The Unverified Claim on Porthos Hall

Porthos Hall, a large, moderately successful manor house built in 1860, changed hands frequently throughout the latter half of the Victorian era. While the successive owners—mostly minor industrialists—are traceable through deed records, the true number of occupants and residents has become notoriously difficult to ascertain. The official count provided by the national census records is frustratingly Unverified, showing large blocks of time where the house was apparently empty, yet local parish records suggest continuous, though undocumented, residency. The central figure in this archival confusion is the Census recorder, Mr. Elias Gribble, whose job it was to collect and certify the national population lists and household survey cards for the district. When the house was abandoned for the last time in 1902, Gribble’s entire set of official Porthos Hall documents was found destroyed, seemingly intended to Misplace the truth of who actually lived there, and when.

The Misplaced Population Lists

The Census recorder, Mr. Gribble, maintained his documents in a three-stage process: individual household survey cards collected from the occupants, compilation onto official ink forms, and finally, the official population lists submitted to London. The few household survey cards found on the floor are problematic; many contain multiple conflicting dates and names, suggesting Gribble was either sloppy or intentionally recording Unverified data, possibly to conceal the true residency of certain key individuals. Crucially, the population lists—the definitive, compiled documents—are the only items entirely Missing from the house and the regional archives. Their strategic absence suggests the entire documentation process was an effort to Misplace the official record of the household’s residency at key census years, possibly to support a tax evasion scheme or an Unverified claim on the estate by a tenant who was never officially recorded as a resident.

The Unverified Ink Forms