While (yet again) raking through Trove a while back for anything to do with the missing bookmaker’s clerk (and gambling nitkeeper) John Joseph Kean(e), I found two mentions (here and here) of a May 1948 divorce in a Sydney court between J. J. Kean and V. M. Kean in front of Mr. Justice Clancy in No. 2 Court.
Even though this trail had previously gone cold, I returned to it today to see if I could find anything more about “V. M. Kean”: and this time around, it turned out that the Gods of Trove were a little more on my side.
63 Jetty Road, really?
I first found a November 1945 open letter from “V. M. Keane” published in the Adelaide Advertiser on the 16th, 17th and 19th:
PERSONS who have left goods to be sold on commission make enquiries re same by December 1st, 1945, otherwise the undersigned will not be responsible (Signed) V. M. KEANE. 63 Jetty road. Glenelg
This then led me to find an article in the 30th October 1945 Adelaide News:
At Glenelg yesterday, while Mrs. Veronica Mary Kean was serving in her secondhand shop in Jetty road about 3 p.m., she left two rings on the counter. An hour later they were missing. […] One of them, an eternity ring, was valued at £4 and the other, a gold ring, at £3.
A similar article appeared here in the Adelaide ‘Tiser:
Two rings, together valued at £7, were stolen from the secondhand shop of Mrs Veronica Mary Kean, home duties, of Jetty road, Glenelg, on Monday. PCC Rawson is enquiring.
There’s a reference to “Kean, Veronica Mary” in the 1945 SA Police Gazette (category H: “Stealing In Dwellings etc”), the index to which is visible online.
In 1951, we see a business at the same address: “Miss Muffet 63 JETTY ROAD, GLENELG The Children’s Wear Specialists Large range of Over coats and Frocks in all shades and sizes.”
The shop was already called “Miss Muffet” in January 1946, as per this article:
In aid of the RSL Building fund, a variety show and mannequin parade will be held in the Glenelg Town Hall at 8 p.m on Wednesday February 13. Organiser is Mrs. S. Eitzen and compere Malcolm Ellenby. Mannequins—Mary Rennie (bathing beauty candidate), Zita Minagall, Beth Habib, Patricia Rennie, Mary Abbley, Gipsy Rowe, Lorraine Hart, Barbara Jacob. Cynthia Marshall. Mona Allison Stella Minney and June Lord. Clothes displayed by courtesy of leading Glenelg stores. Bookings at “Miss Muffet,” Jetty road, Glenelg.
Was Veronica Mary Kean also the owner of the Miss Muffet shop? I suspect not, because the letter in the Advertiser seems to imply that she had had the lease of her second hand shop’s premises withdrawn as of 1st December 1945. But a branch of The National Bank of Australasia opened at 63 Jetty Road on 2nd January 1952, giving any Miss Muffet searchers an end date to work with.
Marriage or Death?
So, can we find details of her marriage? The only SA marriage I found for a Veronica Mary Keane was from 1946:
KEANE — SMITH.— The marriage of Veronica Mary, only daughter of Mr. and Mrs. A. H. Smith, of St. Peters, to Hillary Ignatius, fifth son of the late Mr. and Mrs. B. J. Keane, of Goodwood, was solemnised at St. Francis Xavier’s Cathedral on July 20, at 6 p.m.
However, NSW’s BDM website found me a 1926 marriage between James J Kean and Veronica M O’Brien in Glebe (refs: 11392/1926 and 11392/1926). Sadly, images for these aren’t available online.
As for her death, the LDS FamilySearch website yields only a death on 20th December 1968 of a widow called “Keena, Veronica Mary” in Warrnambool: but I somewhat doubt that that was her. Similarly, GenealogySA only suggests a Veronica Mary Keane (whose deceased husband was William Joseph Keane) who died in 1971.
What do I think?
OK, I admit I got a little bit excited when I found Veronica Mary Kean(e) running a second hand shop on 63 Jetty Road, Glenelg in 1945. But it does seem as though she was not the same V. M. Kean who divorced J. J. Kean in Sydney in May 1948 – realistically, that was almost certainly James J. Kean and Veronica Mary Kean (nee O’Brien) terminating their 1926 Glebe marriage.
My best guess is therefore that the Veronica Mary Keane of 63 Jetty Road was in fact the Veronica Mary Smith who married Hillary Ignatius Keane on 20th July 1946, and whose engagement was announced in the Adelaide Advertiser on 3rd November 1945:
SMITH—KEANE. —Mr. and Mrs. A. H. Smith, of St. Peters, wish to announce the engagement of their only daughter, Veronica M., to Hillary I. (RAAF. Pacific), fifth son of the late Mr. and Mrs. B. P. Keane, of Goodwood.
Like another Adelaidean with whom Somerton Man researchers are thoroughly familiar, it seems that Veronica Mary was using her married surname after getting engaged but prior to getting married.
So, it would appear to be no more than normal frustrating chance that put Veronica Mary Keane and her 63 Jetty Road second hand shop in the path of my research steamroller. Well worth a look, undoubtedly close, but… no Tamam Shud cigar this time, sorry! 🙁
Turns out SA’s search has improved (but still not as good as Vic)
63 Jetty Rd seems to have been a mall or plaza or something….
In 1948:
61 Madame Jenneys frck shop
NILE ST
63 Miss Muffet, child’s wear
63 Bristow, M.R. “Dalsalon” lfs hrdssr
Eclipse Cake Shop The, Kenny M. C. (not sure if this is 2 seperate entries – the ‘The’ seems lost)
63 Haskard, P., hrdssr
Stallard L cnfctnr
MacKenzie, W. M. boot shop
HINDMARSH ST
63-63a Thompson’s K R. library
Before that 1944/45 (noting there’s 2 S&M in between):
61 Vacant
NILE ST
63 Cunnew M hrdssr
Eclipse Cake Shop The, Kenny, M. C.
63 Haskard P., hrdssr
Stallard, L., cnfcnr
MacKenzie, W. M. boot shop
HINDMARSH ST
63-63a Thompson’s K. R, library
Interestingly, in 1942 the numbering was a touch different (or more likely the listings got messed up at some stage):
61 Pinch, E. B., dealer
NILE ST
61a Morrow Frock shop
Dalsant, G., hrdssr
Eclipse Cake Shop The, Kenny, M.C (I’m sort of thinking Ths, Kenny, M.C. is separate to the cake shop)
63 Vacant
Stallard, L., cnfctnr
macKenzie, W. M. boot shop
63-63a Thompson’s K. R. library
HINDMARSH ST
(in 1943 everything except for the Library was 61a)
Sorry to spam, but might be interesting.
Thompson K. R. also owned 89 Jetty Road. In 1935 in the Adlaide “Sport” newspaper he’s listed as a bookmaker (Trove /newspapers/article//216264136 – see the right hand side under ‘Flat’) I only mention it because the connection between SM, Keane (I couldn’t find Veronica there, but NP’s news articles put her at 63 Jetty Rd) and Bookmakers is always interesting, no?
Anyone in Adelaide fancy a trip to the National Archive Office (I think they’re near the State Library)….
There appears to be a file that may be interesting in Adelaide (It’s classed as ‘Large’, so to unlock it online would cost me $250 – and I’m too tight with my shekels for that).
The file’s description is:
Rocket project – miscellaneous – [various correspondence re lists of schedules maintenance plant & equipments installed or in use at maintenance workshop building 8 SA, list of charges on packages ex SS cycle – a/c Long Range Weapons Establishment Salisbury etc]
You might recognise the SS Cycle as the ship the mysterious Tommy Reade and Keane were allegedly working on….
Or has someone already barked up this tree?
Barked long and loud and louder – accused the good Professor of gross inaccuracy when he stated a T Keane was a seaman aboard the SS Cycle .. and was summarily banned from his Reddit Q and A for being insolent.
There’s an article or two from the era (maybe I forgot to post them) that talks about Reade being on the Cycle, and a T Keane ALSO being on the cycle (and then hypothesises that Reade stole/borrowed/whatever Keane’s clothes. That said, AFAIK (I haven’t dug too deeply) there was a later assertion that no trace of Reade or Keane on the Cycle was ever found.
As NP points out though, newspapers have limited accuracy (And when different ones report different things you don’t know how much truth is in either).
So the 2 (not entirely contradictory, it’s got to be said) stories reported are:
1) Reade was from the Cycle, which was in Port at the time
2) Reade had worked on the Cycle in 1945
I had a brief look on passengersinhistory and there’s multiple records called ‘Cycle’ (I suspect they overlap – that is, same boat, different research angle for some of them). But the ones I looked at aren’t connected to any voyages in 1948 (can’t remember if I checked 1945). I could find records of several boats in Port in 47/48 including a couple that would have been there very close to November 1948, but can’t find where I recorded them – and there weren’t any names on them that immediately leapt out (although I suspect their passenger records are incomplete, and not sure wheether “passengers” includes “crew” (sometimes it seems to, other times, not so much)).
Anywho, I guess my point is there’s a large file at National Archive’s Adelaide library (which I’m too tight to get digitalised) but I might be in Radelaide over new years, so we could see if they’re open then….
I never visited Prof’s appearance on reddit (but was always cynical about Reade irrespective of any Keane connection)….
Re:- Death of V M Keane.
Warrnambool was, to that time, the absolute Irish Capital of Victoria so I would suggest your research may be more accurate than the entry.
The Veronica Mary Keane you mentioned in this post is actually my late nanna.
Veronica Mary Keane is my late grandmother, she died in 1987.