Whitechapel 1888The evidence, and its limits

Credits

Credits and licences

Who made the material on this site, and the terms it is used under.

Historical texts

Quotations are transcriptions of documents from 1888 onwards that are in the public domain. Each passage names its source, and the source explorer links to the page each transcription was taken from. Where a transcription comes from a modern website, that site is credited on the source's page.

Images

67 images are published. 60 are in the public domain. 7 are used under Creative Commons licences, which require the credit given here and on each image.

Under Creative Commons licences

  • Charles Booth, Descriptive Map of London Poverty 1889, North-Eastern sheet (Whitechapel and Spitalfields extract). Charles Booth (survey); Ordnance Survey base. CC BY 4.0. Source page (cropped or adapted for this site)
  • Durward Street (Buck's Row) in 2006. Murder scene of Polly Nichols, the first victim in the Jack the Ripper murders.. MattHucke. CC BY 2.5. Source page
  • Essex Wharf, Durward Street, 1988 The viewpoint is just about where the body of Jack the Ripper victim Mary Ann Nichols was found 100 years before the photograph. The street was then called Buck's Row. The "Wharf" name did not indicate a nearby navigation, but possibly the nearby railway yards.. Robin Webster. CC BY-SA 2.0. Source page
  • Frederick Bailey Deeming (1892). State Library of Victoria Collections from Melbourne, Australia. CC BY 2.0. Source page
  • photo by Matt Hucke, http://www.graveyards.com, August 2006.. MattHucke at English Wikipedia. CC BY-SA 3.0. Source page
  • Thomas Neill Cream (between 1890 and 1907). photographer: Armestead, W. CC BY 4.0. Source page
  • View down Henriques Street . Robert Lamb. CC BY-SA 2.0. Source page

Public domain

  • "Dear Boss" letter, page 1 (dated 25 September 1888). Facsimile of the original in The National Archives, MEPO 3/142.. Unknown writer (signed "Jack the Ripper"; authorship disputed). Public domain. Source page
  • "Dear Boss" letter, page 2, with the postscript. Facsimile of the original in The National Archives, MEPO 3/142.. Unknown writer (signed "Jack the Ripper"; authorship disputed). Public domain. Source page
  • "Latest Details of the Whitechapel Murders : Annie Chapman - before and after death", The Illustrated Police News, Saturday, September 22, 1888.. Unknown author. Public domain. Source page
  • “Scenes of the Aldgate and Whitechapel murders (sketched last Sunday morning)”: Mitre Square, the entrance to the Berner Street yard, and Elizabeth Stride's covered body in the mortuary. Engraving after Claude Byrne, October 1888. Wikimedia Commons attributes it to The Penny Illustrated Paper of 6 October 1888; the newspaper and page were not checked against an original copy.. Claude Byrne. Public domain. Source page
  • "The Discovery of the Sixth Ripper Murder", cover of Famous Crimes, Past and Present, vol. II n° 18, 1903. Thomas Bowyer discovers Mary Jane Kelly's horribly mutilated corpse on the morning of 9 November 1888.. Unknown author. Public domain. Source page
  • 1888 edition of The Illustrated Police News.. Authors and staff of The Illustrated Police News. 1888.. Public domain. Source page
  • 1894 ordnance survey map of Whitechapel annotated with the locations of 6 murders and one clue. Red circles indicate sites where murdered women were discovered. The red triangle indicates the position of the Goulston Street graffito, where a piece of one of the victims' clothing was discovered.. Ordnance Survey, modified by uploader. Public domain. Source page
  • 26 and 27 Dorset Street with the arched entrance to Miller's Court, photographed c.1928 and published in Leonard Matters, The Mystery of Jack the Ripper (1929). It shows the street frontage, not Room 13.. Unknown author, circa 1900.. Public domain. Source page
  • Berner Street and Dutfield's Yard as it was in 1909, 21 years after the murder of Elizabeth Stride. Dutfield's Yard is directly underneath and behind the suspended cart wheel. The International Workingmen's Club is immediately to the right of it (three storey building).. Unknown author. Public domain. Source page
  • Catherine Eddowes - Plan of Mitre Square. Unknown author. Public domain. Source page
  • Catherine Eddowes - Plan of Mitre Square 2. Unknown author. Public domain. Source page
  • Contemporary illustration (Illustrated Police News, 8 Sep 1888). Unknown author. Public domain. Source page
  • Copy of attachment to a Police report from Chief Commissioner Sir Charles Warren of the Metropolitan Police, to the Home Office. Charles Warren (d. 1927). Public domain. Source page
  • Dorset Street, SpitalfieldsDorset Street, UK, photographed in 1902 for Jack London's book The People of the Abyss. Miller's Court was reached through an alleyway on the right.Photograph first published in Jack London, The People of the Abyss, Macmillan, New York, 1903, 319 p., page 2. [1]. Jack London. Public domain. Source page
  • Dr Phillips examining the body of Annie Chapman in a press drawing of 1888 (The Illustrated Police News).. Unknown author. Public domain. Source page
  • Durward Street (formerly Buck's Row), photographed c.1928 and published in Leonard Matters, The Mystery of Jack the Ripper (1929). Not an 1888 photograph.. Hulton Archive. Public domain. Source page
  • Entrance to Dutfield's Yard, Berner Street: a tinted detail of a photograph of 7 April 1909, twenty years after the murder.. Unknown author. Public domain. Source page
  • Francis Tumblety (second quarter of 19th century). Unknown author. Public domain. Source page
  • Frederick Foster's plan of Mitre Square, produced at the inquest, 1888. Unknown author. Public domain. Source page
  • Hanbury Street, London. Modern car park location photographed is on the street's North side and is exactly opposite 28 and 30 Hanbury Street. Confirmed using SatNav.. Jack1956. Public domain. Source page
  • Illustrated Police News front page, 22 Sep 1888 ("Annie Chapman - before and after death"). Unknown author. Public domain. Source page
  • Illustrated Police News, 6 Oct 1888: Stride and Eddowes. Unknown author. Public domain. Source page
  • Illustration from The Illustrated Police News, 6 October 1888.. Unknown author. Public domain. Source page
  • Interior of Room 13, Miller's Court, as drawn for Reynolds's Newspaper, Sunday 18 November 1888 (artist unknown): fireplace, two tables and the bed. The remains are drawn as indistinct masses on the table and bed.. Unknown author. November 1888.. Public domain. Source page
  • Interior of Room 13, Miller's Court, as drawn for Reynolds's Newspaper, Sunday 18 November 1888 (artist unknown): fireplace, two tables and the bed. The remains are drawn as indistinct masses on the table and bed.. Unknown author. November 1888.. Public domain. Source page
  • James Kenneth Stephen. Public domain. Source page
  • James Maybrick (1889-08-24). Unknown author. Public domain. Source page
  • John Pizer ('Leather Apron'). Public domain. Source page
  • Lewis Carroll (Charles Dodgson) (Taken on 2 June 1857). Lewis Carroll. Public domain. Source page
  • Mary Jane Kelly as depicted in the Illustrated Police News, 17 Nov 1888. Unknown author. Public domain. Source page
  • Michael Ostrog (1870s). Unknown author. Public domain. Source page
  • Mitre Square. Jack1956. Public domain. Source page
  • Montague John Druitt (before December 1888 (Druitt's death)). Unknown English photographer. Public domain. Source page
  • Mortuary photograph, 1888 (face, showing facial mutilation). Unknown photographer. Public domain. Source page
  • Mortuary photograph, 1888 (face). Unknown photographer. Public domain. Source page
  • Mortuary photograph, 1888 (head and shoulders). Unknown photographer. Public domain. Source page
  • Mortuary photograph, Sept 1888. Unknown photographer. Public domain. Source page
  • Ordnance Survey map published 1894, detail around Buck's Row (shown under its later name, Durward Street) and Brady Street. The red dot was added in 2009 by a Wikimedia Commons contributor to mark the murder site; its placement is approximate and is not evidence for the exact spot.. Ordnance Survey (map); red markers added by the Commons uploader (DrKay), released into the public domain. Public domain. Source page
  • Penny Illustrated Paper - 6th October, 1888 - The Discovery in Berner Street.. Unknown author. Public domain. Source page
  • Police photograph of the murder scene, 9 Nov 1888 (MJK1) - EXTREMELY GRAPHIC. Unknown photographer (City of London police). Public domain. Source page
  • Police surgeon's drawing, 1888. The body of Jack the Ripper's fourth canonical victim, as discovered in Mitre Square, 30 September 1888.. Author of image is Doctor F. G. Brown. Image dates from 30 September 1888. Drawn in situ in Mitre Sq. Public domain. Source page
  • Popular illustration of PC Neil finding the body of Mary Ann Nichols by lantern-light (date of publication uncertain; Commons gives 1903).. Unknown author. September 1888.. Public domain. Source page
  • Popular illustration of PC Neil finding the body of Mary Ann Nichols by lantern-light (date of publication uncertain; Commons gives 1903).. Unknown author. September 1888.. Public domain. Source page
  • Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence (circa 1891). W. & D. Downey. Public domain. Source page
  • Robert Donston Stephenson. Professional studio photographer, circa 1900.. Public domain. Source page
  • Seweryn Kłosowski ('George Chapman') (circa 1900). newspaper. Public domain. Source page
  • Sir William Gull (Unknown date, but estimated to be 1860). Unknown author. Public domain. Source page
  • Sketch of Catherine Eddowes and a suspect (Penny Illustrated Paper, 13 Oct 1888). Unknown author. Public domain. Source page
  • Sketch of Kate Eddowes (Penny Illustrated Paper, 13 Oct 1888). Unknown author. Public domain. Source page
  • Sketch of Mary Jane Kelly (Penny Illustrated Paper, 24 Nov 1888). Unknown author. Public domain. Source page
  • The "From Hell" letter received by George Lusk on 16 October 1888. Facsimile; Commons credits the original to The National Archives, MEPO 3/142, and this copy to casebook.org.. Unknown writer (authorship disputed). Public domain. Source page
  • The Discovery in Berner Street (Penny Illustrated Paper, 6 Oct 1888). Unknown author. Public domain. Source page
  • The Illustrated Police News - 13 October 1888 - Jack the Ripper. Unknown author. Public domain. Source page
  • The Illustrated Police News - 17 November 1888 - The scene of the murder, Miller's Court. Unknown author. Public domain. Source page
  • The Illustrated Police News - 20 October 1888 - Sir Charles Warren viewing handwriting on wall. Unknown author. Public domain. Source page
  • The Illustrated Police News - 6 October 1888 - Two more Whitechapel Horrors. Unknown author. Public domain. Source page
  • The Illustrated Police News - 8 September 1888 - Mary Ann Nichols. Unknown author. Public domain. Source page
  • Walter Sickert. Unknown photographer. Public domain. Source page
  • Whitechapel, Dorset Street, Miller's Court No.13. Photograph taken the day of the murder of Mary Jane Kelly of the outside of Mary Kelly's room [1].. Unknown photographer (Police photographer). Public domain. Source page
  • William Henry Bury (1889-02-12). Unknown author. Public domain. Source page

Base map

The map uses Charles Booth's Descriptive Map of London Poverty (1889), from the Wellcome Collection, licensed under CC BY 4.0. It was georeferenced (warped to fit modern coordinates) for this site.

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