Letter: Does Anyone Have More Information About My Ancestor?

Published on: 5 Dec, 2016
Updated on: 5 Dec, 2016

From Janet Murfitt

I came across your article Where is this? No.68 and No.69.

The White Hall in Spital Street (now Upper High Street) was the residence of my great-great grandfather Thomas Russell, solicitor of ‘Hockley and Russell’, election agent for Lord Onslow and deputy coroner for Surrey.

A old photo of the White Hall Upper High Street

He was declared bankrupt c. 1880 and from various newspaper reports it is suggested that he was guilty of “defalcations” i.e. embezzling funds with which he had been entrusted.

News article indicating that Thomas Russell had been removed from his post as deputy coroner for West Surrey

I have not been able to find out any specific details about this so would welcome any further information.

Responses to Letter: Does Anyone Have More Information About My Ancestor?

Valerie Thompson Reply

December 7, 2016 at 5:51 pm

For anyone to research further they would need Thomas Russell’s birth date and place of birth. Any further information you have, such as wife’s name, marriage date, names and dates of the children of the marriage, death date. etc would help with research. With some of these facts looking him up on Ancestry.co.uk is not difficult, but there were 30,000 records for 1880 using just his name!