Author: Richard Jones

Life for the women of the Victorian East End of London was harsh. Indeed, many of them fought an almost daily battle to simply raise enough money to keep a roof over their heads and keep the wolf […]

In early 1889, now safely ensconced in America, Dr Francis Tumblety decided to speak to the American newspapers to give his version of the story as to why the London police had arrested him on suspicion of being […]

Michael Ostrog is one of the names that appeared on Melville Macnaghten’s list of three men who were likelier than Thomas Cutbush to have been Jack the Ripper. Michael Ostrog was a nasty piece of work – he […]

Following her murder on 30th September 1888, Elisabeth Stride was laid to rest in the East London Cemetery, Grange Road, London E13 0HB, where it is still possible to visit her grave, where a headstone has been erected […]

An idea of how people the world over came to perceive the streets of the East End of London in the late 1880’s and early 1890’s can be gleaned from a perusal of various newspapers. indeed, the press […]

It is quite remarkable how, once the infamous “Dear Boss” missive had been made public, people all over the country decided it would be a great idea to imitate the perpetrator of the East End atrocities, who was […]

Washington Irving Bishop (1855 – 1889) was an American thought-reader who used to amaze his audiences with impressive demonstrations of mentalism and his marvellous feats of prediction. However, in 1885, he failed to predict that an article he […]

One of the intriguing things that comes across when reading the many, many newspaper accounts of the Jack the Ripper atrocities, is the lengths to which the police went in order to catch the perpetrator of the crimes. […]

The following interview with Inspector Thomas F. Byrnes (1842 – 1910) – an Irish born American police officer, who was head of the detectives at the New York City Police Department from 1880 to 1895 – appeared in […]

Dorset Street, which was the scene of the awful murder of Mary Kelly on 9th November, 1888, had long held a reputation for being one of the poorest and most crime-ridden streets in the Victorian East End of […]