Albany Street in the suburb of St Albans, Christchurch

Albany Street in St Albans – Named after the dukedom of Albany The dukedom of Albany is a peerage title occasionally bestowed on the younger sons in the Scottish, and later, British royal family. First mentioned in The Press in 1908 in an advertisement. First appears in street directories in 1909.

A small amount of information from the library website and nothing that I can add about the name of the street. I seriously sidetracked on Papers Past with this street. There were a few birth notices and even more death notices but what dominated the news was a murder in December of 1965. A 73 year old widow was found by her daughter. The widow had been battered around the head by a barometer and then her throat was cut. It created so much interest that it attracted so many Sunday drivers that the cars were bumper to bumper. Note going for a Sunday drive was a big thing those days and yes I am old enough to remember such a thing. Eventually the daughter was arrested for her mother’s murder and found guilty. She appealed the verdict but the appeal failed. Interesting trial as much emphasis was placed on the mother having been married three times and the daughter having been married twice. Three psychiatrists diagnosed the daughter with psycho-neurotic personality disorder. I am not surprised that the mother was a widow as she tended to marry men at least 20 years older than her. The daughter’s marriages were a little bit more interesting. Her first husband died from carbon monoxide poisoning in a fire. The inquest stated that it was a suspicious death and subject to a police investigation. She was divorced from her second husband. He had at least 3 or 4 wives and eventually died from alcohol related illnesses. She married for the third time in 1978 and obviously was out of jail by this date.

Most houses here were built in 1970s and 1980s plus many are from 1905 to 1920s. Some of the older houses are lovely but I was disappointed with the one from 1905 as it has been altered. It was a pleasant street and even the some of the modern houses looked OK.