Author: Richard Jones

The 19th century newspapers provide us with terrific insights into everyday life, and death, in 19th century London, not least with regards to the coverage that they provide into various inquests that were held. The Evening Mail, in […]

On Thursday the 28th of June, 1888, the vestry of St. George’s-In-The-East met to discuss local parish issues. One point that was raised in the course of the meeting as how unsatisfactory the local mortuary was. This mortuary […]

Reading about the inquests into the deaths of various people in the 19th century, can be a fascinating, though sobering affair. It is important for us today to glean how an inquest worked, and which witnesses were called […]

One of my favourite pastimes is combing through the pages of the old newspapers to get a thorough feel for everyday life in 19th century London. An article that caught may attention recently was the following one that […]

Whilst reading through the various records of court appearances throughout the 19th century, you come across some that make you wish that you could board a time machine to be able to sit in on the hearings and […]

Disease was a major killer in the Victorian metropolis, and, for that matter, throughout the whole of Victorian Britain, and all manner of methods were utilised to fight against it, especially when it came to the poor of […]

Although today there is a general consensus that the Jack the Ripper murders ended with the murder of Mary Kelly on the 9th of November, 1888, that knowledge is the knowledge of hindsight. At the time, and in […]

In late September and early October, 1888, with the police seemingly unable to alight upon any clue that might lead them to solving the mystery of the Whitechapel murders, suggestions began to appear in the press that bloodhounds […]

In early October, 1888, all manner of rumours were circulating around the country concerning the Whitechapel murderer, and frequent arrests were being made. The Manchester Times, on Saturday the 13th of October, 1888 published the following roundup of […]

The murder of Annie Chapman took place in Hanbury Street, Spitalfields, on the morning of Saturday the 8th of September, 1888. Almost immediately the police found themselves criticised in the newspapers for their inability to protect the people […]