Author: Richard Jones

It might seem a strange way for a policeman to enjoy a week’s leave; but, it would appear that, in at least one case, a Victorian officer of the law opted to spend his break by going to […]

As 1889 drew to a close, the news juggernaut, that the Jack the Ripper murders had set in motion, showed little sign of slowing down, and, throughout December, 1889, the name by which the unknown miscreant was now […]

Although major crimes, such as the Jack the Ripper murders, are the ones that tend to be remembered today, all sorts of, now forgotten, felonies plagued the citizens of the Victorian East End. Violent crime, frequently resulting in […]

Every so often it is nice to turn away from reporting on the horror of the social conditions in the East End of London in the latter years of the 19th century; or to focus on a story […]

Having paid a visit to Christchurch Hall in Hanbury Street in a previous article, the correspondent form The Dundee Advertiser, expressed an interest in exploring some of the surrounding Spitalfields Streets, in order to witness at first hand […]

One of the most intriguing things about studying the Jack the Ripper case in the Victorian newspapers comes from discovering articles that provide an insight into daily life in the district where the Whitechapel murders occurred, and then […]

One of the more bizarre aspects of the Jack the Ripper case is the suggestion that, in the case of at least one of the victims, the police photograph the victim’s eyes of the victim in the hope […]

One of the great tragedies to befall the people of the East End was, just how easy it was to go from managing to scrape by to being totally destitute and finding yourself on the streets. This was, […]

By the 1880’s a vast system of sewers had been created beneath the streets of London and were doing sterling work disposing of the waste from the citizens of the huge Victorian metropolis. People became fascinated by the […]

For many years, prior to the onslaught of the Jack the Ripper murders, the district of Whitechapel had become the focus of attention for the Victorian social reformers. The fact that the district had some of the worst […]