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Original poster

Help with Victorian handwriting

32 replies

Mrsemcgregor · 09/12/2019 17:52

I know mumsnet is usually very helpful at this type of thing. Can anyone tell me what the attached says? I can read Battersea but am completely stumped otherwise. It doesn’t help that I don’t know London!

Help with Victorian handwriting
OP posts:
Juancornetto · 09/12/2019 17:53

Sussex Street?

UncleHerbie · 09/12/2019 17:54

I agree with Sussex Street

TressiliansStone · 09/12/2019 17:54

Sussex Street

msmith501 · 09/12/2019 17:55

Street 100%

Sussex... certainly a good spot

IScreamForIceCreams · 09/12/2019 17:55

Def Sussex Street.

Selford · 09/12/2019 17:56

Could it be Sussex Street? I've just googled and it doesn't (currently) exist (nearest Sussex St is apparently in Pimlico which is the other side of the Thames). Might be worth checking a Victorian map of London to see if it did exist. Or I could be completely wrong!

ShannonShouts · 09/12/2019 17:57

Definitely looks like Sussex street

BikeRunSki · 09/12/2019 17:59

Sussex Street
(I grew up in Battersea, and that writing is exactly like my grandfather’s).

Sagradafamiliar · 09/12/2019 18:03

It's.....Sussex street.

FaFoutis · 09/12/2019 18:04

It did exist. I have come across it in the 1860s.

minipie · 09/12/2019 18:05

Slightly overinvested but this document refers to a Sussex Street in Battersea that is now Wadhurst Road (part of a modern estate just east of Battersea Park)

FaFoutis · 09/12/2019 18:05

Residents seem to be working class.

Original poster
Mrsemcgregor · 09/12/2019 18:05

Thank you!!! The document is from my great great grandmothers school master confirming her date of birth so she could go into employment, she was 11.

Her birth certificate says she was born in Lucas Place in Battersea, which doesn’t seem to exist. Any Londoners able to shed any light on that for me? Grin

This is all very fascinating, I inherited a box of family history from my Grandad and I’m trying my hardest to put it all together.

OP posts:
minipie · 09/12/2019 18:06

(See page 13)

Original poster
Mrsemcgregor · 09/12/2019 18:07

minipie that’s fantastic! Thank you all so much!

OP posts:
Original poster
Mrsemcgregor · 09/12/2019 18:08

Her birth certificate

Help with Victorian handwriting
OP posts:
minipie · 09/12/2019 18:09

According to the doc I linked to (seems to be an academic thesis or draft academic text?) Sussex Street and surrounding area was built by a John Lucas (taking over from his father Joseph Lucas and succeeded by his nephew, somebody else Lucas!) . So would be likely there would be a Lucas place somewhere around...

Original poster
Mrsemcgregor · 09/12/2019 18:11

Ooo minipie that document refers to a Lucas family, it all fits!

OP posts:
Original poster
Mrsemcgregor · 09/12/2019 18:11

Oops xpost!

OP posts:
FaFoutis · 09/12/2019 18:13

Try the census. It's free on familysearch.
www.familysearch.org/en/

Will0wtree · 09/12/2019 18:15

As Sussex Street is just across the river from Battersea whoever was reporting the birth might have thought it fell within the Battersea area.

Will0wtree · 09/12/2019 18:19

Oh, more posts since then, and I see that there was a Sussex street that changed name.

TressiliansStone · 09/12/2019 18:20

Experience suggests an address ending "Place" might be a close / cul-de-sac / yard.

It might also be a particular clump or terrace on a longer road, perhaps built by the same builder or in the same development phase.

Of course it could also just be random. But the name might be a pointer to the type of location you're looking at.

Original poster
Mrsemcgregor · 09/12/2019 18:22

Argh this is so annoying. I am using the premium version of ancestry and can’t find any of them on the census. If it wasn’t for the fact that I have these two documents I wouldn’t believe they existed! I must be rubbish at genealogy!

OP posts:
RiftGibbon · 09/12/2019 18:25

OP, I enjoy a spot of genealogy
If you want to PM me, I'll try to help you get a bit more sorted.

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