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I have reordered the Harrington/Kelly marriage certificate, using page 215. Fingers crossed it works this time.

Anne has just told me something relating to her father's side of the family - one of her aunts, either Kathleen (b 1916) or Dorothy (1917) Harrington, was a former nun, who allegedly killed her lover in a motel and then killed herself - this somewhere in the 1970s she thinks.

I've done Google searches to no avail, so I wondered if any of you super sleuths with access to newspaper archives would like to see if you can find anything. Anne assures me she remembers reading about it in the papers, Daily Mail I think she said.

Don't know what's already been found re the Harrington's and children, but wondered if this was Kathleen:

Marriage:
Marriages Sep 1939 (>99%)
Harrington Kathleen Russell Hastings 2b 78
Russell Alfred L Harrington Hastings 2b 78
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Hastings and St Leonards Observer 15 July 1939

St Thomas of Canterbury Church, St Leonards was the scene of a charming wedding on Saturday when Miss Kathleen Mary Harrington, eldest daughter of Mr & Mrs Harrington of 52 Church Road, St Leonards was married to Alfred Leonard Russell, eldest son of Mr & Mrs Russell of Western Road, St Leonards.
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1939:
Russell Household (2 People) 60 Mount Pleasant Road , Hastings C.B., Sussex, England
Alfred L Russell 08 Mar 1908 Male Painter & Decorator Married
Kathleen M Westover (Russell) 31 Jul 1916 Female Unpaid Domestic Duties Married
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Hastings and St Leonards Observer 15 July 1944

I, Kathleen Mary Westover of 369B London Rd, St. Leanards, Hastings Sussex, married woman, heretofore called and known by the name Russell hereby give notice that on the 26th day of June 1944 I renounced and abandoned the use of my said surname of Russell and assumed in lieu thereof the name of Westover. And further such change is evidenced by a Deedpole dated 26th June 1944
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Death of her husband Alfred:

Deaths Sep 1952 (>99%)
RUSSELL Alfred L 44 Hastings 5h 254

Presumeably her name change was to do with this man who is at the same address that Kathleen lists in 1944:

1939:
Westover Household (1 Person) 369 London Road , Hastings C.B., Sussex, England
Herbert (N) Westover 02 Nov 1897 Male Police Constable Single
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There is an article in Hastings and St Leonards Observer 26 March 1949 where Herbert is sentenced for breaking into shops and stealing jewellery. Herbert is described as a married man with one child.

EDIT: one daughter born to Kathleen and Herbert in 1944

There's a Westover/Harrington birth in Hastings in 1944.

Sorry AG, I just added that birth!

Herbert's death:

Herbert Newman Westover
in the England & Wales, Civil Registration Death Index, 1916-2007
Name: Herbert Newman Westover
Death Age: 85
Birth Date: 2 Nov 1899
Registration Date: Mar 1985
Registration district: Tunbridge Wells
Inferred County: Kent
Volume: 16
Page: 2480

I know the Harrington parents lived in Church Road, St. Leonards - thanks I didn't have that information. So presumably it was the other sister Ann was talking about.

Just found this too:

Name: Kathleen M Russell
Registration Date: Oct-Nov-Dec 1976
Registration district: Hastings
Inferred County: East Sussex
Spouse: Philip M Davies
Volume Number: 18
Page Number: 0449

Wonder if this is Dorothy (she isn't listed as a bridesmaid at Kathleen's wedding in 1939).

1939
Convent Of Our Lady Filsham Road , Hastings C.B., Sussex, England
Dorothy M Herrington 30 Jul 1917 Female Nun Lay Sister -

But she didn't die until 1987:

Name: Dorothy Harrington
Death Age: 70
Birth Date: 30 Jul 1917
Registration Date: Dec 1987
Registration district: Surrey North-western
Inferred County: Surrey
Volume: 17
Page: 802

Kathleen and Dorothy had the same birthday - 31 July - just a year apart ?


Births Sep 1917 (>99%)
Harrington Dorothy Kelly Fulham 1a 437

Births Sep 1916 (>99%)
Harrington Kathleen M Kelly Fulham 1a 563

Still nothing about the murder/suicide though - Anne is trying to get more information from her elder brother.

Elder brother doesn't know anything more, so looks as if this is a dead end (no pun intended).

The long awaited marriage certificate has arrived:

15th January, 1916, Register Office, Chelsea
Montague Douglas Harrington, 46 yrs, widower. Bootmaker (Master) 5 Ravenna Road, Putney. Father Edwin Fryer Harrington (dec'd). Bootmaker - all that already known.

Agnes Mary Kelly, 26 yrs, spinster. Governess. 28 Elystan Street, Chelsea. Father Michael Kelly (dec'd) Commercial traveller.

Witnesses: Sybil Vane and W. F. Strevens

I had already drafted 2 possible families for Agnes, but neither was with Michael, commercial traveller. How do you search census records by address please?

1911:
2 Greenhill Park, Harlesden, Middx
Michael T Kelly Head Married Male 59 1852 Commercial Traveller Wolverhampton
Lucy Elizabeth Kelly Wife Married Female 53 1858 - Coven Staffs
Margaret Kelly Sister Single Female 54 1857 - Wolverhampton
Mary Veronica Kelly Daughter Single Female 21 1890 Certificated Mistress Willesden
Celeste Margaret Kelly Daughter Single Female 18 1893 Uncertificated Mistress Willesden
Winefrede Lucy Kelly Daughter Single Female 16 1895 - Willesden

I have found a William Francis Strevens in the 1911,

First name(s) William Francis
Last name Strevens
Relationship Son
Marital status Single
Sex Male
Age 34
Birth year 1877
Birth place Surrey Clapham
Occupation Shop Assistant (original adds Boots & Shoes, which is appropriate)
Address 2 Prairie St Battersea Sw
County London, Surrey

Why is nothing simple with this family - a double check on the tree, and I find I have Montague D's father as William Harrington.

In the 1911 census he is living at Ravenna Road with his mother, Emilie, widow of William Harrington.

In the 1871 aged 6 weeks he is living at 10 & 11 Upper Tachbrook street, with parents William and Emily.

He had a brother William Edmond Friar Harrington, 1854-1911.

William Harrington died when Montague was 6, could he have named his elder brother as his father?

I don't think that Michael Kelly can be the right one :( In 1911 it says they had 4 living children; in 1901 they also had a son, who seems to have lived well past 1911, which doesn't leave room for Agnes.

~This thread is getting ridiculously long, I'll start a new one for Agnes - hope to see you over there :-)