Frederick Richard Chapman Files

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This morning I had the pleasure of visiting the Hull History Centre a location that is almost a second home to me and a place at which I never fail to find new material.  A couple of years back I had visited the Centre with a view to researching Frederick Richard Chapman, a suspect first posited by B. E. Reilly and one which had lived in Hull between 1874 and 1888.  In the past I had consulted several primary sources such as Trade Directories and Inquest Reports and came away with a couple of new significant finds.  Sadly since that visit the material was lost on a pendrive from hell! 

Rather than let the pendrive beat me I decided to take time out to research him again, keeping in mind the original sources consulted.  Sure enough among the Trade Directories of Hull were several new addresses not listed in the Census nor the UK Medical Registers.  I was also able to trace details on both the Hull and Sculcoates Dispensary, where he acted as the House Surgeon, and St Barnabas Church, where he acted as a church warden. 

In the past I recall consulting an Inquest report from the early 1880’s and that the report bore the signature of Frederick Richard Chapman so with this in mind I searched once again through the massive card index held at the Archives in the Hull History Centre.  After a short while I found the original file that I had read some years earlier but among the listings were other files that I had not seen before.  With this in mind I ordered the new files and found several other inquest reports featuring Frederick Richard Chapman as the medical witness.  The reports also bear Chapman’s signature and show what he was doing in Hull between 1881 and 1883.

I ordered copies of the files and will be reading them later this evening to ascertain more information.

Watch this space!

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