Jack the Ripper in London
Our guides walk Whitechapel and Spitalfields every week, and the same questions come up on every tour. Who Jack the Ripper really was. How many women he killed. Whether he was a policeman or someone from the establishment, the two theories visitors most often arrive with. Below are the answers we give on the walk.
If you are planning a visit rather than settling an argument, the essentials are these. Five women were killed between August and November 1888, in Whitechapel, Spitalfields and the City of London. No one was ever charged. Most of the murder sites have changed beyond recognition, but much of the East End the women knew still stands, and that is what our walk is built around.
Full detail on each of those sits on its own page: the five women, the murder sites and what stands there now, and the suspects.
The questions below are the ones we are asked most.
The murders which have been attributed to Jack the Ripper took place between August and November 1888
The five ‘canonical’ or most commonly accepted victims were Polly Nichols, Annie Chapman, Elizabeth Stride, Catherine Eddowes and Mary Jane Kelly. However, some historians believe that Martha Tabram was also a victim, and perhaps Elizabeth Stride was not.
Four of the five were found in Whitechapel and neighbouring Spitalfields. The exception was Catherine Eddowes, found in Mitre Square in the City of London, today’s financial district.
Mary Ann ‘Polly’ Nichols was 43, Annie Chapman 47, Elizabeth Stride 44, Catherine Eddowes 46, and Mary Jane Kelly was believed to be around 25 years old when murdered.
All five victims lived in the area of Whitechapel when they were murdered, but they came from different areas. Polly was born on Fleet Street, near St Bride’s Church in central London. Annie Chapman was born in Paddington, also in London. Elizabeth Stride grew up in a Swedish village named Torslanda, just to the west of Gothenburg. Catherine Eddowes was born in Wolverhampton in the English Midlands. Mary Jane Kelly’s background is more uncertain – she may well have been from Limerick in Ireland.
Because nearly every tool that would catch him had not been invented. The police did not use fingerprints until 1901, blood found at a scene could not be matched to a person, and the two forces working the case, the Metropolitan Police and the City of London Police, worked separately. There is more in this video.
Our guides answer questions for two hours on every tour, and no two groups ask the same things. If you would rather hear the story where it happened, the Jack the Ripper walking tour runs in small groups from £20. There is more on the case in our full Jack the Ripper guide.
