Jenny nodded her agreement andlaughed. ‘Okay, that would be lovely.’
‘Marvellous,’ Deidre said. Sheglanced at her watch. ‘I’d best let you get on with it, we close in twohours’ time.’
‘Could we have a log-in please, Deidre,’Morton said, unable to help himself.
‘Not a problem,’ she said with a strangesmile. As she walked away, Morton thought that he heard her crack her oldjoke of calling him Moron under her breath.
She turned back to her desk, picked up asmall sliver of paper and handed it to Jenny.
‘Thank you,’ Jenny said with a smile, andthey made their way to the banks of computer terminals in order to call up thenecessary documents. ‘She’s such a lovely lady, isn’t she?’
‘Very thorough and knowledgeable,’ Mortonanswered diplomatically.
A handful of researchers sat at thecomputers, eagerly transcribing and taking notes from the screens in front ofthem. Morton headed to the first available computer, offered the chair toJenny and slid one along for himself from the adjacent computer. Hequickly typed in the log-in details provided by Miss Latimer.
‘What’s first, then?’ Jenny whispered.
‘If I concentrate on Martha, can you seewhat you can find on George Mansfield? Locate references for his birth,marriage and death certificates and I’ll order them later. See if you canfind his baptism and marriage at Winchelsea—shouldn’t be too hard tolocate. I’ve already got his burial record,’ Morton said, as he signedinto The Keep’s website and ordered the admission records for St Thomas’sSchool, Winchelsea 1873-1950, as well as the log book covering a similarperiod. At the back of his mind the whole journey had been Martha Stone’sgrave and the extraordinary idea proposed by Jenny. He had already ruledout a DNA test, which left him with the basic, traditional routes.
‘Two steps ahead of you on that one,’Jenny said with a grin. ‘One of the first things Deidre suggested I do,when I first became suspicious about George’s parentage, was to determine whathad been presented as facts on his certificates. I’ve got his birth,marriage and death certificates at home.’
Morton nodded. ‘Could you email acopy of them to me when you get a moment?’
‘Of course, I’ll do it tonight.’
‘Right, what about a baptism record?’
‘Haven’t looked for that, so I’ll make astart now.’
‘And is the marriage certificate you havethe copy of made from General Register Office, or taken from the originalregister?’
‘GRO copy. Do you want me to look upthe original?’
‘It wouldn’t hurt,’ Morton said. ‘They should be identical except that the GRO copy has been transcribed. I prefer originals where I can because they have the actual signatures of thebride, groom and witnesses.’
‘Very thorough,’ she commented with achuckle.
‘Can I leave you to it?’ he asked.
‘Absolutely. I’ll see what else Ican dig up, too.’
‘Jolly good. See you shortly,’Morton said, carrying his laptop and notepad over towards the ReferenceRoom. He swiped his card on the silver pillar and the glass door slidopen for him.
He found the room busier than on hisprevious visit, with researchers diligently and silently beavering away attheir own genealogical quests. He often surreptitiously glanced at thedocuments being pored over, wondering at the nature of the research takingplace.
Having found a seat on the back row,Morton fired up his laptop, set up his notepad and pencil and checked online tosee if his documents had been delivered. They were both listed as‘Available’, so Morton headed over to the help desk.
‘Morton, how the devil are you?’ MaxFairbrother asked jovially. Having been the senior archivist for morethan thirty years at the old East Sussex Record Office and now The Keep, Maxwas on familiar terms with Morton.
‘Morning, Max. Good, thanks. You?’ Morton said, studying Max’s bizarre choice of attire. He had ashocking Hawaiian shirt on with a pair of bleached ripped jeans. For aman in his late fifties, he looked plainly ridiculous.
‘Very good, thank you. What can wedo for you, today?’
‘I’ve got some documents ready.’
‘Brilliant,’ Max said, as if it were thebest news that he had ever heard. Ever since a previous case that Mortonhad worked on, where he had overlooked an indiscretion on the seniorarchivist’s part, Max had gone out of his way to assist Morton. Max andDeidre were polar opposites as far as Morton was concerned. Maybethings will change now that I’ve got Jenny for an ally, Morton thought ashe handed over his Reader’s Ticket. Max took his ticket and scannedit. ‘Any preference for which one first?’ he asked.
‘Admissions register, please.’
Max dramatically thrust back his wheeledoffice chair into the back room.
Morton rolled his eyes but saidnothing. Max’s mid-life crisis was evidently continuing, he thought.
‘Here we go,’ Max said, handing over thedocument. ‘Any probs, give me a shout.’
‘Thanks, will do,’ Morton said.
Back at his seat, Morton eagerly openedthe file. It ran in chronological order and listed name of child, number,admission date, date of birth, name of parent/guardian, address, previousschool and date of withdrawal. Morton carefully ran his index finger downthe names of the children, then back up the names of the parents, to ensurethat he covered any discrepancies. When he reached the 1890s, somefamiliar names appeared. Charles Phillips had started at the school in1891, Clara Ellingham and Jack Maslow started at the school in 1893 and ElizaBootle in 1894. Also in 1893 Morton found the entry for Martha Stone, whohad started at the school on the 8th November that year. Herleaving date was noted as the 18th February 1902—the day that shehad died. He took out his digital camera and took photographs of allrelevant pages before continuing his search. In 1896 he found the entryfor the Mercer twins. Both entries were identical but for theforename. The girls were admitted to St Thomas’s school on the 1stMay 1896 and their address was listed as 3 Friar’s Cottages, Winchelsea. Their parents were listed as Thomas and Katherine Mercer and their date ofwithdrawal was listed as the 26th April 1906. Mortonphotographed the page, then continued searching and photographing thesubsequent pages in order to build up a clear picture of other children presentin the school at the same time as the twins. He would then do as he haddone with the staff at Blackfriars,
