maximus otter
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Jack the Ripper's victims' lives are brought to light by a study of the 1881 census, revealing new details of the Whitechapel Murders.
Jack the Ripper’s victims’ lives have been unveiled by historians studying the 1881 census.
The identity of the Ripper, a serial killer who murdered several prostitutes in the Whitechapel area of London in 1888, has been the subject of fevered speculation for well over a century.
Now a new study into the 1881 census of the British population has revealed more details about the lives of his victims – and historians hope it will shed more light on the identity of the Ripper himself.
Records show that of the five victims generally agreed to be the work of the Ripper - the so-called “Canonical” five – four had been married, but were no longer living with their husbands. The census indicates that they may have turned to prostitution after their marriages failed.
The first of the Canonical victims, Mary Ann Nichols, appears in the 1871 census as married with three children, but is not registered in 1881. She was found mutilated in what is now Durward Street in Whitechapel, 200 yards from the London Hospital, on 31 August 1888.
Annie Chapman, who was killed on 8 September, was listed in 1881 as a “stud groom’s wife” living with her parents, and is believed to have moved in with her parents shortly after the census. The death of her daughter led her to alcoholism, and her marriage broke up in 1884. She was 37.
Swedish-born Elizabeth Stride, also 37, was living with her husband when the census was taken. However, newspaper reports following her murder on 30 September suggested she was living alone.
Catherine Eddowes, who was killed the same night as Elizabeth Stride, had been living with her common-law husband John Conway at the time of the census. She was 46 when she was killed in Mitre Square in the City of London.
There is no information in the census of the last and youngest of the Canonical victims, Mary Jane Kelly, who was around 25 at the time of her death.
The Canonical five murders all took place in late 1888. A further six were investigated by the Metropolitan Police. The last of these took place in 1891, after which the “Whitechapel Murders” case was closed.
Debra Chatfield, a spokeswoman for findmypast.com, said: "The 1881 census records give us a small window into the past to help us shed new light on the lives of people of historical interest, as well as to build up a picture of our own ancestors' lives."
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/6201130/Jack-the-Ripper-victims-lives-unveiled-in-1881-census.html
maximus otter
Jack the Ripper’s victims’ lives have been unveiled by historians studying the 1881 census.
The identity of the Ripper, a serial killer who murdered several prostitutes in the Whitechapel area of London in 1888, has been the subject of fevered speculation for well over a century.
Now a new study into the 1881 census of the British population has revealed more details about the lives of his victims – and historians hope it will shed more light on the identity of the Ripper himself.
Records show that of the five victims generally agreed to be the work of the Ripper - the so-called “Canonical” five – four had been married, but were no longer living with their husbands. The census indicates that they may have turned to prostitution after their marriages failed.
The first of the Canonical victims, Mary Ann Nichols, appears in the 1871 census as married with three children, but is not registered in 1881. She was found mutilated in what is now Durward Street in Whitechapel, 200 yards from the London Hospital, on 31 August 1888.
Annie Chapman, who was killed on 8 September, was listed in 1881 as a “stud groom’s wife” living with her parents, and is believed to have moved in with her parents shortly after the census. The death of her daughter led her to alcoholism, and her marriage broke up in 1884. She was 37.
Swedish-born Elizabeth Stride, also 37, was living with her husband when the census was taken. However, newspaper reports following her murder on 30 September suggested she was living alone.
Catherine Eddowes, who was killed the same night as Elizabeth Stride, had been living with her common-law husband John Conway at the time of the census. She was 46 when she was killed in Mitre Square in the City of London.
There is no information in the census of the last and youngest of the Canonical victims, Mary Jane Kelly, who was around 25 at the time of her death.
The Canonical five murders all took place in late 1888. A further six were investigated by the Metropolitan Police. The last of these took place in 1891, after which the “Whitechapel Murders” case was closed.
Debra Chatfield, a spokeswoman for findmypast.com, said: "The 1881 census records give us a small window into the past to help us shed new light on the lives of people of historical interest, as well as to build up a picture of our own ancestors' lives."
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/6201130/Jack-the-Ripper-victims-lives-unveiled-in-1881-census.html
maximus otter
