Brothels/boarding houses
Posted by Cecilia Lister on 12/5/2025, 2:56 pm
I do not wish to besmirch my Great Grandmother's reputation but she ran a couple of boarding houses in Spiller street, Exeter. Her name was Ellen Jane Pyne. She had (at least) 4 children, one of whom was my grandfather, Walter Douglas Smith Pyne, none of whom has the name of a father on their birth cerificate. If she was a brothel keeper I don't altogether blame her, as she was probably uneducated and she wished to provide her chidren with an education. My grandfather certainly had a good education and beautiful handwriting, which I can see in the later censuses filled out by him. Can anyone tell me if she was a brothel keeper?
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