AN international mystery from the days when Jack the Ripper struck terror in the heart and Queen Victoria ruled an empire has been unearthed by a group of local historians.

And, as eminent national historians eagerly ready themselves for details of the 1901 census to be made public on January 1, their amateur County Durham counterparts are still finding juicy information in the 1891 census.

The Chester-le-Street Heritage Group is exhibiting the findings of its study of the 1891 census at the town's library.

Its researches reveal that one home in Morgan's Yard, just off Front Street, housed a most unlikely collection of exotic travellers in the 19th Century provincial Durham town.

First there was Margaret Elliss, born in Constantinople, William Ellis, a New York navvy, and James Duffy, from Bermuda.

Nearby lived Charles Longbottom, born in Paris, Herbert Hornsby, born in India, and eight-year-old William Stephenson, from Australia.

"It's intriguing, to put it mildly, but, if nothing else, it shows that people were much more likely to move and travel as people think," said heritage group member Catherine Button.

Other interesting details in the town's census include one house with a family of four living with no fewer than 45 lodgers.

Durham County Council archivist David Butler said the censuses of the era were invaluable for family and local historians.

He said: "The details can be fascinating. In Durham City there was a retired Coldstream Guard and we can look at where he was stationed from his children's births. One was born in the Tower of London and another must have been born on the troop ship Athol because his young daughter bore the same name.

"The 1891 census had future miners' leader Peter Lee mentioned.

"There are great stories about what people did to avoid compiling the census. For example Turner, the painter, spent the night of one census in a rowing boat on census night to avoid filling it in."

A perusal of the national census of 1891 includes no details of Queen Victoria, holidaying in France at the time, but does list Florence Nightingale and the Prince of Wales.

But not all the entries are entirely reliable.

Lord James Douglas was reprimanded after describing his wife as a "cross sweeper and lunatic" and his son " a shoeblack born in darkest Africa"