registration (same street address) and confirms my theory that Lavinia’s middle initial was a “T” not “F”. Her middle name was not Sandy or some “F” name, it was Tandy.

I should mention the closed record below Lavinia’s name in the 1939 National Registration. Records are closed for 100 years into the past, so anyone who was born from 1924 to 1939 would be a closed record. As we move ahead a year, a year’s worth of records get opened up. Whoever lies under the closed record was 16 years old or younger in 1939. But from the sequential Schedule numbers, we can see that this person would have been #309/1, a completely different “household” from Lavinia, and likely residing at 121 Princess Court. So, the closed record was not her child and probably no relation to her.

From the records we have examined, we can see that Lavinia Tandy Stratford, born 17 October, 1914, is definitely our quarry. This is confirmed by the baptismal register, by the 1939 National Registration and by the 1939 electoral register. We now jump forward one year to a 1940 Passenger List.

1940 Passage from France to the United States of America

I was a bit skeptical when I came across this record but… given what we have learned about Lavinia to date, this passenger list allowed a lot of other pieces to fall into place. First, we have the passenger manifest of the Italian registered SS Rex, a passenger ship sailing from Genoa, Italy to New York, USA via Naples and Gibralter.

The ship sailed from Genoa on the 2nd April, 1940, from Naples on the 3rd April and from Gibralter on the 5 April. The ship arrived in New York on 11 April, 1940. According to the ship’s manifest, Lavina T. Stratford (not Lavinia as earlier but likely simply a typo) sailed from Genoa on April 2. She is listed as the 10th entry on List 3 of the manifest.

1940 Passenger Manifest of the SS Rex carrying Lavinia Tandy Stratford from Genoa to NYC – left hand page.
(Ancestry)

According to this page of the manifest, Lavina was a 25 year old single female with no occupation listed, not even “domestic duties” or “housewife”. She could read/write and speak English and was of English nationality and race. Her birthplace, however, was Paisley in Scotland! We shall come back to that in due course. Lavina applied for and received a visa on 19 March, 1940, from the US embassy in Nice, France. Her last permanent residence was Antibes, France, a coastal community just east of Cannes, along the Mediterranean, about 60 km west of the Italian border. Nice lies 20 km east of Antibes and Genoa is about 220 km to the east of Antibes.

1940 Passenger Manifest of the SS Rex carrying Lavinia Tandy Stratford from Genoa to NYC – right hand page.
(Ancestry)

On the facing page of the manifest, we learn that Lavina’s nearest relative was Mary, her mother, living in Birmingham. Lavina’s final destination was stated as being France via New York. Lavina had a ticket for her final destination (France) and had paid for the ticket herself. She also had at least $50 in her possession but had never been to the USA before. She was going to visit/join/stay with her friend, Mr. Norman Lee of 28 East 10th Street, New York City. Lavina planned to return to France on 27 June, 1940, and had no intention of emigrating to the USA. She wasn’t an anarchist or a polygamist. Her health was good, she had no deformities and she was 5’5″ tall with a fair complexion and chestnut hair.

Antibes, France - Residence of Lavinia Tandy Stratford in 1940
(Image by SoleneC1 from Pixabay)
Antibes, France – Residence of Lavinia Tandy Stratford in 1940
(Image by SoleneC1 from Pixabay)

So, is this our girl? Lavinia or Lavina? Everything else seems to add up. The age is right, the mother is right, Birmingham is right. Even France offers a connection to the London prostitute Lavonia Stratford who was under the thumb of a foreign pimp with ties to France. If this is our girl, she is likely too tall to be Bella in the Wych Elm who is generally thought to have been about 5′ tall.

The manifest gives a tantalizing clue into Lavinia/Lavina’s birth, so it’s off to Scotland we go.

1914 Scottish Birth Registration

Given the info on the ship’s manifest regarding Lavinia/Lavina’s birth location, I took a look in ScotlandsPeople and hit the jackpot.

Lavinia Tandy Stratford was born at 8:30 am on 17 October, 1914, at 2 Ivy Gardens, Meikleriggs, Paisley (southwest of Glasgow). Her parents were Frederick Ernest Stratford, a chauffeur, and his wife, Mary Eleanor (née Cox). The parents had been married in Belfast, Ireland, on 8 April, 1912, a scant nine months before the birth of their first child, Francis MacDonald Stratford.

Scottish 1914 Birth Registration for Lavinia Tandy Stratford
(ScotlandsPeople.gov.uk)
Scottish 1914 Birth Registration for Lavinia Tandy Stratford
(ScotlandsPeople.gov.uk)

The parents names match the baptismal register from 1916, and I think we can be fairly confident that this is another piece in the Lavinia Tandy Stratford puzzle. We now shift our attention to Lavinia’s brother and then on to her parents.

Lavinia’s brother – Francis MacDonald Stratford

Francis, too, was born in Scotland, in the same place as his sister, 2 Ivy Buildings, Meikleriggs, Paisley. He was born 7 January, 1913, to the same parents. His father was a chauffeur and his father signed both birth registrations with a practised flourish.

We know that Francis passed away in the first quarter of 2000 (or last quarter of 1999) in Southampton, Hampshire, at the age of 87 years. The only other time we come across him is in the 1921 Census (more on that later) and the 1935 electoral register for Birmingham. The electoral register noted that Francis was living at 14 Dunstall Grove, Birmingham, with his parents, but not his sister. One of a series of row houses, 14 Dunstall Grove is a mere 6 km east of Hagley Wood, perhaps the closest we will get to connecting Lavinia with the Bella mystery.

Beyond this scant information, we don’t know much about Francis. His death registration might reveal a bit more, perhaps a spouse or a child, but that will be for another day. Our next quarry is the parents of Francis and Lavinia.

Lavinia’s Parents

We already know that Frank Ernest Stratford and Mary Eleanor Cox were married 8 April, 1912, in Belfast, Ireland. Did they live there? Were they from there? We can’t answer all these questions, but we can give it a try.

I found Frank Ernest Stratford in the 1911 Scottish Census. He was living at Inverkar Lodge, Lounsdale, Paisley, not far from where he would be living in 1914. Frank was a chauffeur, residing as a boarder with the Boyle family. George and Agnes Boyle had two young children (aged 2 and 1) and George was a gardener, so it would seem that Frank was not a chauffeur for the Boyle family. According to the census, Frank had been born in England, so he was neither Scottish nor Irish.

We then know that Frank and Mary were married in Belfast a year later, on 8 April, 1912, and that their son, Francis was born 9 months later, on 7 January, 1913, so it wouldn’t appear to have been a marriage of necessity (child on the way). A little over a year later, Lavinia was born on 17 October, 1914. With the exception of the Irish wedding, the census and birth registrations of the children, have the family firmly placed in southwest Paisley.

By 1916, however, the family had moved to Birmingham and the two children were baptized at St. David’s Church. Trow had speculated that the Stratford parents might have been Black Patch Romany, and yet the family was nowhere near the Black Patch area which is in the far northwestern outskirts of Birmingham. Frederick and Mary Stratford lived at 89 Pershore Street in the Digbeth area of central Birmingham, just southeast of the city centre. They had their children baptized at the local parish church as well. Interestingly, the Stratfords were living just a few blocks south of the intersection of Pershore Street and Upper Dean Street, where some of the first chalk markings about Bella in the Wych Elm would first appear in the 1940s.

Frederick’s Military Career

The next series of clues we get is via Frederick’s military records which prove to be another treasure trove of information. The first record is from the Airmen Service Records of the Royal Air Force from the First World War. According to this document, Frederick was born in 1880 and had been a motor driver in civilian life. He married his wife Mary Eleanor on 8 April, 1912, in Belfast, Ireland. His two children are listed in a marginal note – Francis MacDonald and Lavinia Tandy, both born in Paisley. Mary Eleanor Stratford was living at 14 Victoria Buildings, Balford Road, Birmingham.

According to the document, Frederick signed up with the Royal Field Corps (Army) on 8 June, 1916, possibly with the Northumberland Regiment, and embarked for France on 19 June, 1916. Frederick served in France until 27 November 1917. He was transferred to the RAF on 1 April 1918 and sent to D. C Chiseldon, possibly for demobilization, on 25 Feb 1919. He was added to the RAF Reserve on 27 March, 1919. Frederick was deemed to have been discharged on 30 April 1920. He was awarded the British War Medal and Victory Medal.

The Birmingham Electoral Registers have a list of Absent Voters and Frederick is listed in both 1918 and 1919 as serving with the RAF as a 1st/A.M. (1st Class Air Mechanic). This makes sense given his civilian career as a chauffeur/driver who would have had experience maintaining engines.

Finally, the RAF document notes that Frederick had previously served with the 6th (Innis) Dragoons, until 28 May, 1911.

Frederick and the 6th (Inniskilling) Dragoons

I was able to track down Frederick’s Attestation Papers for his service with the 6th (Inniskilling) Dragoons! According to the document, which is Short Service form, the soldier would serve “7 years with the Colours, and 5 years in the Reserve, or, if the man completes his 7 years’ service with the Colours beyond the seas, then for a further period, not exceeding one year, with the Colours, and the remainder of the 12 years in the Reserve.”

Frederick signed up with the 6th (Inniskilling) Dragoons (part of the Dragoons of the Line Corps) on the 29 May, 1899, in Birmingham. He was 18 years old, born in Gloucester and had worked as a warehouseman. He had served with the 3rd Battalion of the Worcester Regiment, as part of the Militia.

I subsequently tracked down his militia papers and at the time of his attestation into the Worcester Regiment on 28 March, 1899, he was employed as a warehouseman for Mr. Evans of Edgbaston Street, Birmingham. Frederick was living at 20 Skinner Street in Birmingham, likely with his parents. He was 17 years and 10 months old, making me wonder if he wasn’t old enough yet for the Dragoons. A couple of months later, he was 18 years old and ready for Dragoons, making me suspect his birthday was near the end of May.

After signing up for the 6th Dragoons, Frederick was sent over to Ireland on 3 June, 1899, where he joined the Curragh Camp in County Kilaire, southeast of Dublin. Frederick spent over a year and a half serving at “home” before embarking for South Africa on 14 December 1900. The 6th Dragoons had earlier been sent to South Africa to fight the Boer War and Frederick would spend the next two years there, finally returning home on 10 October 1902. For his service, Frederick received the Queens South Africa Medal with five clasps (Cape Colony, Orange Free State, Transvaal, South Africa 1901 and South Africa 1902.

6th (Inniskilling) Dragoons – vintage postcard with a brief history (pre WWI)
(From Army Service Numbers blog)

For the next four years, until 28 May 1906, Frederick served at “home” and was not sent to India as many of his fellow troopers were. On 29 May, 1906, after 7 years of service with the “Colours”, Frederick was transferred to the Reserve for another five years, being discharged on 28 May, 1911, as noted earlier. As a member of the Reserve, Frederick would have received a weekly stipend, and was subject to being called up again in case his country needed him.

The attestation papers hold another helpful piece of information, Frederick’s next of kin. At first, his next of kin was listed as his father, Francis Stratford of 20 Skinner Street, in Birmingham, but this was scratched out at some point, and his mother’s name and address were added – Annie of 143 Pershore Street, Birmingham.

With the names of his parents, and his birth location (Gloucester), it isn’t too hard to trace Frederick and his family.

The Stratford’s of Gloucester

Frederick Ernest Stratford was baptized 17 June 1881 at St. Catharine’s parish in Gloucester having been born in the second quarter of 1881. His parents were Francis Henry and Sarah Ann Stratford. The couple lived on Saint Catherine Street and Francis was a decorator.

Ten years later, according to the 1891 census, the family was living at 13 Skinner Lane in Birmingham. Francis Henry Stratford was a decorator and painter, who had been born in Gloucester (ca 1851). His wife, Sarah Ann had also been born in Gloucester (ca 1853). The couple had six children living with them, ranging in age from 15 to 1. The eldest child on the census return, Dan Tandy Stratford, and the youngest child, Norah, had both been born in Birmingham whereas the rest were all born in Gloucester. Dan was a Merchant Porter and the next child, John Henry James, was an Errand Boy. Frederick, the third child on the return, was 9 years old and a scholar. The name “Tandy” as part of Dan’s Christian name is interesting and mirrors our Lavinia Tandy Stratford.

1874 Marriage Registration of Francis Henry Stratford and Sarah Ann Tandy in Birmingham
(Ancestry)
1874 Marriage Registration of Francis Henry Stratford and Sarah Ann Tandy in Birmingham
(Ancestry)

Without going deep into the family tree, I can say that Francis Henry Stratford was born in 1851 in Gloucester and his wife, Sarah Ann Tandy was born 1852 in Gloucester. The couple married in 1874 in Birmingham where they had their first two children (there was an eldest girl born before Dan Tandy) before moving back to Gloucester for several years. By 1889, the family was back in Birmingham and seems to have stayed there. Francis died in 1907 in Birmingham, while Frederick was with the Reserve, hence the change on his attestation papers from next of kin being his father, to being his mother.

The Stratford’s in Birmingham

As for Frederick and Mary Eleanor. They lived in Birmingham during the 1920s and 1930s, variously at 14 Victoria Buildings on Barford Road and at 14 Dunstall Grove in Birmingham. Frederick may have died in 1964 in Southampton. The 1939 National Register for Frederick provides some interesting information.

1939 National Register for Frederick Ernest and his family (Ancestry)
1939 National Register for Frederick Ernest and his family (Ancestry)

Frederick, his wife and son, were living at 14 Dunstall Grove. Frederick was indeed born in late May, specifically 28 May 1880. He was a motor driver and his wife was a housewife. Francis would have been 26 years old and it is interesting that he is still living at home, although wartime could have made housing a challenge. Francis worked as a Viewer with the Inspection Department. None of the family had any notes on the facing page so likely did not have have wartime roles. There is a closed record as well, which, given the schedule numbers would indicate that this person is 104/4, part of their household. This person would have been 16 years old or younger at the time of the registration. Who it could be is a complete mystery. A young servant? A nephew or niece? An illegitimate child of Francis or Lavinia? We can see that there is evidence or red pen marks on the closed record. Elsewhere on this page, these marks generally note some form of wartime activity – e.g. a date and then QAA or QAAM. This could be service with the Queen Alexandra Auxilliary nursing corps. Perhaps. There is also evidence that the closed record had the last name stroked out and a new (married) surname written in red ink. All of this would suggest that the closed record is a girl and that she was likely between the age of 10 and 16 at the time of the 1939 census, old enough to have joined the QAA sometime during the war period. This girl would then have been born sometime between 1923 and 1929. Lavinia would have been 9 to 15 years old during those years and it would seem unlikely that the girl could be Lavinia’s child. Similarly unlikely that it would have been Francis’ child. So, perhaps the child was a niece of Frederick and Mary.

As for Lavinia’s mother, Mary Eleanor (née Cox), she has been slipping through the cracks. The 1939 National Registration gives an exact birth date (22 June 1885) but no birth location. Although we know she was living in Birmingham in 1921, I had great difficulty finding the family in the census. They simply weren’t there under Stratford. As with many things… an indexing error was to blame… and I managed to track them down.

1921 UK Census record for family of Frederick Ernest Stratford - Find my Past
1921 UK Census record for family of Frederick Ernest Stratford – Find my Past

From the 1921 census, we have the entire family in one document at the same time. Frederick was working as a Motor Driver and Mechanic for Edwin Cotterill & Co Ltd. (sheet metal workers). The family was living at Lower Tower Street, just north of Birmingham city centre. Mary Eleanor, we finally learn, was born in Ireland, in Enniskerry, County Wicklow, just south of Dublin. Perhaps Frederick and Mary met while he was serving with the 6th Dragoons at Camp Curragh? Francis and Lavinia, ages 8 and 6, were full-time scholars. Judging by the handwriting (which is similar to the signature on his attestation papers), I would say that Frederick completed the form himself. As for tracking down Mary Eleanor… the Irish records are much less user friendly and not as accessible as the English records, so we will have to leave that for another day.

An Overview

So, we have Frederick Ernest Stratford being born in the second quarter of 1881 in Gloucester to parents Francis Henry Stratford and Sarah Ann (née Tandy). Frederick signed up with the 3rd Battalion of the Worcestershire Regiment (Militia) in March 1899. A few months later, after turning 18, he joined the 6th (Iniskilling) Dragoons, serving the regulation 12 years in the Army (7 years) and the Reserves (5 years). After being transferred to the Army Reserve in May 1906, Frederick found work as a chauffeur or motor driver. With a barracks base in Ireland, it may not come as a surprise that Frederick met and married Mary Eleanor Cox on 8 April, 1912, in Belfast. Mary Eleanor Cox was born 22 June 1885 in Enniskerry, Co. Wicklow, Ireland, but beyond that, we know nothing more about her origins.

The couple quickly had two children, Francis MacDonald Stratford, born in 1913 in Paisley, Scotland and Lavinia Tandy Stratford, born 1914, also in Paisley. Both children were baptized in January 1916 in Birmingham. From that point forwards, the family seems to have made Birmingham their permanent home, perhaps because Frederick’s parents had moved there in the late 1880s and, for Frederick, Birmingham was “home”. During the First World War, Frederick served with the Royal Field Corps and the Royal Air Force, where he was an Air Mechanic 1st Class. His experience as a chauffeur or motor driver would have made him handy with engines. Interestingly, his older brother, John Henry James Stratford, also signed up with the RAF and was a driver in civilian life.

As for Lavinia, she was living in London in September 1939, but a few months later, by April 1940, she was living in Antibes in southern France. She even took a passenger ship to New York in April 1940, but returned to France in June of that same year. After that, we have no further news of her. Did she stay in France? Travel to the USA again? We just don’t know.

Given all of the information uncovered above, I think it highly unlikely that Lavinia’s family were Black Patch Romany, or even other Romany or Travelers. Her parents and grandparents were firmly rooted in either Gloucester or Birmingham, with residential addresses that would seem to preclude them being travelling folk. The only unknown is Lavinia’s mother, born in Ireland, whose background is completely unknown. The supposed absence of Lavinia and her family from the 1921 census, which was cited by Trow as evidence that they were Romany, has been shown to be inaccurate. They were simply not indexed correctly and are in the 1921 Census, living in Birmingham.

Lavonia Stratford & the Metropolitan Police

While Trow mentions that a Lavonia Stratford was arrested as part of the crackdown on Fernand Modena, he provides no footnotes or citations to substantiate this information. I have found an MEPO file (Metropolitan Police) at the National Archives which may relate to this case, but it can only be viewed in person, not downloaded digitally. So it will have to wait until my next visit to the UK.

More accessible is the 2013 article by Stefan Slater titled Pimps, Police and Filles de Joie: Foreign Prostitution in Interwar London. The article has a brief paragraph on Fernand Modena, not much different from what Trow included in his book. While Trow does include Slater in his list of references, the absence of footnotes makes it very challenging to determine what is sourced from Slater, what is sourced from Fabian and what is completely unsourced.

Extract from Stefan Slater (2007) Pimps, Police and Filles de Joie: Foreign Prostitution in Interwar London, The London Journal, 32:1, 53-74 - this is page 64.
Extract from Stefan Slater (2007) Pimps, Police and Filles de Joie: Foreign Prostitution in Interwar London, The London Journal, 32:1, 53-74 – this is page 64.
Extract continued from Stefan Slater (2007) Pimps, Police and Filles de Joie: Foreign Prostitution in Interwar London, The London Journal, 32:1, 53-74 - this is page 65.
Extract continued from Stefan Slater (2007) Pimps, Police and Filles de Joie: Foreign Prostitution in Interwar London, The London Journal, 32:1, 53-74 – this is page 65.

While Trow may not have include footnotes and citations, Slater is made of sterner stuff and has an abundance of sources which are very helpful. In the images above, Footnote #108 does indeed reference the MEPO file I had identified at the National Archives. Slater’s footnote reads: “SFPAA no. 96; PRO, MEPO 3/999, Benton to Batson, 7 Nov. 1935“. This would seem to refer to two separate documents the MEPO file and the SFPAA. In another helpful footnote, Slater references: “Metropolitan Police Historical Collection, Charlton, ‘Secret Foreign Prostitutes and Associates Album’. Hereafter cited as SFPAA. I am grateful to Clive Emsley to pointing out the existence of the dossier. Margaret Bird at the MPHC granted me permission to consult this little known archive and cite the dossier; without her help, the present essay would not have emerged”. Footnotes are very helpful.

Conclusion

I am not averse to authors putting forth various theories around Bella in the Wych Elm and who the victim may have been. I do believe, however, that any such theories should be well-researched and put forward with some evidence to support them. Researching Lavinia Stratford was not difficult, albeit a bit time-consuming. It is unfortunate that M.J. Trow did not spend a bit more time digging into her background as he might have altered the conclusion of his book. As it is, this is yet one more “theory” that has sprouted out of nothing but needs to be addressed before it gains a life of its own.

Further information on Lavinia Stratford and her relationship to the pimp Fernand Modena may lie within the MEPO file noted above in the National Archives. I will add it to my lengthy (and growing) list of files to examine when next I am in the UK!

References

Ancestry – genealogical records – births, marriages, deaths, baptisms, census, electoral registers, military records

Fold3 – Military records

FindMyPast – 1921 Census records

Stefan Slater (2007) Pimps, Police and Filles de Joie: Foreign Prostitution in Interwar London, The London Journal, 32:1, 53-74. (https://doi.org/10.1179/174963207X172911 or Academia.edu site)

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