✝️ Mary Frances Pelham, age 37 – January 27 1923, Portsmouth, England, United Kingdom 🏴💔
Mary came from the North of England and had married Henry Pelham, whom she met in domestic service in Sunderland. When he went to war she went south, first to Brighton, then to Portsmouth and set up home at 13a Blossom Alley. Blossom Alley in the 1920s was described by a detective as Portsmouth`s worst residental street. It ran parallel to Prince Georg Street, connecting Cross Street with North Street.
When Henry returned from war he was dismayed by her being in prostitution and abandoned her. Mary went by the nickname „Brighton Mary“. She had a son in Sunderland and her mother lived in Brighton and was almost completely blind.
Mary had a good deal of local popularity for many acts of kindness and helpfulness and supported especially children. She was also a matches and flower seller.
Mary was found in the blood-soaked bed of a tenement building with head injuries and a scarf around her neck with which her killer had tried to strangle her.A woman had seen Mary with a sailor just before she died. To determine whether or not it was a serviceman the Royal Navy arranged an identity parade of 3.500 sailors, which is said to be the biggest identity parade ever held. The woman picked out one man, but he was able to account for his whereabouts that night.
Mary`s murderer was never found, but the case forced public attention to the squalid state of the slums in Portsea. A few years later many of them were cleared, often by the simple expedient of burning.