Author: Richard Jones

Major Arthur George Frederick Griffiths (1838 – 1908) was the author of more than 60 books, the best known of which, as far as the public were concerned, were about sensational crime cases. In 1901, he published Mysteries […]

Long before the Jack the Ripper murders attracted attention to the grinding poverty that was inherent in the everyday lives of the poor of Whitechapel, newspapers were publishing articles that were critical of the way in which the […]

In late June, 1887, the Miss Cass case hit the headlines, and led to a barrage of press criticism towards the Metropolitan Police. Police Constable Endacott had arrested Miss Maria Cass, claiming that she had been soliciting for […]

It gives me great pleasure to bring you the seventh challenge of 2019 – the Jack the Ripper July 2019 Quiz. For those of you who regularly participate in answering the questions we set each month about the […]

At the end of June, 1887, Police Constable Endacott arrested Miss Maria Cass on Regent Street, and accused her of soliciting for purposes of prostitution. The case grabbed the public imagination and, in consequence, it received a huge […]

With the murders of Elizabeth Stride and Catherine Eddowes, in the early hours of the 30th of September, 1888, the newspapers and the public alike went into an absolute frenzy of speculation and criticisms over the Whitechapel atrocities […]

The Whitechapel murders, which are now attributed to the criminal who became known as “Jack the Ripper”, certainly exposed some major shortcomings of the Detective Department of the Metropolitan Police. However, for several years prior to the onslaught […]

Parts of the Victorian East End of London were extremely violent – and all manner of disputes ended up with violence. The situation was helped by the fact that many of the people, men in particular, were routinely […]

One of the intriguing aspects of the Jack the Ripper case is the fact that many men – quite a few of them journalists, and at least one of them a police officer – decided to dress up […]

The murders of Elizabeth Stride and Catherine Eddowes – both of which took place in the early hours of the morning of the 30th of September, 1888 – led, not only to an upsurge in fear and panic […]