Author: Richard Jones

In December, 1889, a case was heard at Worship Street Police Court in which one of the witnesses made the bizarre statement that there were many women who had cause to thank Jack the Ripper. The defendant in […]

Today, when we look back at murders that took place in 1888, we tend to focus more or less exclusively on the Jack the Ripper atrocities, with the result that the other murder victims of that year are […]

The passing of the Criminal Law Amendment Act, in 1885, which was “An Act to make further provision for the Protection of Women and Girls, the suppression of brothels, and other purposes” – provided tough penalties against those […]

By mid-October, 1888, the police were desperately hunting the killer who was, by that time, becoming known the world over as “Jack the Ripper.” However, despite their best endeavours, the perpetrator of the Whitechapel murders was still at […]

On Thursday, 17th April, 1873, The Falkirk Herald published the following article, which was, in fact, reproduced from the London Daily News, that took readers on a heart-rending visit to one of the slum streets in the East […]

Number 8 White’s Row was one of the many common lodging houses that were located all across the enclave of Spitalfields in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. These places were home to a mix of residents, […]

In October, 1887, the year prior to the onset of the Jack the Ripper murders, a fatality occurred the East End of London which, as it transpired, was the result of a tragic accident. However, the circumstances behind […]

As the 19th century progressed, and the wealthy grew wealthier and the poor grew poorer, many philanthropists and newspaper reporters began turning their attention to the horror of the living conditions the poor residents of the East End […]

The murder of Mary Kelly, on 9th November, 1888, focused public attention on the squalor and criminality that was rife in an East London thoroughfare that had the unenviable reputation of being one of the worst – if not […]

One of the most popular forms of entertainment for the ordinary people of the East End of London, around the time of the Jack the Ripper murders, was the Music Hall. People flocked in their thousands to these […]