Tillbaka

Looking in the database of the House of Lords I find this guy. The last widow of this family died in 1898. Could he be the father outside wedlock of our 'baron'? https://minerva.riddarhuset.se/att/nieroth-3/

In the Swedish census for 1880 we can see the family of a Eugene August von Nieroth. He was born in 1813 and lives with his wife and, strangely, a young man who also has August as a middle name... https://sok.riksarkivet.se/folkrakningar?Efternamn=nieroth&Folk1860=true&Folk1870=true&Folk1880=true&Folk1890=true&Folk1900=false&Folk1910=false&Folk1930=false&AvanceradSok=False&page=1&postid=Folk_120112340&tab=post#tab

Hmm but this person is still alive in the 1910 census and 'baron' was listed as dead by 1896.

Here, at any rate, is the death record of Catherine, 'Kate' Sawtell, an artist who was independently wealthy and who the 'baron' stayed with in Bloomsbury. We know it was her, because another record says she owed property in Newport, Monmouthshire, where she died.

So in 1892, when according to the Swedish pastor's diary she visited the baron in Middlesex hospital, she was 56.

Newman street, which is indeed off Oxford Street, is where they lived together. Number 23 is unfortunately a modern building, which usually means it was hit by German bombs. It's next-door neighbour gives us an idea of how the baron and Kate lived.

In the 1891 census there's no Sawtell at Newman street. And the Catherine or Kate Sawtells are all still in Wales.

A newspaper cutting the Swedish pastor glued to the page from september 1892 has been traced to Liverpool Mercury 1897. So this means the church minister had gone back to add to the file. Also that the date 1896 was not that of the baron's death https://www.findmypast.co.uk/image-viewer?issue=BL%2F0000081%2F18971006&page=7&article=027&stringtohighlight=nieroth

I've found a lot of references in the British newspapers to a Herman Carl von Nieroth. Could these initials be H C?

The 1870 register of marriages has two records for Herman Carl Nieroth getting hitched in Wales, Aberystwyth.

Marriage finder says "Hon Herman C Von Nieroth married one of these people
Lewis Powell, Herman Carl Von Nieroth, Selina Margaret Hunter, Catherine Evans". And for the other record, "Selina Margaret Hunter, Hon Herman Von Nieroth, Catherine Evans".

I think we can assume it was either Selina Hunter or Cathering Evans.

So did 'the baron' meet Kate Sawtell in Wales, and move to London with her in 1890?

Boom! A newspaper cutting confirms it was Selina Hunter. And, crucially, we also get a father's name. It was indeed the August Eugene von N born in 1813 we found in the Swedish record for Fågelås, in Skaraborg https://sok.riksarkivet.se/folkrakningar?Fornamn=Karl+August+&Efternamn=Petersson+&DatumFran=1864&DatumTill=1864&Fodelseforsamling=F%c3%a5gel%c3%a5s+&Folk1860=true&Folk1870=true&Folk1880=true&Folk1890=true&Folk1900=true&Folk1910=true&Folk1930=true&AvanceradSok=False&page=1&postid=Folk_120112340&tab=post#tab

NEEDLEWOMEN
NEEDLEWOMEN
NEEDLEWOMEN TO AMERICA!!!!????????
(Liverpool Albion, July 1872)

WHAT THE HELL

Ladies and gentlemen we got him
(Rochdale Times, February 1876)

In court reports from February we see that his wife, néé Hunter, was still with him, but that he was telling people she was the daughter of a royal surgeon. However while her father is listed as a surgeon in the marriage record, there's no Hunter attending Queen Victoria https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physician_to_the_King

'John Hunter' was a royal surgeon in the 18th century. Did the baron rely on people not knowing any better?

Staffordshire Sentinel, 15 Feb 1876

He first claimed relief in 1866, which would fit with him serving in the US Civil War, but there is no entry for 'Nieroth' in the database.

He also claimed to have lived in Germany and donated to the fund for famine relief in Lancashire, and that was exactly the same period.

Well now it gets even more bonkers. In November 1882 the baron is back in court, asking for 5,000 pounds (!!!) and accusing a family that employed his wife, Selina, as a governess, of spiriting her away and hence depriving him of his legal rights.

Were Carl and Selina working a con together or was this the moment she decided to escape from him?

@blabberlicious in the same book I found, seven years earlier, a payment to one of Jack the Ripper's victims, who was Swedish and also sought aid from the church.

@Loukas
J.Lo is available. You just need to add some AI into the mix.

Keep digging!

@Turi ISN'T IT BONKERS