General Chat

i think he came from Scotland

Jock the Ripper lol

I'm so jealous, Ms.G! Something we didn't think of when we were there... when you only have two weeks ... The social history context alone would be fascinating.

We watched a Brit crime drama a couple of weeks ago, a 2- or 3-parter about a posh cop who gets assigned to a team that is investigating murders that turn out to be modeled on the ripper. google google -- here we are, Whitechapel, ITV. It was great, thought it was going to be a series, but no such luck I guess. :(

I always liked the Prince of Wales/Masonic theory, myself. Probably because Donald Sutherland and Christopher Plummer, two of the most delicious Canadians, were the stars of Murder by Decree. ;)

In my hunt for the Hill/Monck Coke/McCock gang, someone found that a house occupied by the sister of the husband of the sister of my gr-grfather, Westfield House, Redcotts Lane, Wimborne, Dorset ... was previously occupied by Dr. Druitt:

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Montague John Druitt was a barrister and a special pleader who also worked as an assistant schoolmaster at Mr. George Valentines boarding School in Eliot Place Blackheath from 1881 until November 1888 when, for reasons unknown, he was suddenly dismissed. His body was found floating in the Thames at Chiswick on December 31st 1888. Stones in his pockets had ensured that his body stayed on the bed of the Thames for several weeks and the jury's returned a verdict of suicide by drowning "whilst of unsound mind."

His name would, doubtless, have been long forgotten were it not for the timing of his suicide, which probably took place at the end of November 1888 - three weeks after what Melville Macnaghten believed was the last Jack the Ripper murder, that of Mary Kelly on the 9th November 1888. Montague John Druitt's suicide led Macnaghten to favour him as the likeliest contender for the mantle of Jack the Ripper and thus the name of this, otherwise unknown, barrister/school teacher has achieved a posthumous notoriety high up on the list of suspects.

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Except, ha, now that I pay attention, I think he had the wrong Dr. Druitt. ;)

Agood book to read that contains another idea as to who the ripper could have been is "Whitechapel Mary" by Sally Worboyes

an interesting idea written into a vivid story....

I've read loads about the Ripper, and I think one of the best accounts comes from a book called 'The Cases that Haunt Us' - can't remember the author as I've leant it to my sister, but he worked for FBI (I think). He looked at this case, and others, objectively and as a modern force would do today. There are a few named suspects and he comes down on the side of a relative unknown, not Druitt nor the Prince of Wales, Maybrick, Sickert etc al. A good read - he also looks at the Lindbergh kidnapping, Lizzie Borden and a few others.

my gran reconed he came from liverpool she said the ladies of liverpool at that time nicnamed him the slipper man