UK UK - Mary Flanagan, 16, Newham, East London, 31 Dec 1959

[trendsetter]

it was suggested it was odd that the employer did not call round to enquire. The employer was Tate & Lyle, a huge operation with probably thousands of employees at the time. If it had been a small or medium size employer it may have been surprising, but not with an operation of that size

It would have been odd only if they were expecting her to attend work. It is usual for people to take annual leave around Christmas time and also many companies shut down for the period between the Christmas and New Year holidays. So it's quite possible that she was on leave for the period she was absent.

What is mysterious is what she was doing during the daytime when her family believed her to be at work.

 

[trendsetter]

My previous post mentions that New Year's Day is a public holiday. I have just listened to two podcasts about this case (https://www.patreon.com/collection/1540674?view=expanded) - it was explained there that when Mary went missing, New Year's Day was a normal working day and not a public holiday. New Year's Day became a public holiday in 1974 (When Did New Year’s Day Become A Holiday In England?) so her parent's recollection of visiting the refinery on New Year's Day is quite plausible.

 

[Grouse]

My previous post mentions that New Year's Day is a public holiday. I have just listened to two podcasts about this case (https://www.patreon.com/collection/1540674?view=expanded) - it was explained there that when Mary went missing, New Year's Day was a normal working day and not a public holiday. New Year's Day became a public holiday in 1974 (When Did New Year’s Day Become A Holiday In England?) so her parent's recollection of visiting the refinery on New Year's Day is quite plausible.

Thanks for the podcast links, have listened to them now and it fills in a lot of the gaps.

The woman in Edinburgh sounds a very strong possibility. They didn't say any more about the distinguishing scar that was mentioned, only that the woman refused to be photographed, and then later disappeared.

 

[dotr]

28 December 2025

The UK's most mysterious missing person cases

A staggering 160,000 people are reported missing every year in the UK - equating to one person every 90 seconds.

www.dailymail.co.uk

Mary Flanagan, December 31, 1959
''A New Year's Eve party had been young Mary Flanagan's destination when she vanished in Newham in 1959.

The teenager, 16, had made a point to kiss her two little sisters goodbye before she vanished without a trace.

She had worked at the Tate and Lyle factory, but when she disappeared her shocked parents discovered she had not been in for two weeks.

Mary had been besotted with a grown man called Tom, someone who police have never been able to track down.

Since she vanished over 100 unidentified bodies have been DNA tested by experts but none have been her match.

And police have also been hampered by the fact some case records were destroyed during a 2013 flood in Plaistow.

Some of the more persistent theories about her disappearance suggest she may have eloped with Tom.

Or many think it is possible she may have fallen pregnant and decided to run away with him to have the baby.

But her family have never given up hope she will one day come home and they will be reunited.''