Tuesday, May 19

I lacked inspiration for last week's writing task so fell back on some thoughts that had been mulling around in my mind for some time.

They say that no good will come of googling yourself but it occurred to me that googling my name would throw up other people who share the same combination of twelve letters and it might be interesting to see what other people with that same name have made of their lives. 

 

John Christie is not a particularly unusual name.  In my own family, there is at least one John Christie in every one of the last ten generations I’ve managed to uncover in my genealogy research but I don’t expect to find any of my forebears on Google.  But John is still one of the most common Christian names and there are enough Christies in Scotland to warrant the family having its own tartan and it is likely that some of them must have made some kind of mark on society.

I hope to find that there are John Christies who are famous scientists, doctors, and musicians and I know that one namesake founded the Glyndebourne Festival in England, but the first John Christie Google chooses to list is John Reginald Christie, the notorious murderer. They made a movie about him in which he was played by Richard Attenborough and books have been written about him.  Years ago I was stopped by a policeman in Hobart for some trivial driving offence and, when he looked at my licence, he commented, “I’ve just been reading about you.”  Well, not me, of course, but he clearly had a professional interest in my namesake.  

John Reginald was a sad character who killed at least 8 women between 1943 and 1952 in England and he was so notorious the local authorities destroyed the house and changed the name of the street where the murders took place in an attempt to erase memories of the outrage. Of the many  books written about him, the most sensational is entitled ‘The Rillington Place Strangler’.

The next of my namesakes suggested by Google has had a book written about him too.  It’s entitled ‘Damn You, John Christie!’ and it’s the story of John Mitchell Christie, who, in 1866, joined the Melbourne detective force which was then said to consist of well-educated men of standing. Later he was described as a 'well-groomed, refined-looking, walking embodiment of good taste', but he was also seen in a less favourable light as one who grew rich on his share of fines.

John Mitchell was a master of disguise who was variously a travelling tinker, a street-sweeper, a clergyman, but most often a 'gentleman'. The highlights of his career, however, were when he 'shadowed' visiting royalty; in 1867 he travelled throughout Australia and New Zealand with the Duke of Edinburgh; in 1881 he accompanied Princes Albert and George, and in 1901 acted as bodyguard to the Duke and Duchess of York when they visited Australia to open the first Australian Parliament.

A good athlete, Christie became well known in boxing and rowing circles throughout Australia.  He resigned from the detective force in 1875 to devote more time to sport although he did then join the Customs Service, spending a great deal of energy trying to close down illicit stills which were rife at the time.  It may have also been a good career move to give him better opportunities to put something aside for his retirement.

I wonder, in fifty years time, when people Google the name John Christie, will the names of the notorious criminal and the notorious policeman still appear at the top of the list of results, or will some other worthy namesake take their place?