Baby Kitching had been missing for weeks…presumed dead. Taken from his teenage single mother, in Grimsby, on the promise of a loving home, devoted parents and a bright future…and the Kitchings had paid £11 pounds to secure it. But Lily had been duped by a conjurer and his assistant; Herbert Smith – stage name Leo…
Month: June 2017
1907: Britain’s Most Prolific Baby Traffickers – Part 4
July 1907: In a stuffy Liverpool court room, the public gallery packed, and the press in full attendance, Sgt Moore appealed for the identities of the mothers and children to be kept secret from the public in order to protect them. The prosecutor then outlined the case against the young couple – the conjurer and…
1907: Britain’s Most Prolific Baby Traffickers – PART 3
“LADY without encumbrance would like healthy BABY; entire surrender requested; good comfortable home, premium £15 . – Write, Baker, 60 Islington, Liverpool.” It was just one of a series of different adverts that had been appearing in papers across the country for the past 6 months, placed there by Lottie and Herbert. They used different…
1907: Britain’s Most Prolific Baby Traffickers – PART 2
Herbert Smith, 21, and Lottie Roberts, 20, stood in the dock at the court room in Liverpool. The charges…obtaining £11 pounds with intent to defraud, and causing the death of the 14 day old baby boy of Lily Kitching from Grimsby. But their story started 18 months earlier. If you haven’t read part 1 –…
1907: Britain’s Most Prolific Baby Traffickers Caught in Liverpool – PART 1
April 1907 – Teenager Lily Kitching sits in the family home on Wood Street in Grimsby with her parents. A single mum, she’s nursing her week old baby boy who as yet still doesn’t have a name. They open the newspaper and see an advert. Lily’s mother reaches for a pencil and paper and…
1847: ‘Scum’ from the Shrewsbury Suburbs Targeted During Election Protest
1847: ‘Scum’ from the Shrewsbury Suburbs Targetted During Election Protest
1955: Shrewsbury’s Bearded Lady
Woman’s whiskers lovingly crafted in Shrewsbury. “The fearsome-looking Ben Gunn in “Treasure Island,” recently produced at Shrewsbury repertory, is Glenna Wilson, a 27-year-old Southend girl, who is a partner in the theatre. The face-whiskers were specially made by the expert Shrewsbury hair dresser, W. Ecclestone, to match Miss Wilson’s fair hair, with a suspicion of…
