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

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?

The 'baron' seems to have brought a writ two times at the end of November and been refused both times because it could not be shown his wife was under duress. It really seems like her family were protecting her from him.

In January 1883 the baron is back in Dublin court, asking for a police escort to look for his wife. He's laughed out of court.

In 1886 he's at the HOUSE OF LORDS trying to continue his case against the wife's relatives. (Morning Post)

Then the trail in the newspapers goes cold, although we know he was taking money from the Swedish Church Poor Fund from 1892; until he and Kate Sawtell are on trial for defrauding her servant in 1897. This makes me suspect she wasn't really as wealthy as she claimed.

I've found a death notice for his wife, Selina, for 1915. But what became of the 'baron'? He doesn't appear in the British register of deaths or the Swedish census.

The last clue I have about him is this church diary from December 1899.

What does it say? Something about how he got 3 shillings för att??

@fabriek wow! That seems to be a translation of the same story I've seen in British papers - but the case was brought by a servant against both Nieroth and Sawtell. So if the Dutch translation says otherwise it was mistaken. But how crazy it got international attention!

@fabriek https://mastodon.nu/@Loukas/112580749423199817

@fabriek it looks like they were running a scam. She borrows money from the servant, secured on her property. Then when it's time to pay it back, she says she has no property as she transferred it all to the baron.

@micke är rätt säker att det är 'Nieroth fick'. Men bra med läsrummet!

Han skulle få... Något? Ast. ? Arb[eta]? Tre skilling skulle inte hjälpa honom mycket alls. Och han skulle nog vara för gammal och sjuk för att arbeta.

@Loukas ja, jag tror du har rätt, jag försöker titta på varje ord för sig och skriva vad jag ser utan att tolka från kontexten, för det tänker jag att du gör ändå sen :)

@micke ja, det finns nog en debatt inom historia om huruvida man ska läsa sådana texter semantiskt eller ordagrant och det är bra att vi angriper texten från både håll!

@Turi ISN'T IT BONKERS