London is one of the most popular tourist destinations, and with good reason. You can find everything from world-class museums, to royal palaces, to iconic landmarks like Big Ben and Tower Bridge. However, there’s a lot more to London than these sites that you might see on postcards. It also has a dark side. One of the darkest pieces of its history lies in the East End. The Whitechapel area of London became the site of a brutal series of murders during 1888. This was the home of Jack the Ripper. Although the culprit was never caught and his identity is still mostly unknown, he’s become one of history’s most infamous serial killers.
This Jack the Ripper Walking Tour takes you through some of the most notorious places involved in the crimes. You’ll hear stories of Jack the Ripper’s victims and learn about this terrifying time in London’s history. In addition to the bloody sights and grisly details, these murders are also significant for being one of the earliest tabloid true crime sensations. One hundred and thirty-three years later, Jack the Ripper still manages to fascinate people everywhere with his gruesome, unsolved murders.
- London in 1888
- Starting Point: Gunthorpe Street
- The Murder of Martha Tabram
- Flower and Dean Walk
- Osborn Street
- Brick Lane
- Frying Pan
- Buck's Row
- Mary Ann Nichols
- Whitechapel Road
- 29 Hanbury Street
- Annie Chapman
- The Newspaper Tabloids
- The Ten Bells Spitalfields
- Queens Head Pub
- The Princess Alice Pub
- Henriques Street
- Elizabeth Stride
- Catherine Eddowes
- Mitre Square
- From Hell Letters
- 13 Millers Court
- Mary Jane Kelly
- So Who was Jack the Ripper?
- White Hart Pub
- The Suspects
About This Walking Tour
In just under two hours, you can retrace the steps of Jack the Ripper in 1888. Although I would carve out about three hours so you can take your time. This way you can even stop into some spots along the way. The Ripper is still alive in our memories as if he still lurks behind every corner. As you walk, listen for footsteps behind you on these dark streets and be sure to have your wits about you. Jack’s ghosts are known to prowl the street of Whitechapel even to this day. All you need is this map and your curiosity as you embark on this eerie adventure.
Be warned! This tour goes into lots of detail about Whitechapel’s poverty, Victorian life in 1888, and the gruesome murders. It might be a little much for some youngsters so use your judgement. We don’t share any pictures in this post from the crimes scenes but we also don’t judge what you choose to google. The tour starts at the entrance to Gunthorpe Street on Whitechapel Road. If you’d prefer to just skip to only certain parts of the tour you can easily use the table of contents to find what you’re looking for.
Self Guided vs Guided Tour
Jack the Ripper Walking Tours in London, are a profession. Many of the best guides are more like actors and historians than just plain chatty guides. This part of London is overrun with tour guides taking Jack the Ripper groups along the streets. They can get swamped, and the cheaper tours are often so large that it’s sometimes hard to hear the guide talk. Taking a self-guided tour means you can go at your own pace. You can stop or detour where you want or just follow the steps as I’ve laid them out here. I’ve done my best to really make this tour as in-depth and historically accurate as possible. The stories we tell making the tale come live in front of you and take you back to 1888.
TIPS
- If you see a tour group overtaking a particular spot, just wait for them to move along
- Once the larger groups move along you’ll suddenly have the entire area just to yourself!
- If you want a more haunting atmosphere for your tour, come late at night, long after the group tours have concluded. You’ll find the East End almost as dark and eerie as it was back in 1888
- All of the stops on the tour are located on public property but if you do choose to take the tour at night, keep your voices down as we do pass by several residential areas
- Alternatively, if you have kids who are interested in learning about Jack the Ripper but up for the late night tour, you can easily do this tour during the day
- Remember, this part of town isn’t a museum. The East End is a working neighbourhood filled with locals, so be sure to not stop in the middle of the sidewalk. This is very irritating to the residents who are just trying to make their way around
Following Jack the Ripper’s Footsteps
This tour is designed to walk the steps of Jack the Ripper and his victims in chronological order. Because of this, we might backtrack here and there. But we will always walk along a different stretch of road to fully explore the area around Whitechapel and Spitalfields. Walking in chronological order makes the story unfold in front of you in an even more exciting fashion. Reading all the evidence and stories about Jack the Ripper as it happened in 1888 really brings the story to life.
London in 1888
Sadly, much of the Victorian City of London was destroyed during the bombing in World War II. Few buildings remain in Whitechapel, which are reminiscent of life here in 1888. But there are still some hidden gems that cast a little glimpse into the past. Various streets or structure that gives us an idea of what the neighbourhood looked like during the reign of terror of Jack the Ripper.
Whitechapel was a small borough of London bordered by the ancient City of London to the west, Spitalfields to the north and St George-in-the-east. The name ‘Whitechapel’ comes from the old St. Mary Matfelon church, which was established here in 1338. The church has been a simple white painted, which was the largest structure in the East End at the time. Being such a landmark, it became a nickname for the district. In 1888, Whitechapel was London’s worst slum. It had the highest death rates, the most severe overcrowding, and the most dangerous place in London.
The Whitechapel Slum
The Whitechapel neighbourhood was developed adjacent to the city’s noxious industries. Shipyards, breweries, tanneries and slaughterhouses were the foul-smelling industries. The City of London designated the East End for these businesses as the prevailing winds in London travelled from west to east. This way, most of the odours would not flow into the upper-class areas of the city. But it meant that Whitechapel was where the worst pollution and smells would coagulate. It was a less than desirable area where the most impoverished people lived. The low-paid employment in the docks and those foul-smelling industries made worse piecework and casual labour, resulting in the area becoming somewhat of a slum.
Immigrant Population
Rent was extremely cheap and in addition to the local unfortunates, Whitechapel drew in a large immigrant population. In the 1880’s Whitechapel was home to thousands of eastern-European Jewish and Polish refugees. The English residents were less than welcoming to these refugees. There was rampant anti-Semitism in the streets of Whitechapel. English residents feared they were taking away “English” jobs and the reason for their sordid plot in life. This melting pot of hate, poverty and filth all contributed to the boiling point which was about to explode when Jack the Ripper came to town.
Life in the East End
Some streets in Whitechapel were so dangerous they were dubbed “the blackest of the black streets.” Police only patroled in groups of four to protect themselves from the gangs that roamed the shadowy alleys. There was no sanitation in Whitechapel. There was no plumbing inside the apartments, where sometimes as many as nine people shared one bedroom. You would just throw your sewage and rubbish out into the streets. The smell walking down the lanes would have been almost unbearable.
Unlike some images, we might have in our mind of London in 1888, the streets were not all light by the gaslight. Instead, Whitechapels alleys were some of the darkest places in the entire city. Whitechapel Road was well lit but as soon as you headed off on the side streets, you were met with utter darkness. In this complete obscurity, prostitution could easily take place. Out of sight of the police. But it was also in this complete darkness where murderers could quickly and easily kill their prey and then slip away into the night.
Whitechapel Today
Today, the area of Whitechapel is filled with Bangladesh and Asian immigrants who moved here in the 1960s to set up textile shops and incredible restaurants! If you’re coming here to do a Jack the Ripper walking tour, please make sure you dine in one of these top-notch restaurants. Instead of just tromping through the area and not giving back to the community be sure to stop in and get a spot of dinner or a snack at one of these many amazing restaurants.
Starting Point: Gunthorpe Street
We start our tour at the intersection of Gunthorpe Street and Whitechapel Road. A small archway leads you from Whitechapel Road into the narrow alley which is Gunthorpe Street. Gunthorpe Street is located away from the car horns of busy Whitechapel Road. This quiet alley feels like a glimmer of London from 1888. The cobblestones and brick buildings are reminiscent of a bygone era.
It was here where you’d find some of Whitechapel’s most raucous lodging houses, stables and narrow garden courts. The area already had a mean reputation and has been described as a “notorious Rendez-vous of thieves.” Violent assaults were commonplace around here, but surprisingly murder was less common. And when someone was murdered it was commonly a part of a robbery. Murder for murder’s sake was almost unheard of. And the violent mutilation that Jack the Ripper inflicted on his victims was unlike anything even the most hardened district had ever seen.
George Yard Lodging House
In 1888, Gunthrope Street was named George Yard. It was along this street where you would have found the George Yard Lodging House. Lodging Houses were how some of the poorest inhabitants of London slept at night. Few people had a fixed address in Whitechapel. They wore everything they owed as they walked the streets. A bed for the night had to be earned, and if you couldn’t pay, you were thrown out on the street. The lodging houses were also called “doss houses” or “fourpenny hotels” as the cost of a night’s stay was 4-pence.
In the front window of the lodging house, a number was posted, this referred to the number of free beds available. Often you’d find 20 people sleeping in one crowded room. They slept atop horsehair mattresses. These were usually filled with lice, scabies and even feces. The bed linens were only changed once a week (hence all the bugs). By law, the windows had to be opened and aired out at 10 am the following day since the smells from the residents were so potent they often were overwhelming.
The Murder of Martha Tabram
It was here on Gunthrope Street (then George Yard) that the mutilated body of 39-year old Martha Tabram was found. Although Martha wasn’t considered a “canonical victim” of Jack the Ripper at the time, many detectives since are more persuaded of Jack’s involvement in the murder.
Tabram was discovered on the first-floor landing of George Yard Buildings at 4:50 am on August 7th, 1888. No one knows when she was killed as her body was only discovered when the lamps were lit in this darkened lane. Although some Lodging Houses did have lamps above their entrances, the gaslamps were usually put out around 11 pm to save money.
The attack on Martha was extremely violent. She suffered from 39 frenzied stab wounds to her throat, chest and abdomen. One of the reasons the police didn’t connect her to the future Jack the Ripper murders was that she was not disembowelled. Nor had her throat been cut (although it had been slashed.) But many suggest that perhaps Jack was only starting his horrific crusade. The variations in her murder scene were simply because he had yet to settle into a routine. Either way, her murder horrified the residents of Whitechapel, who clung to any piece of information they could glean from the newspapers.
The Unfortunates of the East End
Martha Tabram was often referred to in the papers and in the history books as a common prostitute. But like with almost all of Jack the Ripper’s victims, this is only a part of these women’s stories. We spend a lot of time talking about the identity of Jack the Ripper. But to give his victims their due, I also focus on stories of the victims who too often get forgotten in my tour. Most, if not all of the victims of Jack the Ripper, didn’t choose prostitution. They were forced into it by a system that left them with no other opportunities to make enough money to live.
Martha was married in 1869, but the two divorced in 1875 due to Martha’s apparent “heavy drinking.” The excuse of alcoholism was another common thread that many of these women share. Drinking to forget the horrible place in which they lived. Martha was given twelve shillings per week allowance by her ex-husband, but this was reduced to 2 shillings and 6 pence after she kept harassing him in public for more money. When he learned she had been living with another man, her allowance was cut off.
The new man in her life was carpenter, Henry Turner. The two made a decent living selling trinkets they made on the street, but they separated in the cursed year of 1888, once more due to Martha’s drinking. With no means of making money, Martha turned to selling her body on the streets. Although the word “prostitute” is used to describe their occupation, I prefer the Victorian term “an unfortunate” as this is genuinely the best definition of these women’s situation.
Flower and Dean Walk
Continue along Gunthorpe Street, veering left at Wentworth Street stopping at the arched entrance to Flower and Dean Walk. The beautiful red brick townhomes along Flower and Dean Walk are very reminiscent of this area in 1888. After the construction of the business-laden Commercial Street to the east, this narrow road became even more cramped and overcrowded. The original townhomes located here were so run down they were demolished in 1970. But in 1888, this part of town was where you would have found various famous lodging houses favoured by the city’s prostitutes. Two victims of the attacks in 1888 lived here at Satchell’s Lodging House and Cooley’s Lodging House.
Emma Smith, Martha Tabram and Mary Ann Nichols stayed here off and on in 1888. But almost all of Jack’s victims stayed on this street at one time or another. Although this might seems like a huge clue tieing all the victims together, Flower and Deak Walk was simply a popular spot for the prostitutes of Whitechapel. One of the reasons it was such a hot spot was that Flower and Dean Street was made of a mixture of courts, alleys and interconnecting lanes. The perfect area for the women of the night to conduct their business out of the prying eyes public and the police. At #55 was Cooney’s Lodging House. This lodging house allowed “married” couples to bed together. But they didn’t ask for proof and this allowed prostitutes to bring home clients under the guise of calling them their “husbands”.
Osborn Street
Turn back east along Wentworth Street and stop at the crossing of Osborn Street and Old Montague Street. The old Buxton Hotel and Pub makes a great backdrop for this next story. When Martha Tabram was murdered, a huge veil of fear descended on the neighbourhood. This was because she had not been the first violent death of a prostitute that year. Earlier in April, 45-year old Emma Smith had died of her violent injuries just a few steps away in Royal London Hospital.
Emma Smith
On April 3rd, 1888 at four in the morning, Emma Smith returned to her Lodging House at 18 George Street. George Street is now gone but would have been located where we find Flower and Dean Walk today. She was covered in blood having been viciously attacked by a group of men. But Smith was a tough ol’ broad. The deputy keeper of the lodging house, Mary Russell, recounted how Smith had previously been punched in the face and thrown out a window and yet survived. She frequently returned home with black eyes and sadly was used to this type of violence.
Emma claimed that she had been walking along where we stand on Osborn Street. Then suddenly, a gang sprung at her from the darkness. They robbed her of all the money she had earned that night. But not before one of the men slashed at her with a long knife or perhaps a solider’s bayonet.
But the time she returned home the extent of her wounds would prove fatal. Her face was slashed, her ear badly cut, and her lower abdomen was also bleeding profusely. Her bedmates pleaded with her to get to the hospital. She agreed and made her way to the hospital. But at 9 am the following day, she died of her injuries. But not before giving the police as much information as she could on the attackers.
The First Ripper Victim?
Emma Smith clearly wasn’t a victim of Jack the Ripper; they proved that she had been attacked by a group of men. Nevertheless, this violent attack on a prostitute had raised the hairs of both the police and the public. It drew attention to the violence that these unfortunate women suffered. And unlike years prior, the violence seemed to be escalating, now with the death of Martha Tabram. Despite no connection to the Ripper, her murder was the first that opened the case files entitled “The Whitechapel Murder.” This was the famous case file that contained all of the following “canonical five” Jack the Ripper victims.
Brick Lane
Turning northwards, Osborn Street turns into Brick Lane. Brick Lane was named in 1550 when two tile factories were located here. Clay could be dug right out of the wet ground used to produce bricks and tiles for the factories. These were the literal building blocks of Whitechapel’s architecture. But during the 1880s, Brick Lane was home to a variety of shops, pubs, lodging houses, and timberyards.
Today, the area is known as ‘Banglatown‘ due to the high number of Bangledesh restaurants. Bangladeshi immigrants came to this part of town to work in the clothing shops and factories. These sprung up in the 1970s and have flourished ever since. Many of the old breweries were shut down, and their large factories transformed into art and entertainment venues. Brick Lane has become a popular hipster hangout in recent years with chic vintage shops popping up further north along Brick Lane.
Frying Pan
Most of the original pubs in the area have all but disappeared. This is partly due to the large Muslim population in the area who do not drink. But at #13 Brick Lane, you can still find the building which housed the Frying Pan pub in 1888. It was here that Mary Ann Nichols, Jack’s first canonical victim, was allegedly drinking on the night of her murder. She is seen leaving the Frying Pan pub at 12:30 pm on 31st August 1888. The Frying Pan Pub was known for its clientele of prostitutes during the 19th century. It was a hot spot where unfortunates would lose their daily “doss” (lodging) money in favour of a pint of gin.
The Gin Craze
Unlike many pictures we might have in our mind of a pub in Victorian London, people weren’t typically sipping on pints of beer. Instead, they preferred large glasses of homegrown gin. “The Distillers have found out a way to hit the palate of the Poor, by their new fashion’d compound Waters called Geneva (Gin), so that the common people seem not to value the French-brandy as usual, and even not to desire it,” claimed English journalist Daniel Defoe. Gin was extremely cheap to make and much faster to get drunk off of than beer. And it got you very, very drunk.
Alcoholism in 1888
Gin was made inside large iron bathtubs in Whitechapel. It was so strong that it was known to eat through paint and iron of the tub it was made in. One can only imagine how awful it would have been to imbibe. Many unfortunate women would come to these “gin palaces” nightly for pint after pint of the stuff. Most of the women killed by Jack the Ripper were said to look much older than their actual age upon their autopsies. No doubt, early ageing was brought on by the potency of the alcohol.
The women who worked the streets of Whitechapel longed to forget their plight. Alcoholism was rampant among the poorest of Whitechapel’s residents. Although the Gin Craze was more prominent in the 18th century, it saw a resurgence in the 19th century, especially among Whitechapels prostitutes. An entire bottle of gin could be purchased for a few pence, and sadly many of these victims chose the bottle over their lodging. A choice which no doubt led to their deaths.
Old Montague Street Mortuary
Turn right down Chicksand Street toward Greatorex Street. Walking south along Greatorex Street turn left along Old Montague Street. Walking along Old Montague Street at the corner of Davenant street, you’ll find the spot wherein 1888 stood the Old Montague Street Mortuary. It was here that the bodies of the Whitechapel Murder victims Mary Ann Nichols and Annie Chapman were taken for their autopsies. But conditions inside this run-down mortuary weren’t sufficient for the high-level investigations taking place here in 1888. Dr. George Bagster Phillips was quoted as saying;
“It was under great difficulty he could make his examination, and, as on many occasions he had met with similar difficulties, he now raised his protest, as he had previously done, that members in his profession should be called upon to perform their duties in these inadequate circumstances. There were no adequate conveniences for a post-mortem examination. At particular seasons of the year, it was dangerous to the operator.“
Buck’s Row
Continue along Old Montague Street towards Whitechapel Station on Durward Street. In 1888, Durward Street was called Buck’s Row. During the 19th century, this narrow thoroughfare was lined with large warehouses and stables on the north side. On the south side, you’d find a cramped row of terraced cottages. These small cottages were considered some of the most “luxurious” accommodations in Whitechapel. It was here in Buck’s Row, outside the gateway of Brown’s Stable Yard, where Mary Ann Nichols‘ body was found. Because of the notoriety brought upon the street by the murder, Buck’s Row was renamed and renumbered Durward Street in 1892.
Mary Ann Nichols
Mary Ann Nichols, who went by the nickname Polly, was 43-years old when she met her dark fate. She married William Nichols in 1864, and the two had five children. The two separated in 1881 after Nichols claimed that Polly had been living as a prostitute. In 1881 if a man claimed his wife was a prostitute, he would not have to pay the woman any support money. Polly’s father contested that Nichols was the one having an affair. Supposedly he was sleeping with a nurse who actually cared for Mary Ann Nichols during a difficult-bought of illness. Either way, William Nichols won the case against Mary. Leaving her with no support payments, and no choice but to go to the workhouses.
Workhouses in London
Workhouses in London were where the orphaned, elderly, sick, disabled or those simply unable to find work came to live. The workhouses were bleak places. You had to work 16 hours a day for the chance at food and a bed for the night. The food was barely edible, with bread so hard it had to be soaked in hot water to become soft enough to eat. Even the beds were smaller than the ones you’d find in prisons. The workhouses were about the worst place you could end up. Many women chose casual prostitution as an alternative. By turning to sex work women would be able to make enough money to pay their way into the more “upscale” lodging houses.
The Night of the Murder
But on the night of her murder, Wilmott’s Lodging House, on Thrawl street, had thrown Mary out. She owed the landlord too much money and couldn’t pay the fourpence for her bed that evening. Mary was seen leaving Wilmott’s Lodging House around 1 am bragging about a new bonnet she had just purchased. “I’ll soon get my doss money. See what a jolly bonnet I’ve got now.”
Mary was seen again at 2:30 am, extraordinarily drunk and staggering around Osborn Street. Her friend Emily Holland passed her on the street. Emily was already fearful for Mary after the previous two murders and tried to pay for Mary’s lodging. It was a cold and rainy evening and Emily hoped her offer would get Mary off the dark streets. But Mary wouldn’t go. She claimed that “she had had her doss money three times that day and had drunk it away, and it won’t be long before I’m back.” But that was the last time Mary Ann Nichols that would be seen alive. Somewhere between Osborn Street and this spot on Buck’s Row, Mary met with the Jack the Ripper. Perhaps along the route we just walked ourselves.
Body Discovered
One of the most interesting things about this case is how well documented the times are throughout the investigations. And these timelines help us understand how quickly Jack the Ripper worked in the utter darkness of Whitechapel. At 3:15 am PC John Thain passed down his beat along Buck’s Row and noticed nothing out of the ordinary. But by 3:40 am, Charles Cross discovered Mary Ann Nichols’s body on his way to work. He found her lying at the gateway entrance to Brown’s stableyard. When Cross and his coworker came across the body, they overlooked the extent of her injuries. They even thought they heard a heartbeat. Seeing as they didn’t want to be late for work, they arranged Nichols’ skirts to give her some decency and made plans to alert the first policemen they saw.
But PC John Neil arrived before Cross could alert anyone. He took a better look and found her dead, her throat vigorously slashed, and her new bonnet, stained with blood, laying on the ground. Neil went to get back up and called for Dr. Llewellyn. At this time, only a doctor could pronounce someone dead, and they were, therefore, the first to the scene, even before the inspectors. Dr. Llewellyn pronounced Mary Ann Nichols dead, having passed away around 3:50 am. Meaning Charles Cross did indeed come across Mary’s body while she was still alive. Perhaps even while Jack the Ripper lurked in the darkness.
Autopsy of Mary Ann Nichols
Mary’s body was brought to the Old Montague Street Mortuary. It was there that they discovered her abdomen had been slashed open, exposing all her organs. The policemen on the scene didn’t see this right away because of the layers upon layers of clothing she was wearing. Remember, since she had no fixed address, Mary would have been wearing all the clothing she owned. These layers of clothing had absorbed the blood flowing from the deep gash in her stomach.
There was no blood spray on the scene despite the deep gash to her throat and to her stomach. Early speculation was that the murder, therefore, could not have been committed on this spot in Buck’s Row. But with further analysis, they discovered that it appeared Jack would strangle the victims before mutilating them. This meant that there would be no large spray of blood when he cut their throat as the victim would have already been deceased.
The Board School
Standing right above the crime scene is the towering Old Board School building. Most of this area has been modernized, and little of Victorian London remains. But this building still stands just as it was in 1888. It was restored and its interiors are currently used as swanky apartments. But these windows are the same ones that would have looked down over the death of Mary Ann Nichols as it happened in 1888.
Whitechapel Road
Continue east along Durward street turning south along Brady Street towards Whitechapel Road. Walk east along Whitechapel Road, taking in the charming series of brick buildings along the northern side of the road. While their shop fronts are all modern conveniences, the buildings themselves stand as historical landmarks from Victorian England.
Working Lads Institute
At #279 Whitechapel Road, high up along the roof, you can make out the name of the building, “Working Lads Institute.” Above the arched entrances on either side of the building, you’ll find the words “Gymnasium And Swimming Bath” and “Lecture Hall” carved into the stone. The Working Lads Institute was created to keep local boys out of trouble. Instead of heading to the pub, these buildings provide educational classes, gymnasiums, libraries and swimming pools. Inside, these lads could find enjoyment other than the one they found inside a bottle. It’s no surprise the victims of Jack the Ripper were all women. Women had no “Working Gals Institute” to keep them from the bars at night. This is another example of how the system failed these poor women. And even contributed to their deaths.
Early Jack the Ripper Offices
The Working Lads Institute is one of the few remaining pieces of Victorian London connected to Jack the Ripper. It was here, on the second floor, where the inquests into Jack the Ripper’s victims took place. There was no official office at the time large enough for the police, coroners, doctors, and witnesses to meet and discuss the case. So when the case began to take off as a large-scale endeavour, they selected this public space as their first board room. Eventually, they required a more private and secure spot, and the investigation was moved out of the institute. But it was here that it all began!
Wood’s Buildings
A few steps down from the Working Lads Institute, you’ll find the sign for the old Wood’s Building alleyway. The Wood’s Building entrance is now closed to the public by a series of metal gates on either side. The alley was previously used for nefarious purposes with people inside selling drugs or just as a makeshift restroom off the busy Whitechapel road. But the nefarious atmosphere of Wood’s Buildings alleyway wasn’t anything new. In fact, if you could walk through here, you’d end up right at the spot where Mary Ann Nichols was murdered. It is highly suspected that Jack the Ripper used passages like this to melt away into the night without ever having been seen. Walking from the quiet, dark corners of the inner streets out into the morning market traffic of Whitechapel Road, where he would have been immediately lost amongst the crowds.
Prostitution in 1880s London
Walk west along Whitechapel Road, turning right up Vallance Road. A block north on Vallance Road, you’ll turn left onto Hanbury Street towards our next destination. The walk is about 15-minutes long. As we walk you can read more about what was going on for unfortunate women in London in 1888. The murder of Mary Ann Nichols was now the third prostitute killed in Whitechapel in 1888. Police were beginning to see a pattern and started to interview prostitutes all over the Whitechapel district.
The Criminal Law Amendment Act
In 1885 the City of London had passed the Criminal Law Amendment Act. The act would “make further provision for the Protection of Women and Girls, the suppression of brothels, and other purposes.” One of the actions was to change the legal working age of prostitutes from thirteen to sixteen. Still shockingly young! Becoming a prostitute at such a young age would have made it almost impossible to escape that way of life. There was no assistance or education provided for these women and girls. No means by which they could climb out of a life of poverty and prostitution by means of skilled employment.
Although the city thought they were doing something to protect women by closing the brothels, they actually put them at more risk. Inside the brothels, they had the protection of four walls and sometimes armed security. But once the brothels were closed, they were forced to work on the streets. In essence, casting them out into the arms of Jack the Ripper. At the time, the police estimate that an average of 1,200 prostitutes operated in the areas around Whitechapel alone. So Jack had plenty of women to choose from.
Their Dark Fate
Prostitution in itself was not an offence, but solicitation was. Women were not allowed to approach men, but men could approach women. This also was an issue as it meant the women couldn’t pursue men they thought might be more approachable. Instead, they were forced to take whatever came their way. Prostitutes were also not allowed to loiter, so they would have to constantly keep moving. These women would have known the city like the back of their hand, even in complete darkness. And in a sick twist of fate, the women themselves would have chosen where they died. Jack would have required a quiet, hidden corner of the city to murder these women. And the prostitutes would know the best place to go, as they needed such a spot to carry out their daily sexual deeds.
29 Hanbury Street
The quiet backstreets of Hanbury street begin to squeeze together as we get closer to our next destination. It’s here, along the busy restaurant-laden alley where you’ll find a brick parking lot with the number “29” painted outside. It was here that the second canonical victim, Annie Chapman, was discovered.
Annie Chapman
Annie Chapman, aka “Dark Annie,” was the oldest Ripper victim at 47-years old. Her nickname comes from the dark brown colour of her wavy hair. Annie was married at 28 (very late for women in Victorian England) to John Chapman. Sadly, the two divorced after having three children together, possibly due to John’s chronic alcoholism. Although Annie had been arrest multiple times for public drunkenness, she wasn’t known as a chronic alcoholic. Unlike other husbands of the time, John agreed to pay a weekly sum of 10 shillings to Annie. This kept her comfortable enough to stay off the streets for a time.
John died in 1886, and this left Annie without those 10 shillings she needed for lodging. She did her best to get some work crocheting and sewing for more affluent families. She also tried selling artificial flowers. Sadly it wasn’t enough to make ends meets. So she turned to what many women did without any other options; prostitution. In this line of work, she caught the deadly disease of syphilis, common in sex workers at the time. Ironically, if Jack didn’t end her life, she undoubtedly had little time left. Her illness was very advanced and her brain tissue had already started to degenerate due to syphilis.
The Night of Annie’s Murder
On the evening of September 8th, Annie was seen walking along Dorset Street. She ran into her friend Amelia Palmer who asked if Annie was heading out to work the street. Amelia knew Annie didn’t have the money she needed for the doss house that night. But Annie responded that she was too ill to work. She hoped that the lodging-house would take pity on her. But the night watchman who came to collect her bed rent cast her outside. Telling her to come back when she had the money to pay for her bed.
So despite being so ill and the rain beating down, Annie heads back out to find a client. She was seen by fellow sex worker Elizabeth Long at 5:30 am talking to a man outside 29 Hanbury Street. Elizabeth knew it was precisely 5:30 as she heard the clock on the Black Eagle Brewery (which still exists) strike the five and a half-hour. Famously she overheard him saying to her, “Will you?” to which Annie replies, “I will.“
Annie’s Body is Discovered
The direness of Whitechapel was such that next-door neighbour Albert Cadosch heard Annie crying “no!” But cries like this were commonly placed in Whitechapel. Cadosch went about using the outhouse and returned inside without alerting anyone to the noise. Annie’s body was discovered a little before 6:00 am by John Davis, who lived on the third floor of #29 Hanbury. He came into the garden to use the outhouse himself and found her lying dead beside the fence.
Her throat had been cut so several of the men who found her thought it was barely hanging on. The body was terribly mutilated. Unlike Mary Ann Nichols, she had been dead for a time, as her limbs had already begun to stiffen. Even most disturbing was the body had been disembowelled and the killer had deftly cut out Annie Chapman’s womb. And taken it with him.
This time, the police got a little more information about the killing. The blade used would have been longer than a common pocket or kitchen knife. They also found that the removal of her anatomy would have required some professional or anatomical knowledge.
Leather Apron
Found near the scene of the crime was a man’s leather apron. It was discovered in the corner of the garden. Women in and around Hanbury street jumped to accuse a man they called “Leather Apron” of the crimes. His name was brought up repeatedly even though there was little to tie the apron found to the crime. It could have easily been there long before the murder took place. Nevertheless, this nickname would go on to be one of the most famous nicknames for the Ripper.
Many of Whitechapels prostitutes were being extorted by the man they called “Leather Apron.” He would approach the prostitutes with a knife and threaten to “rip them apart” if they didn’t hand over their cash. He was called “Leather Apron” as he was frequently seen wearing a butcher’s uniform consisting of a large leather apron.
The Newspaper Tabloids
By this time, the newspapers had begun the report on the murders. And they saw an immediate uptick in their sales. This was the first tabloid sensation, and the newspaper wanted to capitalize on this craze. Their reporters hit the streets almost as aggressively as the police. Some reporters even dressing up as prostitutes in the hopes of catching the Ripper themselves.
The leading newspaper which was reporting on the murders was ‘The Star.’ Despite the police’s best efforts, their witnesses told the press about Leather Apron. And the press ran with the headline: “LEATHER APRON THE ONLY NAME LINKED WITH THE WHITECHAPEL MURDERS. THE STRANGE CHARACTER WHO PROWLS ABOUT AFTER MIDNIGHT. UNIVERSAL FEAR AMONG WOMEN – SLIPPERED FEET AND A SHARP LEATHER-KNIFE.” In the article, they gave the same description as the women gave the police. But they also added a few embellishments that would mar the case forever.
Anit-Semitism in London
The Star claimed that “all are united in the belief that he is a Jew or of Jewish parentage, his face being of a marked Hebrew type.” None of this was confirmed by the police. In fact, all the women couldn’t describe his appearance as they said a deerstalker hat hid his face. During this time in London, antisemitism was rampant. Jewish people began migrating to London in the 18th century. By 1888, over 3,000 Jewish immigrants were living in Whitechapel. Much to the chagrin of the racist English population.
The locals believed an Englishman couldn’t possibly be responsible for these awful crimes. So they placed their blame directly on the Jewish community despite no clear evidence. The police were greatly concerned about this wave of antisemitism. They were attempting the quell this anger and fear before the pot boiled over into full-scale anti-Jewish rioting. The newspapers on the other hand were seemingly trying to turn up the heat…
Wilkes Street & Fournier Street
Walk to Wilkes Street where you can turn south towards Fournier Street. Wilkes Street and Fournier Street are two of the most incredible examples of what East London would have looked in 1888. These are my favourite architectural spots in the entirety of this tour. And the perfect place for a photo op. The buildings are incredible examples of Victorian architecture. And since none of the murders occurred here taking a cute selfie or picture of yourself down these alleys feels much more appropriate.
Frederick George Abberline
After the murder of Annie Chapman, inspector Frederick George Abberline of the Metropolitan Police joined in the team of detectives on the hunt for the killer. Frederick George Abberline has been working in the neighbourhood of Whitechapel for 14 years as a patrolling officer. He has been recently promoted and was selected as the primary officer on the case. This was in the hopes that his knowledge of the locals and the area would prove invaluable.
But even the most knowledgeable officer who lived in the area found the spiderweb-like network of alleys and underground tunnels impossible to patrol. Unlike straight and narrow streets in America, the twisting passageways which spread out across Whitechapel meant that an officer could lose sight of someone he was following in the blink of an eye. The police were at a huge disadvantage. The rate of expansion in the area did not correlate with the staffing in the police department. The population was rapidly growing, and the police force was constantly overworked and understaffed.
The Ten Bells Spitalfields
Walking west towards Commercial Street from Fournier Street, you’ll find the most famous of all the Jack the Ripper sights. This is the great Ten Bells Spitalfields Pub. This pub is so important to the history of Jack the Ripper as it’s one of the only places you can still visit and have a drink inside. Nearly all of the victims were known to frequent the Ten Bells Pub to indulge in a glass of gin to numb the pain of their existence. I suggest you do the same 😉
Stop inside to give your legs a little break and take in the atmosphere of this historical landmark. It was here that both Annie Chapman and Mary Jane Kelly had a drink just before they met their untimely end. Despite this connection, the pub has tried to shake off the association with the murders. Inside you’ll find no posters or memorabilia on the walls dedicated to Jack the Ripper.
Christ Church Spitalfields
Standing outside the Ten Bells pub, on the corner of Commercial Street and Fournier Street, two more buildings from 1888 remain. These buildings would have been ones the girls and Jack would have passed every day on their way to work. Or while stalking his victims. The first and most imposing is Christ Church Spitalfields. This church has been a beacon for the residents of Spitalfields since the 1700s. Its large clock face, atop the tower, is viewable above most buildings in Spitalfield. This was one of the only ways residents could tell the time back in 1888. The peaked tower also served as an easy-to-find meeting point for people all over the city.
Spitalfields Market
The other large Victorian building dominating Commercial Street is Spitalfields Market. The Spitalfields Market has existed here in some form or another since the 1600s. But the current building was constructed in 1887, just before the murder, and opened by Queen Victoria herself. The space inside Spitalfields Market is today a hip marketplace with vintage clothing sellers, bakers and artisans.
Queens Head Pub
Walking south along Commercial Street, at #74, you’ll find the Queens Head Pub. It was inside this pub where Elizabeth Stride (Jack’s next victim) spent the last of her doss house money. The old signage outside on the facade corner has been restored by the architects who now own the building.
The Princess Alice Pub
A few ways down at #40 Commercial street was where you’d have found the Princess Alice Pub in 1888. This pub was another popular spot for the prostitutes in the East End. But it was here that the popular suspect ‘Leather Apron‘ was a frequent patron. Leather Apron was identified as John Pizer. Pizer was a Polish Jewish who worked as a boot finisher. And a leather apron would have been a uniform of his trade. Pizer was commonly referred to as “Leather Apron”, and once his name got into the papers, his family feared for his life.
Thinking an angry mob would come to bring him to the police, he escaped to the countryside. You see, John Pizer had a prior conviction for a stabbing offence. AND he was suspected of a string of assaults on local prostitutes. But after the press coverage was mounting he was pressured into turning himself in. After much questioning by the police, he was released. Pized, as bad of a guy as he was, had two solid alibies for his whereabouts during the murders. Pizer had been at work during the murders and seen by more than a dozen other people. He was then ruled out as a suspect.
Henriques Street
Continue walking south along Commercial Street and stay with it as it crosses Whitechapel Road. Turn left when you reach Henriques Street and walk towards the iron gates of Harry Gosling Primary school. Henriques Street was called Berner Street in 1888. It was here that Jack’s fourth victim was found. Elizabeth Stride, or “Long Liz” as she was called, would be the first of two victims on September 30th. A night which would go by the infamous name “the double event.”
Elizabeth Stride
Born in Gothenburg, Sweden, Elizabeth Stride came to London in 1866. She married John Stride, and the two lived a pretty good life together. They opened a coffee shop on Chrisp Street in 1870. Sadly her husband died in 1884, leaving Elizabeth with no way of making money.
Liz made most of her money from sewing, and only on very infrequent occasions did she work the streets. After leaving the Queen’s Head Pub she was seen on Berner Street by labourer William Marshall at 11:45 pm. He saw her in the doorway of 63 Berner Street talking to a man. The man wore a short black cutaway coat and sailor’s hat. They had been kissing, and he overheard the man say to Liz, “You would say anything...but your prayers.” A phrase that has been long repeated in Ripper stories.
Dutfield’s Yard
A few hours later, at 1:00 am, local jewellery seller, Louis Diemschutz, attempted to enter Dutfield’s Yard off Berner Street. Diemschutz was travelling home, as he did every night, with his cart and pony. The pony had walked this route hundreds of times before. But on this night, the pony was frightened by something and pulled left of the middle of the road. Louis Diemschutz jumped out of the cart to see what was wrong. In the darkness of the night, felt around with his whip and felt a large bundle on the ground. He figured it was his wife, asleep drunk in the streets as she had done many nights before. He lit a match and made out the shape of a woman but couldn’t see her face
He led the pony in the darkness into the yard and went into a local club to get a lantern. But when he entered, he found his wife safe and sound inside. He took a lantern with him into the yard, and it was there he discovered Elizabeth Stride’s body. But unlike the rest of the victims, only her throat was cut, and her body was still warm. In the darkness of the night when Louis Diemschutz got off his pony, it’s safe to assume that Jack the Ripper was interrupted. It’s safe to assume that if Diemschutz had had a lantern with him, he would have come face to face with the killer.
The Ripper Flees
Having almost been caught in the act, Jack the Ripper fled the scene. But he couldn’t rest just yet. He didn’t finish the job, and in a mad lust for mutilation, he went to find another victim. And Jack knew just where to go. We walk now in his rushed footsteps towards Saint Botolph Without Aldgate church. No doubt Jack would have taken the back streets, but we will retrace our steps along Commercial street and head west along Whitechapel Road.
Catherine Eddowes
Catherine Eddowes, a.k.a. Kate Kelly, was a scholarly woman of 46-years old but one who was possessed of a fierce temper. She entered into a partnership with Thomas Conway in 1862 when Eddowes was only 20 years old. But the two split in 1881 after having three children. Catherine got together with John Kelly shortly after her split with Conway, and the two were known to be a cheery couple.
In 1881, they moved into Cooney’s Lodging House at #55 Flower and Dean Street. Unlike the other women, Eddowes and Kelly had pretty steady jobs. During the summers would go to the countryside to go hop picking. Upon their return to the city in September 1888, they could not find any lodging houses for couples. Eddowes gave John Kelly some money to get himself a room in the men’s wards. Eddowes said she would head over to another lodging house on Shoe Lane to find herself a single bed.
Catherine Eddowes Arrest on September 30th
Eddowes went out but clearly found herself at the bar. At 8:30 pm on the night of the double event, Catherine Eddowes was found drunk by PC Louis Robinson during his rounds outside 29 Aldgate High Street. Eddowes lying in the streets and picked up by PC Louis Robinson, who took her into Bishopsgate Police Station. After sobering up, around 1:00 am, she was released.
Saint Botolph Without Aldgate
Bishopsgate Police Station is located much nearer to her lodging house than where her body was found in Mitre’s square. Which was far south of the police station. Catherine Eddowes made her way from the police station, 10-minutes down the road to Saint Botolph Without Aldgate church. Every night, 200 prostitutes would circle this church, as they could not be seen loitering. This church was once known as “prostitute island,” and it was one of the most notorious places for men to pick up prostitutes in the entire city. Catherine Eddowes knew this, and so did Jack the Ripper. On the run from Berner Street, Jack the Ripper would have made his way here to finish what he started with Elizabeth Stride.
Saint James’s Passage
Catherine Eddowes was spotted at 1:35 am at the corner of Saint James’s Passage, which leads directly into Mitres Square. She was spotted by three separate men. But only one, Joseph Lawende, got a look at the man with whom she was speaking.
A few rogue street lamps cast enough light on the scene for Lawende to see the couple. He never saw Eddowes’ face, as she had her back to him, but he could identify her by the clothing she was wearing. Lawende provided the police with a detailed description of the man. But only days later, he claimed that if he saw the man again, he wouldn’t recognize him.
Jack the Ripper Spotted
At the time, Lawende told the police that the man he saw talking to Eddowes was around 30 years old, 5 foot 9 inches tall, with a medium build. The man had a fair complexion and a small fair moustache. He sported a reddish neckerchief, tied in a knot, wore a pepper-and-salt coloured, loose-fitting jacket. The suspect had on a grey, peaked cloth cap. Because Lawende saw this man with Eddowes just 15-minutes before her dead body was discovered means that Lawende would no doubt have seen the real face of the Ripper.
Mitre Square
Mitres square was enclosed by massive series of warehouses with only a few houses around the central courtyard. Warehouses contained valuable goods, and in an area as poor as Whitechapel, they were ripe for robbery. So privately paid police officers surveyed the areas every 15-minutes. They were rigorously monitored and would not have missed their patrol for fear of being fired. PC Edward Watkins patrolled the square at 1:30 am with nothing to report.
Mitres square was an advantageous spot for a murder. There were three separate entrances in and out of the courtyard. This meant even if Jack was caught in the act, he could escape without running into the witnesses. Perhaps Jack had been here before and already knew this spot well.
Catherine’s Body is Discovered
At 1:45 am, PC Edward Watkins came back just as he had 15-minutes prior. But this time, he discovered Catherine’s horrifically mutilated body, found in the absolute darkest corner of the square. This means that the Ripper did all his dastardly work in the span of just 15-minutes. PC Edward Watkins reeled back by what he saw. Catherine Eddowes lay in a large pool of blood. Her clothes were pulled up over her waist, revealing her large stomach lacerations. Watkins ran to a nearby townhouse where a retired police officer worked as a night watchman. They quickly ran to get Dr. George William Sequeira from a nearby street to pronounce the woman’s death at 1:55 pm.
The officer found her on her back with her intestines drawn out of her body. A piece of her intestines was found several feet away from her body in an apparent dark design. This time the Ripper even smeared feculent matter over her body. He had brutally cut away at her womanhood, tearing the lower portion of her body to the point of it being unrecognizable. He even went so far as to stab her liver with an apparently pointed instrument and take a part of her kidney with him.
Her face was brutally mutilated, and some of the cuts went right down to the bone. Even her earlobes had been cut away. The scene proved to everyone that Jack wasn’t finished yet. And more than that, he was escalating the gruesomeness of his attacks.
The Autopsy of Catherine Eddowes
The coroner attested that “the perpetrator of the act must have had considerable knowledge of the position of the organs in the abdominal cavity and the way of removing them. It required a great deal of medical knowledge to remove the kidney and know where it was placed. The parts removed would be of no use for any professional purpose.”
The City of London Police
Catherine’s death in Mitres Square was important as it was located just inside the walls of the ancient City of London. Until now, all the murders had occurred in the jurisdiction of the London Metropolitan Police. But Mitres square was in the City of London. This meant the crimes now took on two sets of police. Inspector Edward Collard arrived from Bishopsgate Police Station and ordered an immediate search of the neighbourhood. Police spread throughout the city like wildfire to Jack on the run. They were instructed to even make door-to-door inquiries, yet Jack seemed to simply slip away into the night.
Goulston St
But as Jack seemed to evade police, he was in a rush that he left behind his only piece of evidence. We can follow his footsteps east along St Botolph Street, north up Middlesex Street, then turning right onto Goulston Street.
At around 2:20 am, when the body arrived at the mortuary, they noticed that a fragment of the woman’s apron had been ripped offer. Perhaps taken as a token for the killer. The police on patrol searched the streets, and this segment of the apron was found by PC Alfred Long along Goulston Street. He had previously searched the streets at 2:20 am and found nothing but at 2:55 am he discovered the apron. It was lying on the floor inside a doorway. The apron looked like it had been used to wipe away the blood, perhaps off the killer’s hands.
Because this piece of evidence ties us to Jack, it is interesting to consider why he would come this way. The streets to the east were cramped with many more residents who could have come upon him. He could have fled to the north where there were few police and more places to hide. The one major piece of speculation was that he was going home. Where he knew he could escape from the prowling hoards of police officers. This was a major break in the case as it seemed to solidify their theory that Jack lived locally.
Mysterious Graffito
Once PC Alfred Long had discovered the bloody piece of apron, he thought there might be another victim close by. So he searched the area further. Above the doorway where he found the apron, he found a message scrawled in chalk which read, “The Juwes are the men that will not be blamed for nothing.” When other PCs came to the scene, there was a real sense of dread. If the graffito was indeed written by Jack it was sure to cause a newspaper sensation. Which was sure to stoke the fires of antisemitism already on the rise.
In perhaps one of the biggest mistakes in the case, the graffito was wiped away. In the hope of hiding it from the press. But this meant that the handwriting could not be analyzed and compared to the other letters the police had received. Today, you can head into the Happy Days Fish and Chip Shop to dine on some delicious food and study a miniature recreation of the graffito left behind that day.
From Hell Letters
Until this point, the name “Jack the Ripper” had yet to enter the mouths of people around London. Many hoaxes and prank letters, some count up to 700, passed through the police department. But almost all were quickly dismissed as false. But on September 27th, one letter caught the interest of inspectors but, more importantly, the newspapers.
It read:
Dear Boss,
I keep on hearing the police have caught me, but they won’t fix me just yet. I have laughed when they look so clever and talk about being on the right track. That joke about Leather Apron gave me real fits. I am down on whores, and I shan’t quit ripping them till I do get buckled. Grand work the last job was. I gave the lady no time to squeal.
How can they catch me now? I love my work and want to start again. You will soon hear of me with my funny little games. I saved some of the proper red stuff in a ginger beer bottle over the last job to write with, but it went thick like glue, and I can’t use it. Red ink is fit enough, I hope, haha.
The next job I do, I shall clip the lady’s ears off and send to the police officers just for jolly, wouldn’t you? Keep this letter back till I do a bit more work, then give it out straight.
My knife’s so nice and sharp. I want to get to work right away if I get a chance.
Good Luck.
Yours truly
Jack the Ripper
Don’t mind me giving the trade name. Wasnt good enough to post this before I got all the red ink off my hands; curse it. No luck yet. They say I’m a doctor now. haha”
The letter was posted just a few days before the double murder. The part regarding “clipping the lady’s ears off” was particularly interesting as Catharine Eddowes’s earlobes had been so badly mutilated. The letter was also written in red ink with bloodstains, which could have been from one of his previous victims.
Saucy Jack
With almost no leads, the police thought they would release the letter to the public in the hopes of getting some help from the locals. Shortly after publishing this in the newspaper, another postcard came in that was of interest to the police. This one was also addressed to “the boss” and signed Jack the Ripper in the same hand as the previous letter. It read:
“I was not codding dear old Boss when I gave you a tip; you’ll hear about Saucy Jacky’s work tomorrow double event this time number one squealed a bit couldn’t finish straight off had not the time to get ears for police. Thanks for keeping the last letter back till I got to work again.”
Jack the Ripper.
The postcard was post-marked October 1st, the day after the double event. So whoever wrote it, if it wasn’t Jack himself, would have had to copy the handwriting very quickly to get the letter into the post box quick enough to fool the police.
The Workhouse
Continue walking north along Goulston Street, which turns into Bell Lane. On the northwest corner, we can find one of Spitalfields’ oldest workhouses. You can find two entrances around the corner, one with the words “women” carved above and the other with the words “men.” This was because the men and women were separated inside these workhouses.
Every day around 200 men and women people would queue up outside in the hopes of getting a free bed and meal for the day in exchange for 16 hours of hard, hard labour. The beds were coffin-shaped boxes and sometimes were shared between two or more people. The situation was so dire that if they ran out of bed, they would hang ropes to the wall and then tie people onto the ropes to sleep. This is where we get the term “hangers-on.“
Artillery Passage
Take a quick look down the Artillery Passage as this slice of the East End really is evocative of 1888s. And it is a rumour that this street was the exact location that ended up being the inspiration for Diagon Alley in Harry Potter.
13 Millers Court
The last spot on our tour was where Jack the Ripper committed his most heinous crime. But the building and street where this murder took place has since been destroyed. #13 Millers Court was located along Dorset Street, which ran east-west from Crispin Street to Commercial Street. But when the Corporation of London bought the Spitalfields Market in 1920, they demolished the north side of Dorset Street. This allowed them to expand the market into what is now the Fruit Exchange. But many of the side streets off Commercial Street can still evoke the feeling of what was once Miller’s Court. Take a walk down White’s Row, just behind the Workhouse. Walking along White’s Row you can even see the back of the buildings that would have faced into Miller’s Court.
Dorset Street
In 1888, Dorset street was home to several pubs, artisan workshops and, of course, lodging houses. In 1898, George Duckworth said of Dorset street, “The worst street I have seen so far – thieves, prostitutes, bullies, all common lodging houses. Some called ‘doubles’ with double beds for married couples but merely another name for brothels. Women bedraggled, torn skirts, dirty, unkempt, square jaws standing about in the street or on doorsteps.“
Mary Jane Kelly
Mary Jane Kelly was the last and the youngest victim of Jack the Ripper. She was just 25 years old. Perhaps because of her young age, little is known about Mary Jane Kelly’s life. Anyone who knew her said she was a very kindly girl, and if she wasn’t in the liquor, she was a quiet woman. Most of the information we have about Mary Kelly comes from Joseph Barnett, her former lover. And anyone who has had a former lover knows that this information is bound to be slightly biased. She was married at the young age of 16, but her husband was killed in an explosion. After that, she went into prostitution to make ends meet and moved to London in 1884.
She began working in a high-class brothel in the West End as she was a pretty young thing. In 1886 she went to live in Cooley’s Lodging House in Spitalfield, where she met Joseph Barnett. The two tried to live a stable life without the prostitution. But, in September 1888, amid the Ripper murders, Barnett lost his job. With no money coming in, Mary Jane decided to return to the streets. Mary was a good-hearted woman and took a shine to the younger prostitutes she worked with. If they didn’t have enough money to pay for their rooms, she would invite them inside the room she shared with Barnett.
November 8th, 1888
This was the last straw for Barnett, and the two separated. The two tried to stay friends but it was obvious to everyone that Barnett had stronger feelings for Mary than she had for him. Interestingly, on the night of her murder, Barnett and Kelly fought loudly with each other. Their argument was heard by many of their neighbours. A window was broken and Barnett was seen storming out that night.
Hutchinson’s Account
On November 8th, 1888, Mary Kelly was known to be drinking at the Ten Bells Pub. She was seen with a woman named Elizabeth Foster until around 11:45 pm. Mary came home around 12:30 am when she was heard loudly singing outside her room. Causing quite the disturbance to the other residence. Around 2 am George Hutchinson sees Mary Kelly, and she asks him if he can lend her sixpence as she has fallen behind on her rent. He has nothing to spare, so she tells George Hutchinson that “I must go and find some money” and walks off in the direction of Thrawl Street.
Mary at the Queen’s Head Pub
Hutchinson watches Mary as she heads off to the Queen’s Head Pub, where she meets with a man. They stand together under the street light, and Hutchinson can make out a description of the man. He testified that he was 5′ 6″ or 5′ 7″ tall and about 35 or 36 years old. According to Hutchinson, he had a pale complexion, a slight moustache turned up at the corners, dark hair, dark eyes, and a “Jewish appearance.”
The man was wearing a soft felt hat pulled down over his eye and a long dark coat with a black necktie. He carried gloves in his right hand and a small package in his left. One can only wonder what was in this package. This was the last time Mary Kelly would be seen alive. And the man she was seen with by Hutchinson was doubtlessly Jack the Ripper.
Mary’s Body Discovered
At 4 am that night, Elizabeth Prater, who lived upstairs from Mary Kelly, heard the cry of “Oh, murder!” But once more, since the cry of murder was frequently heard in the district, she paid no attention to it and went back to bed. People in bar fights and streets brawls would often cry out, “oh murder” to get more attention from local police so Prater simply thought it was a street fight.
The following day, John McCarthy, the lodging house owner, sends Thomas Bowyer to collect past due rent money from Mary Kelly. Bowyer knocks on the door, but there is no answer. Knowing there is a broken window, he reaches inside to push away the curtains to see if anyone is home. When he does, he is the first to glimpse what was left of Mary Kelly’s body. Upon seeing the walls painted in blood, and her lifeless body, he runs back to inform McCarthy.
Inspectors Enter the Scene
The two go to the Commercial Street Police Station to let Inspector Walter Beck know of the murder. There was a very long delay between the time the body was found and the time the police entered the room. The police had been misinformed that bloodhounds were on their way. They hoped the hounds might be able to track the scent and find Jack the Ripper. But the hounds never arrived, and eventually, Superintendent Thomas Arnold took an axe to the door and entered the room.
The first person to enter the room was Inspectors Walter Dew and Walter Beck. Dew recalled in his memoirs;
“As my thoughts go back to Miller’s Court, and what happened there, the old nausea, indignation and horror overwhelm me still… My mental picture of it remains as shockingly clear as though it were but yesterday…No savage could have been more barbaric. No wild animal could have done anything so horrifying.“
Inside Mary Kelly’s Room
What they found would be a scene that none of the officers present could ever forget. Since this was Jack’s first murder indoors, he had plenty of time to do his dark work. No one would interrupt him, and he had clearly indulged in the opportunity. Her clothes were neatly folded on the chair, and her boots were even set in front of the fireplace as if they were put out to dry. Mary was lying naked on the bed. The whole of the surface of the abdomen and thighs had been removed. And the abdominal cavity emptied of its viscera. The uterus and kidneys with one breast was found under her head. The other breast by the right foot, the liver between the feet, the intestines by the right side and the spleen by the left side of the body.
The flaps removed from the abdomen and thighs were almost neatly folded on the bedside table. Her face was torn apart, leaving her all but unrecognizable as a human being. The tissues of the neck were severed cut down to the bone. But her eyes, they were preserved. Dew said, “…the poor woman’s eyes. They were wide open, and seemed to be staring straight at me with a look of terror.“
The Lasting Effect of Jack the Ripper
Although her gruesome death is unforgettable, it is seen as the last murder by the Ripper. Although there were several murders in the next few months which bared some similarities to the Ripper they were all ruled out as being done by the same man. To this day, only the five canonical women (Mary Ann Nichols, Annie Chapman, Elizabeth Stride, Catherine Eddowes, and Mary Jane Kelly) are considered victims of Jack the Ripper.
Despite their grizzly deaths of these innocent women, they didn’t die entirely in vain. The deaths were reported widely in the paper, and it caught international attention. Newspapers as far off as New York City were reporting on the murders in Whitechapel. It drew attention to the fact that a city as prosperous as London could have such abject poverty contributing to the deaths of these innocents. People found it appealing to read about the conditions these unfortunate women lived in what they thought was a modern city.
A Change in Whitechapel
In fact, George Bernard Shaw was quoted as saying (in a tongue-in-cheek manner) that perhaps the murders were committed to for the sole purpose of bringing attention to the slums and to bring about social change. And not long after the murders, reform came to Whitechapel. The church of England and the Samaritans got involved and helped take young kids off the streets, so they didn’t fall into prostitution. They also provided more assistance for the poor in Whitechapel and Spitalfields.
Due to the lack of street lighting, Jack the Ripper could hide almost in plain sight. This resulted in the city investing more money into illuminating the dark alleys of the East End. Even today, cities find that installing additional lighting correlates with a crime reduction. Its easy to see how the deaths of the canonical five change Whitechapel foreer and their memories live on through the reform seen across the neighbourhood.
So Who was Jack the Ripper?
So who was Jack the Ripper? Unfortunately, no one knows. Even the FBI has investigated this case and still, no one suspect has ever been clearly identified as the killer. Many people think its the mystery that keeps people so interested in the story even all these years later. Everyone is hoping to solve the mystery, if not just for themselves.
White Hart Pub
To end our tour why don’t you head over to the White Hart Pub on Whitechapel Road. This is the location where one of the suspects in the case even worked as a barber back in 1888! It is an old-fashioned pub that provides the perfect atmosphere for discussions into the identity of Jack the Ripper. The police, detectives and investigators themselves would have spent night after night in pubs like this discussing the motives and mannerisms of this monster. And even Jack the Ripper himself might have been drinking one a few feet away from where they sat.
The Suspects
Over 2,000 people were interviewed during police investigation in the 1888s. Upwards of 300 people were investigated, and 80 people were detained. Entire books have been written on the subject of the suspects who might have been Jack the Ripper. Although there are hundreds of conspiracies and suspects, there are a few clear front runners. These are the ones who many professionals and investigators stand behind as their chief suspects. Discuss amongst yourself over a pint of beer, or better yet, a glass of gin. See if you can all agree on your pick for the identity of Jack the Ripper!
The FBI Profile
In 1998, an FBI profile was compiled by John Douglas of the National Centre for the Analysis of Violent Crime. The findings can give an idea of the key aspects of the murderer, which are important in identifying the killer.
- He was a White male, aged 28 to 36
- He lived or worked in the Whitechapel area as he had extensive knowledge of the area.
- In childhood, there was an absent or passive father figure.
- The killer probably had a profession in which he could legally experience his destructive tendencies and wouldn’t be put off by the sight of blood.
- Jack the Ripper probably ceased his killing because he was either arrested for some other crime, died or felt himself close to being discovered as the killer.
- The killer probably had some sort of physical defect, which was the source of a great deal of frustration or anger and may have had a hatred of women for their treatment of him resulting from this defect.
Although the real killer might not have all these characteristics, they provide a good framework for ruling out or focusing on suspects.
The Royal Conspiracy
I’ll say right off the bat that the famous “Royal Conspiracy,” which was made famous in a 1976 book by Stephen Knight and popularized in the 2001 movie ‘From Hell‘, is out and out fiction. The theory goes that Prince Albert Victor, son of Queen Victoria and next in line to the throne, married and fathered a child of a local Whitechapel unfortunate. To cover up the secret marriage between the second-in-line to the throne, the queen employed freemason and retired notable physician Sir William Gull. Stephen Knight got the information for his book from a descendant of painter Walter Sickert. Sickert claimed that Prince Albert Victor was an apprentice under Sickert and told Sickert of the crimes. After the book was published through the family member admitted the story was nothing but a hoax. It does make for good fiction, though.
Seweryn Antonowicz Kłosowski
Seeing as we are drinking inside the White Hart pub, we should first talk about Seweryn Antonowicz Kłosowski, aka George Chapman. Seweryn Antonowicz Kłosowski was a Polish immigrant who came to London between 1887 and 1888. He changed his name to George Chapman to assimilate into the antisemitic neighbourhood of East London. He moved into the Whitechapel area and worked as a barber under Ludwig Schloski at this very spot on Whitechapel Road in 1888. Unlike some of the other suspects on this list, Kłosowski was undoubtedly a killer. Although his suspicion as Jack the Ripper is just that, suspicion.
Kłosowski had multiple “wives” over the years, although he never married any of them legally. When his last “wife,” Maud Marsh, died in 1902, people suspected foul play. When her body was examined, they determined she had been poisoned to death. Police immediately began questioning Kłosowski, and they found that his previous two wives had also died under questionable circumstances. They were all exhumed, and their bodies examined. Each one of them had been poisoned with the same compound tartar-emetic as Maud Marsh. Kłosowski was hanged for his crimes in 1903.
Frederick Abberline Top Suspect
But after this discovery, Ripper investigator Frederick Abberline began looking into Kłosowski as his serial killer. Famously, Abberline’s favourite suspect was indeed Seweryn Kłosowski. Abberline interview Chapman’s last wife (who somehow survived), who told Abberline some horrifying details about his now main suspect. Chapman married Lucie Badewski in 1889, and they had two children. Lucie told Abberline that while she was pregnant, Klosowski had attacked her and told her that he planned to kill her and cover up the crime. Lucie recalled that during the Autumn of Terror of 1888, her husband would frequently go out during the night for hours and come back just before dawn.
Klosowski’s Knife
Abberline also found out that Klosowski had lived in the United States in 1891. While he was there, he “married” another woman Lucy Klosowska. Klosowska recalled that one day Klosowski forced her down on the bed and began to strangle her, only stopping when he heard a customer enter their shop. When he got up to leave, Klosowska found a long knife under his pillow. He reportedly later told her that he had planned to behead her, even pointing out where he would have buried her and reciting what he would have said to their neighbours.
All of this seems poignant, yet many professionals have pointed out the biggest issue with Seweryn Kłosowski as the killer is that most serial killers do not change the modus operandi so easily. From brutal mutilation of random prostitutes to poisoning his wives. This, in addition to the lack of any hard evidence, leaves us only to wonder.
Aaron Kosminski
Aaron Kosminski was another Polish-born Jew who proved to be one of the most popular Jack the Ripper case subjects. And in recent years, the complications around his involvement have only become more convoluted. Kosminski moved to Whitechapel in 1880. It is important to note that his father did not come with the rest of the family when they immigrated.
Barber-surgeons in Victorian England
When Kosminski arrived, he started working as an apprentice barber. It’s important to remember that barbers in Victorian London did more than just cut hair. Barber-surgeons, as they were called, provided grooming services as well as performed dental extractions, bloodletting, cupping therapy, minor surgeries and occasional amputations. Meaning any barber would have some basic anatomical knowledge.
In 1888, Kosminski lived either on Providence Street or Greenfield Street, both of which addresses are close to the sites of the murders. Aaron Kosminski was a troubled man with paranoid schizophrenia. His insanity took the form of auditory hallucinations, a refusal to wash or bathe, and “self-abuse.” In 1890, Kosminski was placed in a workhouse due to his worsening mental illness. The deterioration of his mental state does also coincides with the end of the Jack the Ripper Murders. In 1891, Kosminski was institutionalized after he threatened a woman with a knife. He was held at Leavesden Asylum until he died in 1919.
Sir Melville Macnaghten’s Memo
Years later, in 1959, a memo from Sir Melville Macnaghten, the Assistant Chief Constable of the London Metropolitan Police, was discovered. The memo dated in 1894 named a few of Macnaghten’s top suspects, including a Polish Jew called “Kosminski.” Macnaghten noted that his Kosminski matched the description of the Ripper and was even identified as the Ripper by a witness. But the witness refused to testify against a fellow Jew.
The DNA Connection
In 2019, the Journal of Forensic Sciences published a study that claimed DNA from Kosminski and Catherine Eddowes was found on the shawl. This immediately sounds like a huge break in the case, but many people have dismissed these claims as unreliable. The shawl was bought at auction by an amateur Riiperologist who aimed to solve the case for himself. But the provenance of the shaw is very sketchy, to say the least. And the apparent DNA analysis is only tenuously linked to Kosminski and Catherine Eddowes.
In addition to the flimsy DNA analysis, Kosminski’s behaviour in the asylum is also at odds with a typical serial kill. He was described as harmless, and many psychological experts state that a killer like this would brag about his crimes. There is not a single piece of evidence to suggest he even knew about the crimes based on a discussion he had during his almost 30 years in the asylum.
Joseph Barnett
If you remember when we spoke about the final victim Mary Jane Kelly, you might recall the name Joseph Barnett. Joseph Barnett was the ex-lover of Kelly’s and is one of the more interesting suspects in the case. The theory goes that Barnett was obsessed with Mary Kelly and hated that she was prostituting herself to other men. When he read about the murder of Matha Tabram, he saw how visibly shaken up Mary Kelly was after the fact. Even giving up going out at night for a few weeks. But when Barnett lost his job as a fish porter and Mary returned to work, Barnett felt he needed to do something drastic.
Murder For the Love of a Woman
In an attempt to “scare” Kelly off the streets, Barnett went about his own murder press. My murdering not only prostitute but also people which Mary Kelly was proved to have known he felt this would entice he even further to give up the job for good. But on that fabled night in November 1888, when Barnett and Kelly fought in her apartment, it was perhaps made clear to Barnett for the first time that Kelly would never love Barnett the way Barnett loved Kelly.
In a jealous rage, he waited until the man she was with on the night of November 9th left and slipped inside, through the broken window he no doubt had smashed earlier and killed Kelly in a lover frenzy. The extent of her wounds suggested to many detectives of fury only a scorned lover or close contact could possess towards the victim. In addition to this, it was with the death of Mary Kelly that the ceased.
Barnett Fits the Profile
Barnett fit the physical description of the Ripper very well. Joseph’s father died when he was six, leaving him without a strong father figure. Barnett was 30-years old, with a moustache, fair complexion, medium build and was about 5′ 7″. He also lived within a mile of Whitechapel his entire life. He would have had very detailed knowledge of the area. Barnett worked as a fish porter and undoubtedly was experienced in deboning and gutting fish, so the sight of butchering a woman wouldn’t be too much of a stretch. Barnett was also speculated to have had echolalia, a psychiatric disorder resulting in a speech impediment.
Despite all these glaring similarities to the FBI profile of the killer, Barnett was interviewed by police for only four hours after Mary Kelly’s murder. For one reason or another, they seemed uninterested in pursuing him as a prime suspect. I certainly can’t understand why the police wouldn’t have followed this lead further. In my opinion, he is my top choice for who I think was indeed Jack the Ripper.
But who do you think he was? Let me know in the comments!
I hope you enjoyed this tour and learned more about life in London in 1888, in addition to these dark tales of Jack the Ripper.
Happy Travels, Adventurers!
Resources: Jack the Ripper.org | Casebook.org | WikiCommons
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