three of whom resorted to prostitution due to poverty following failed marriages—Stride became a prostitute earlier in life. Gothenburg police records dating from March 1865 confirm her arrest upon this charge. She was treated at least twice for venereal disease. On 21 April 1865, Gustafsdotter gave birth to a stillborn girl. Relocation to London In February 1866, Gustafsdotter moved from Gothenburg to London. Her actual reason for relocating from Sweden to England is unknown, as she is known to have told acquaintances two differing stories as to why she relocated. To some, Gustafsdotter claimed she had relocated to England due to her employment in the domestic service of "a gentleman" who lived near Hyde Park; to others, Gustafsdotter claimed she had family in London and chose to visit her relatives in the city before opting to remain in England. Whatever the truth regarding Gustafsdotter's decision to relocate to London, it is likely she funded this trip with the 65 krona she inherited following the death of her mother in August 1864, and which she had received in late 1865. Upon her arrival in London, Gusdafsdotter learned to speak both English and Yiddish in addition to her native language. She is also known to have briefly dated a policeman in the late 1860s. Marriage On 7 March 1869, Gustafsdotter married John Thomas Stride, a ship's carpenter from Sheerness, who was 22 years her senior. They married in a modest ceremony at St Giles in the Fields Church. The couple had no children. For several years after their marriage, the couple resided in East India Dock Road, operating a coffee shop in Poplar, east London. Their income was also supplemented by John Stride continuing his trade as a carpenter. By 1874, the Strides' marriage had begun to deteriorate, although they continued to live together. The following year, John Stride sold the coffee shop, likely due to financial hardship. Separation In March 1877, Stride was admitted to the Poplar Workhouse, suggesting that the couple had separated by this date. However, census records from 1881 indicate the two had reunited and lived together in the district of Bow, although the couple had permanently separated by the end of that year, with Stride being admitted to a Whitechapel workhouse infirmary suffering from bronchitis in December 1881. She was discharged from this infirmary on 4 January 1882, and is believed to have taken residence in one