Author: Richard Jones

The Whitechapel murders most certainly awakened people to the horrors of the living conditions in the east End slums – and it was being widely observed that, unless these conditions were tackled, head on,  society as a whole […]

In 1712 a tax was introduced which came to be referred to as “a tax on knowledge.” The tax in question was, in fact a tax on newspapers, and it would prove extremely unpopular, particular amongst the radical […]

At the time when the Jack the Ripper murders were occurring in Whitechapel, photography and printing were very rudimentary; and, as a consequence, the newspapers were unable to produce actual photographs of the murder scenes themselves. THE MILLER’S […]

Even before the Jack the Ripper murders began the Metropolitan Police in general, and their Commissioner, Sir Charles Warren, in particular, were coming under constant attack from several of the daily newspapers. One problem that was being highlighted […]

Welcome to the September Jack the Ripper quiz. By the 15th of September, 1888, at least three, possibly four, murders were believed to have been carried out by the Whitechapel murderer, and the area was in the grip […]

By Thursday September 13th, 1888, a reasonable amount of order had returned to the streets of Spitalfields and Whitechapel, and the newspapers, although reporting extensively on the inquests into the deaths of Mary Nichols and Annie Chapman, were […]

The major story that was being covered in the newspapers on Wednesday the 12th of September, 1888, was that John Piser, the man suspected of being the notorious local character. “Leather Apron”, had been released from police custody. […]

On Tuesday 11th September, 1888, the newspapers were divided as to whether the increased criticism of the police that had been apparent since the discovery of the murder of Annie Chapman, on the 8th September, 1888, was justified. […]

On the morning of Monday 10th September, 1888, the daily newspapers began hitting the streets and, all over the country, they were reporting on the latest murder that had taken place in Whitechapel on the previous Saturday morning. […]

Since the 9th of September, 1888, fell on a Sunday, there were fewer newspapers published that day to report on the latest Whitechapel atrocity that had taken place the previous day in Hanbury Street, Spitalfields. THE VICTIM’S NAME […]