Tuesday, June 2, 2009

Discovery of Skeletons in Corvan-owned house!





I was delighted to find these newspaper articles about the discovery of three skeletons in a house sold by Patrick Stephen Corvan to the King's College Hospital. Patrick and his family lived for many years in St Clements Lane, Strand. In a London Directory of 1848, Patrick's address is given as 31 Clements Lane, Strand.The family were still there at the time of the 1851 census, then in 1861 and 1871 were at 41 and 42 Clements Lane respectively.The numbers 41 and 42 may have just been a change in the numbering of houses in Clements Lane rather than a change in the actual house.
Similarly, when you look at the 1851 census return for St. Clements Lane, you find that there is no number 30 Clements Lane...it starts with the number 31, which is inhabited by Patrick Corvan's family and six families who lodged in the house.A total of 29 people lived at 31 Clements Lane at the time of the 1851 census, 14 of whom were children, and several of whom were Irish-born. As stated in the newspaper article, the families seem "poor but respectable" with occupations such as staymakers, laundresses, milkman and bootmaker.
The "Mr Ennis" who was named as the former proprietor before Patrick Corvan was most likely Charles Innis, a friend of the Corvan family who was a witness at the marriage of John Corvan in 1844. He was the son of an Irishman also named Charles Innis who had married Mary McCarty at St. George Bloomsbury in 1803. Charles the Younger was a solicitor.

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