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Edward Thomas K Jenkins

Age: 41

Sex: male

Date: 1 Jul 1953

Place: Doddington Park Polish Hostel, Nantwich, Cheshire

Edward Thomas Jenkins vanished on 1 July 1953.

He was last seen leaving Doddington to go to Crewe.

He had been a friend of Henryk Borynski who later vanished in Bradford on 13 July 1953.

He had been the warden of Doddington Park Polish Hostel in Nantwich, Cheshire for the previous two years and was a civil servant. He had lived at the hostel with his wife and two children, a 14-year-old girl and a 7-year-old boy. His wife said that she could think of no reason why he would leave.

Following his disappearance, the acting warden at the hostel said that as far as he knew that Edward Jenkins had left for Crewe without any luggage.

The police said, 'If the circumstances of Jenkins disappearance are similar to Father Borynski's, there may be a connection'.

Edward Jenkins was described as:

  • 5ft 7in tall.
  • Small build.
  • Long narrow face and sallow complexion.
  • Clean shaven with light brown wavy hair parted in the middle.
  • Brown eyes.
  • Last seen wearing a blue green tweed jacket, brown trousers, brown brogue shoes and no hat.

The Nantwich police received a mysterious telephone call on Tuesday 11 August 1953 from London claiming that Edward Jenkins's and Henryk Borynski's disappearances were linked. It was claimed that Edward Jenkins and Henryk Borynski were part of the same Polish military anti-communist organisation. It was said that the caller spoke with an accent, which was thought was probably Polish but that they had refused to give their name.

Following the call, when the Nantwich police were asked to comment, they refused, and said, 'the matter has been jumbled up'. However, they later admitted that the telephone message from London had been received. When the police at Crewe were asked to comment, they said, 'We have no comment at all'. It was later reported on 13 August that the police knew the name and address of the man that rang the police in Nantwich.

The acting warden at the hostel later said that he knew of no reason for Edward Jenkins to disappear and said that although there were some organisations on the camp, they were exclusively for Polish resident and that Edward Jenkins would not have been eligible to join them.

Edward Jenkins's wife said that she had been 'amazed' when she heard the suggestion that Edward Jenkins had belonged to a Polish military anti-communist organisation. She said that as far as she knew that Edward Jenkins had no strong political feelings and that she didn't think that he had ever met Henryk Borynski.

She said that the only news that she had had about Edward Jenkins since he had left home was from a Polish girl whose mother had formerly been a matron at the Doddington Hostel who said that she had seen Edward Jenkins near Marble arch in London.

The police later said that they had established that Henryk Borynski had once been at a hostel in Diddington in Hertfordshire and said that he might have visited the hostel in Doddington, Nantwich.

Edward Jenkins had held an appointment with the National Assistance Board at Market Harborough in Leicestershire before he took the Doddington post.


*map pointers are rough estimates based on known location details as per Place field above.

see www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk

see Nottingham Journal - Thursday 13 August 1953

see Yorkshire Evening Post - Wednesday 12 August 1953

see Nantwich Chronicle - Saturday 15 August 1953

see Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer - Thursday 13 August 1953

see Crewe Chronicle - Saturday 15 August 1953