Mary Bousfield
Witness at Martha Tabram's inquest.
Also known as Mary Luckhurst[1]
Born c.1856 in St George in the East.
Martha's former landlady at 4 Star Place, off Star Street, Commercial Road. Mrs. Bousfield lived with her husband, William Bousfield, a woodcutter and their six children[2]. She stated that Martha sold matches for a living, but suspected that she may also have been earning by prostitution.
She testified that Martha and Henry Turner left her establishment three weeks prior to her death, owing a considerable sum in unpaid rent, although Martha apparently crept back later to return her key. She also described Martha as a person who would "rather have a glass of ale than a cup of tea." She also said, however, that she was not a perpetual drunk.[3]
Mary Bousfield's son James, at the age of 83, showed author Tom Cullen one of the key chains which he claimed Tabram had hawked for a living and which he kept as a souvenir after her murder.[4]
Mrs Bousfield died in St George in the East in 1902.[5]
