Today is the anniversary of the murder of Jack the Ripper’s first victim Mary Anne Nichols. Her body was found at 3.40am in what was then Buck’s Row in Whitechapel, but which is now Durward Street.
This was the second gruesome murder to have occurred in the district in a month – Martha Tabram had been murdered earlier in August in George Yard, off Whitechapel High Street – and this latest atrocity sent a general ripple of extreme unease through the area.
So today’s blog is going to take you to the site in Durward Street by where Mary’s body was discovered. The short film is presented by Richard Jones and it shows the site as it is today. The film begins with a shot of the Board School that looms over the murder site today just as it did in 1888. It also details the last night of Mary Nichols.