The Gang of St Bride's, page 26
part #9 of Penny Green Series
“As I say, have a think about it. You may feel differently once you’re married.”
“I doubt it very much!”
“Good.” He returned my smile. “Well, good luck, Miss Green. I shall see you at the wedding.”
Chapter 51
“I’ve certainly never worn anything like it before,” I said to Eliza as I surveyed my wedding dress, “and I don’t suppose I ever shall again.”
The cream gown hung at the side of my wardrobe, as it was too big to fit inside. The bodice was a gold and cream brocade with a lace trim at the neck and sleeves. The remainder of the dress was a flowing cascade of silk skirts, the overskirts bunched and folded to reveal underskirts that were pleated and trimmed with lace. The lace veil hanging beside it trailed onto the floor.
“It’s absolutely beautiful, Penelope.” Eliza dabbed at her eyes.
“Are you all right, Ellie?”
“Yes, I’m fine.” She walked over to my bed and sat down. “It’s been an odd sort of week. I’ve been reflecting on my own marriage, which has proved to be rather a failure, and then there’s this business with Mrs Sutherland…”
“What she did to you was awful.”
“At least she didn’t attempt to murder me!”
“No, but I don’t like to imagine what might have happened if you’d continued your association with her. I feel rather responsible—”
“Oh, but you shouldn’t!”
“I was the one who introduced the two of you.”
“You assumed she was a well-meaning individual. We both did. And to think that I spent so much time with her working on the development of the London Women’s Rights Society. The gall of the woman! She was so convincing. Utterly convincing, in fact. I simply don’t know who to trust these days. I’m beginning to wonder whether I’m rather a poor judge of character.”
“You’re not, Ellie.” I sat beside her on the bed. “She fooled everyone, and has evidently been doing so for years. To a certain degree I don’t even think she believed she was doing anything terribly wrong. She was making a good income from her street robbery gangs and was using the proceeds to support various charitable works. We took her at her word because, most of the time, people are who they say they are. And perhaps we’re both guilty of always wanting to see the best in people. I made the same mistake with Sarah, didn’t I? Perhaps we both need to be a little warier in future.”
“I’d say that you need to be a lot warier, Penelope. Thank goodness you’ve given up that wretched news reporter job. Perhaps you can help me salvage what remains of the London Women’s Rights Society now. I think we need to change the name to remove any hint of association with that Sutherland woman. But given that we’d managed to gather such a formidable group of ladies it would be a terrible shame if all our efforts went to waste.”
“I’ve love to help, Ellie.”
“Thank you.” She rested her hand on mine and gave it a squeeze. “I’m looking forward to whatever the future holds, Penelope. With your marriage, my divorce and this new society on the horizon it feels as though a new and exciting chapter is about to begin.”
“It does.” I smiled.
“Now, I shall have to leave if I’m to meet Mother at the train station. I’m so terribly excited about tomorrow.”
We were interrupted by a knock at the door. I rose to answer it.
“Any old iron?” called out a jovial voice, followed by raucous laughter.
I saw that it was Francis who had spoken. Beside him stood James, who was grinning widely.
“You’re not allowed in!” cried Eliza, running toward the door. “You mustn’t see the bride tonight! What are the pair of you doing here, anyway?”
“I’m supervising the inspector here on the eve of his wedding,” replied Francis.
The two men giggled again.
“You’re not drunk, are you?” scolded my sister.
“No, not at all,” replied James, straightening his jacket. “We’ve just been to visit a friendly hostelry. There’s one on every corner, you know.”
“Don’t ever mention a word of that riddle to me again!” I said with a groan.
James gave me a wink before continuing. “And young Francis here is to protect me from the men down at the Yard. They’ve been known to play a few tricks on a groom the night before his wedding.”
“They’d better not,” warned Eliza. “Francis, I think you should escort James home immediately so he can get a good night’s rest. He’s getting married in the morning! Keep him away from any trouble, especially with the police. They’re the worst of the lot!”
“I will do,” replied Francis solemnly, “just as soon as we’ve met with his colleagues at a public house near Scotland Yard.”
Eliza tutted and shook her head disapprovingly.
“What are you two gentlemen doing here?” called Mrs Garnett, who had climbed the stairs behind them. “The bride needs to rest before her wedding day!”
“We’d better go, Francis,” said James. “It turns out that coming here was a bad idea.” He turned to me and grinned. “See you in the morning, Miss Green.”
I returned his grin. “See you tomorrow, Inspector Blakely.”
“And be careful, both of you!” ordered Eliza.
Mrs Garnett escorted James and Francis down the stairs.
“It’ll ruin things completely if that fiancé of yours has a headache in the morning!” said Eliza as she closed the door.
“So long as he doesn’t call the whole thing off I don’t mind what he does,” I replied.
“Oh, Penelope, he never would. You’re not that Charlotte woman. Oh goodness, I hope she doesn’t turn up with a mind to put a stop to things! I wouldn’t put it past her, you know.”
“She’s found someone else to marry, so I think we’ll be safe.”
“Thank goodness for that.” Eliza retrieved her coat from the cloak stand and put it on. “I’ll go and meet Mother now. Hopefully Uncle Herbert has accompanied her. Do you think you’ll be all right having him walk you down the aisle? Mother was very insistent about it, wasn’t she? I suppose it’s because he’s the only brother she has left.”
“I haven’t seen him since I was eleven years old, but I recall him being perfectly nice.”
“He is. Remember to walk slowly, though, as he has that awkward limp.” She stepped forward and embraced me. “Get plenty of rest, won’t you? Mother and I will be here in the morning to help you get ready.”
“See you tomorrow, Ellie.”
I could feel bubbles of excitement jiggling around in my stomach. I wasn’t convinced I would sleep a wink with all the nerves and excitement I felt.
Chapter 52
I felt as though I were in a dream as I turned toward the sea of smiling faces. I squeezed James’ arm just to make sure it was all real, and he glanced at me and grinned. He looked so handsome in his top hat and smart suit with the tall collar and white bow tie. It was difficult to believe that he was finally my husband.
With the vicar’s blessing we walked slowly down the aisle toward the church door. My smile widened as I saw Eliza standing next to Francis. My sister gave a happy sob and Francis beamed. My mother was dressed in lavender blue and an extravagant hat. She looked happier than I’d seen her for a very long time. Beside her stood my laughing nieces.
I acknowledged Mr Sherman and my other colleagues, who had attended with their wives. Mrs Garnett had swapped her apron and bonnet for a pale green dress and a hat adorned with ostrich feathers. James’ parents watched us proudly, no doubt relieved that their son had successfully made it to the altar on this occasion.
My face began to ache from smiling so much, yet I couldn’t have stopped if I’d tried. I felt as though I were walking on air.
All the familiar faces were filled with joy. There was a cousin whose name I couldn’t remember and a great-aunt who looked so elderly I felt astonished she had managed to attend at all. Late spring sunshine was shining in through the church door, we had been blessed with a warm, beautiful day.
A figure appeared to my left, standing awkwardly behind the row of pews. He was leaning on a walking stick and pulling at his collar, as if the smart suit he was wearing felt uncomfortable. His skin was dark and his face, covered in trimmed grey whiskers, was heavily lined.
I stopped and stared. His eyes were large and dark, just as I had remembered.
He stopped fidgeting as he returned my gaze. There was a slight smile and then his face crumpled, as though he were trying to suppress an overwhelming emotion.
Was it sadness or joy? I couldn’t tell.
“Are you all right, Penny?” James whispered into my ear.
“I think so,” I replied, still staring at the man.
“You look as though you’ve seen a ghost.”
“James,” I said, turning to face my husband. “Meet my father.”
The End
Historical Note
Nineteenth century London saw its share of criminal women as well as men. The Forty Elephants was an all-female gang which operated in London for an astonishingly long time: from the eighteenth century until the 1950s. The gang was named after the area of London in which it originated – Elephant and Castle in south London. During the nineteenth century, the gang specialised in shop-lifting at high-class shops. They hid their loot in the cumbersome clothing of the time which was adapted with hidden pockets. The Forty Elephants were led by charismatic women such as Alice Diamond and Lilian Kendall – also known as the ‘bob-haired bandit’. Gang tactics expanded to include posing as maids to steal from wealthy households and blackmailing men who its members had seduced into compromising situations.
In nineteenth century New York, ‘Marm’ Mandelbaum set up a criminal empire fencing stolen goods, bribing officials, financing bank robberies and even setting up a school which trained street children to become criminals. One of Marm’s most successful students was Sophie Lyons who became known as the ‘Princess of Crime’.
In researching the buildings for this book, I’ve noticed that most were damaged or destroyed in at least one of the following events: the Great Fire of London in 1666 and The Blitz in 1940-41 during WWII. Thankfully, many of the locations Penny visits in this book are still surviving today in one form or another.
The church where Penny and James marry, St Giles Cripplegate, has a long and fascinating history. Oliver Cromwell was married there in 1620 and John Milton was buried there in 1674. Cripplegate was the name of one of the Roman gates into the City of London and a fragment of the Roman wall still stands close by to the church. Its original name was St Giles-without-Cripplegate because it stood outside the city walls. There was a Saxon church on this site in the eleventh century and the Normans soon replaced it with their own version. It was rebuilt in its current Gothic style in the fourteenth century and the tower was added in the seventeenth century.
Although the church survived the Great Fire of London in 1666, it was damaged during the Blitz in WWII. The area of Cripplegate around it was decimated and much of the area is now covered by the Barbican development which was built in the 1960s-80s. This part of London has changed dramatically over the centuries, but the church still stands. It was restored in 1966 and now sits in the centre of the Barbican development.
Wapping, just east of the City of London, has a long maritime past. The Thames River Police was founded there in 1798 to tackle thefts from ships in the Port of London. The force was based at Wapping Police Station on the banks of the river and - incredibly - it still is today. I haven’t yet found another police station in London which has been in continuous use for that long. Many of the Victorian police stations in the capital have been demolished or redeveloped for another use. The river police merged with the Metropolitan Police in 1839. Today Wapping Police Station is the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police Marine Policing Unit which polices forty-seven miles of the Thames. There’s a little museum on site which tells you the history of the river police, apparently it's worth a visit.
Also situated at Wapping was Execution Dock where pirates were hanged. Their bodies would remain in place until three tides had washed over them and the remains of the particularly troublesome ones were then tarred and hung in cages at Blackwall Point (where the O2 Arena now stands) as a warning to others. The last pirate hangings took place in 1830 and since then the exact location of Execution Dock on Wapping’s riverfront has been lost. For good measure though, a replica gallows stands in the riverbank by the Prospect of Whitby pub.
St Bride’s Church on Fleet Street, and close to Ludgate Circus, was founded in the sixth century. In 1501, a merchant, William Caxton, established England’s first printing press in St Bride’s churchyard and the church’s association with the printing industry began. St Bride’s was destroyed in the Great Fire of London and rebuilt to a design by Sir Christopher Wren. The church reopened in 1675 and its famous steeple completed in 1703. With the rapid growth of the newspaper industry in Fleet Street, St Bride’s became the parish church of journalism. The church suffered extensive bomb damage in the Blitz in WWII and services were held in the bombed out remains until the church was rebuilt and re-dedicated in 1957.
The Hanwell Schools in west London were known as the Central London District Poor Law Schools and opened in 1857 to house and educate destitute children. The schools were also known as the Cuckoo Schools as the two schools (one for girls, one for boys) were built on land called Cuckoo Farm in Hanwell, west London. Charlie Chaplin had a poverty stricken childhood and joined the school in 1896 when he was just seven years old. He spent two unhappy years there before moving to another similar school in south London. At the age of 14 he registered with a London theatrical agency and his life took a different turn. The schools closed in 1933 and the buildings still stand and are now a community centre.
Blackfriars Priory was established by the Dominicans in the thirteenth century. The location was south of Ludgate Hill, where the River Fleet meets the Thames. The priory was closed in 1538 during Henry VIII’s dissolution of the monasteries and the buildings were used as a theatre and a base for the Society of Apothecaries. The buildings were destroyed during the Great Fire of London a century later, the Society rebuilt their part of the site and Apothecaries Hall remains standing today.
Blackfriars Bridge was first built in the 1760s and was the third crossing over the Thames at the time. The quality of the bridge was considered poor and it required extensive repairs before being rebuilt and opened by Queen Victoria in 1869. The adjacent railway bridge was constructed in 1864 and rebuilt twenty years later. Both these 1860s constructions still stand today.
The mysterious London Stone in Cannon Street is estimated to be around a thousand years old, possibly older. No one knows its true origin, there’s speculation that it was once a Roman milestone - possibly a location from where all distances in Roman Britain were measured. It has also been suggested that the stone is prehistoric and was an object of Druidic worship. It was first referenced in a list of London properties written around the year 1100. In medieval times, London Stone was a popular place to visit and countless stories were concocted about its origin.
In 1598 the historian, John Stow, described London Stone as "pitched upright... fixed in the ground verie deep, fastned with bars of iron.” Some event (perhaps the Great Fire of London) caused the stone to reduce in size and in the eighteenth century it was placed in a protective cupola in front of St Swithin’s Church. There it stayed for two hundred years until the church was destroyed in The Blitz in WWII. An office building replaced the church and a new protective alcove was built for the stone. When this office building was replaced in 2016, the stone moved to the Museum of London for a while. It returned to its location - in a shiny new case - in October 2018 and was unveiled in a ceremony by the Lord Mayor of London.
Sadler’s Wells Theatre was first established in Clerkenwell by Richard Sadler in the seventeenth century and has been rebuilt a number of times since then. The theatre enjoyed a period of success in the mid-nineteenth century under the actor-manager Samuel Phelps who put on a number of Shakespeare plays. After periods of rise and decline over the years, the theatre today is a world-renowned venue for dance performances.
Temple Church was built in the 12th century by the Knights Templar as their English headquarters. The Knights Templar were a rich and powerful Catholic military order, better described as 'warrior monks'. The Knights Templar was dissolved by Pope Clement V in the 14th century, but the church is still going strong. Badly damaged during WWII, it's been fully restored and open to visitors. It was famously a location in Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code - both the book and the movie.
Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre was built in Southwark by the Lord Chamberlain’s Men in 1599. It was rebuilt after the building caught fire during a performance in 1613. The theatre was closed in 1642 and demolished. Subsequent development obscured the foundations of the theatre and by the late nineteenth century it sat beneath the Anchor Brewery operated by Barclay Perkins & Co. The brewery was demolished in the 1980s and excavations later that decade revealed part of the Globe’s foundations. A plaque on Park Street, Southwark, now marks the spot where the Globe once stood. A modern reconstruction of the Globe was built in 1997 on the riverbank close by.
St Paul's Cathedral is one of London’s most iconic buildings, it has hosted events such as the funerals of Lord Nelson, the Duke of Wellington and Winston Churchill, and the wedding of Prince Charles and Princess Diana. Famous people buried here include Lord Nelson, Christopher Wren, John Donne, Joshua Reynolds, Anthony van Dyck and Alexander Fleming. St Paul’s was founded 1,400 years ago but the first long-standing building was built by the Normans in the 11th century. The spire made St Paul’s Cathedral the tallest building in the world until the spire collapsed in 1561. Sadly, the rest of the cathedral was destroyed a century later in the Great Fire of London.
