London, Walking in the Rippers Footsteps Part 2

The next day we checked out of the hotel and due to me being a greedy glutton started our day with yet another fatty breakfast. Well they do say it’s the most important meal! Making the most of our favourite Diner, of course.
I had French toast with maple syrup and bacon, and a chocolate and peanut butter milkshake. It was amazing. One day I am going to be the size of a house. We found this little old building dwarfed by the modern buildings around it. If those walls could talk…I can see why there are so many tales of “The Haunted Underground”. With it’s warm winds gusting through the tunnels and strange smell, it has a very creepy vibe. Naturally I love it.
We travelled to The British Museum to pretend we are cultured. There was a room filled with clocks and we spent a while there examining those made by my ancestor Thomas Mudge. I wish I had half of his intellect! I didn’t fully realise how famous he was in the clock making world until I saw these. Keeping in with the ‘culture’ theme, and more importantly the free admission theme, we carried on to the National Portrait Gallery. I have always been fascinated by The Tudors, and was delighted to see some of these famous paintings in the flesh, so to speak.
The Langham Hotel, which is supposedly one of the most haunted hotels in London. And thus concludes our trip. We walked to Regents Park tube station and then on to Baker street for a final meal before heading one stop down to Marylebone and the train home.

I have and always will love London but purely as a visitor. I don’t know how I would feel living there, they say familiarity breeds contempt. That certainly applies to Birmingham for me most of the time unfortunately. Now that Halloween has been and gone, Christmas is looming and I will be visiting London again for the Country Living Christmas fair in Harrogate with my sister. I can’t wait.

My Jack the Ripper posts will continue, so if that interests you as much as it does me, stay tuned, and thank you for reading my strange and random ramblings!

Halloween!

So my favourite time of year has come and gone, and I thought I would interrupt my rather disturbing Jack the Ripper posts with a quick Halloween catch up. The daytime is always a preparation time for me, with Halloween starting after dark. We did a few chores, and stocked up on Trick or Treat candy, just in case. Every Halloween as long as I can remember, I have excitedly anticipated trick or treaters and never ever received any. (I say never, I think there was one group of unsavoury local youths that rang the doorbell when I was quite small and lived at home, none of whom had bothered to wear a costume, but still had the nerve to say “trick or treat”.) Nevertheless, being in a house of our own, in an area with a few small children, I hoped we might get some visitors in the evening. 

I was delighted to receive a package all the way from America from a Tumblr friend called Alexandria. It was filled with treats and cool things!

Waffles to get the day started right.

The treats!

Pumpkin no.1 to guard the front door from evil spirits.

Mini pumpkin no.2. I was really pleased with this little chap who sat on the fireplace.

As a last minute idea, I threw together a spooky outfit from my “Halloween dress up” bag. I was going for a creepy ‘Woman in Black’ vibe. I did freak myself (and Lee) out a few times, so mission accomplished.

Lee made a Mike Wazowski pumpkin!

Spooky window shots, probably scaring more children away than encouraging them in! Despite this, we received 3 rounds of trick or treaters which made my night. Most of them were only teeny little sweeties, but all dressed up. I think I may have frightened them a little bit, as it was mostly the parents that were left to say the obligatory “Trick or treat!” but I was happy all the same. My very first trick or treaters!

The night concluded with a FaceTime chat with one of my big sisters and her kids, a glass of cider, bangers & mash, ‘From Dusk til Dawn’ and general eating of the candy. The night had to be cut relatively short as our London train was early the next morning, but all in all, this was probably one of the best Halloweens to date.

The Whitechapel Murders – Mary Nichols

On the 31st of August 1888, just before 3:40 am, a carman (or carriageman), Charles Cross, was on his way to work along Bucks Row. This dark thoroughfare was lined by two-storey houses and imposing warehouses on either side. He noticed what appeared to be a bundle of clothing on the floor in a gateway. He bent to inspect it and found it to be a woman. As he inspected the woman, another carman, Robert Paul, approached and Cross pointed out the body. They both believed her to be alive as they thought they had felt a movement as if she were breathing. They pulled her skirts down to cover her lower body and left, with the intention of telling a Policeman should they pass one. They must have just missed P.C Neil who was walking his beat along Bucks Row at 3:45 am and shone his lantern onto the figure lay in the gateway. He noticed blood oozing from a deep gash in her throat. He was joined on the scene moments later by P.C Thain, who then went to fetch local surgeon Dr Ralph Llewellyn.

Upon Llewellyn’s arrival at a little after 4am, he pronounced life to be extinct and began to examine the body. He noted that the legs were still warm, suggesting that she had been dead for little more than half an hour. The Police already at the scene were slowly being joined by more and more spectators from the surrounding warehouses and slaughterhouses, with a macabre eagerness to see the grizzly remains. Llewellyn ordered the Police to remove the body to the mortuary, and at this point, a local resident washed the congealed blood away from the gateway.

The mortuary photograph of Mary Nichols.

By the time the senior officer, Inspector John Sprattling, arrived at the scene, there was little evidence for him to examine, save for a few bloodstains between the paving stones. He made his way to the mortuary to examine the body, and made a detailed description of the deceased. He lifted the woman’s clothing and made a horrific discovery. Her abdomen had been ripped open. Her throat had been slit twice from left to right with several other incisions to her abdomen.

On examining her clothes, they discovered the mark of the Lambeth Workhouse on one of her petticoats. This led them to Ann Monk who was a resident of the workhouse, and who identified the victim as Mary Ann Nichols, also known as Polly. They then traced Mary’s father Edward Walker and her estranged husband, William Nichols, who both confirmed her identity.

On the 30th of August, Nichols had been observed walking the Whitechapel Road, and at 00:30 had been seen leaving a pub on Brick Lane. She was then turned out of a lodging house on Thrawl Street as she did not have the fourpence to pay for a bed. She told the keeper that she would easily make the doss money, adding “See what a jolly bonnet i’m wearing.” She obviously believed her new bonnet would be an irresistible allure to potential customers. She was last seen on the corner of Osborn Street and Whitechapel Road at 2:30, an hour before her death, by Nelly Holland. Mary told her that she had made enough money to pay for a bed twice over (evidently from prostitution) but had drunk it all away. Nelly tried to persuade her to come back to the lodging house with her, but Mary refused, and staggered off into the night.

 

Bucks Row / Durward Street where Mary was found

Mary was 43 at the time of her murder, 5 feet 2 inches tall with grey eyes and greying dark hair. She had married her estranged husband William Nichols in1864 and they had 5 children together. Mary’s drinking became too much for her husband to stand however, and they separated in 1880. William had custody of the children, but provided her with an allowance of five shillings per week, which he withdrew when he discovered that she had been working as a prostitute. Having identified his wifes body at the mortuary, he emerged visibly shaking and said “…it has come to a sad end at last.”

Jack had claimed his first victim.

Next time, Jack’s reign of terror continues with the murder of Annie Chapman.

The Whitechapel Murders – The Murderous Beginning

The Jack the Ripper murders occurred in an area comprising of little more than one square mile, with all victims being prostitutes. There were 11 murders in total, these became known as the Whitechapel Murders. The Chief Constable of the Criminal Investigation department, Sir Melville Macnaughten, stated in 1894 that Jack the Ripper only had 5 victims referred to as “the canonical five” but as no one was ever charged with the murders, it is impossible to say how many women actually died at his hands. The canonical five were:

• Mary Nichols
• Annie Chapman
• Elizabeth Stride
• Catherine Eddowes
• Mary Kelly

They were murdered between the 31st of August and the 9th of November 1888.

There were two murders that occurred before the first generally acknowledged ripper victim, Mary Nichols.

The first was Emma Smith, who during the early hours of April 3rd was assaulted and robbed by a gang of three men on Brick Lane. She died the following day of Peritonitus. A verdict of “wilful murder by some person, or persons, unknown” was returned at the inquest into her death. It is pretty much certain that she was not one of Jack’s victims, but that she fell prey to one of the notorious gangs that targeted vulnerable prostitutes in the area.

On August 7th 1888, at 5am, the body of Martha Tabram was discovered on the first floor landing of a tenement building in George Yard, a dark and sinister alley not far from where Emma Smith had been attacked. Martha had been stabbed 39 times, with most of the wounds inflicted on her throat and lower abdomen. It was a brutal and frenzied attack.

A local prostitute, Mary Anne Connelly also known as “Pearly Poll” provided an interesting lead. She told police she had been drinking with Martha and two soldiers all evening on the 6th of August in pubs along Whitechapel Road. Before midnight they had split into two couples, Connelly took one of the soldiers into Angel Alley and Martha had led one of the soldiers into the adjacent George Yard (today called Gunthorpe Street). In the early hours of the morning, a resident of the building was awoken by cries of “Murder!” but as domestic violence and this kind of cry was common in the area, she ignored the noise.

Two other residents, a husband and wife, coming home at 2am, noticed no one on the stairs. A patrolling officer, PC Thomas Barrett, questioned a grenadier loitering nearby, who told him he was waiting for a friend. A cab driver and resident of the building returned home and noticed Tabrams body lying on the stairs at 3:30am. He thought she was a sleeping vagrant, and so ignored the body. It was only when a dock labourer was passing down at 5am on his way to work that he realised she was dead and immediately called the police.

 

George Yard in the 1800’s, and today as Gunthorpe Street still has a sinister feel.

The soldiers were never found, even though witnesses attended identity parades both with the soldiers at the Tower of London and at Wellington barracks. A verdict was again returned as “murder by person, or persons, unknown”.

Martha Tabrams injuries did not correspond with the meticulous surgical methods of the Ripper, she was stabbed and not ripped, so she was commonly disregarded as one of his victims. However, the particular attention the killer had paid to the stab wounds in the throat and lower abdomen are consistent with his habits in future victims. Was Martha his first victim before he developed his modus operandi for later crimes?

The East London Advertiser commented that:

“…there is a feeling of insecurity to think that in a great city like London…a woman could be foully and horribly killed almost next to the citizens peacefully sleeping in their beds, without a trace or clue being left of the villain that did the deed…”

My next post will look at the murder generally acknowledged to be the Rippers first, Mary Nichols, who was found barely three weeks after Martha Tabrams murder, in a dark gateway off Whitechapel Road.

The Whitechapel Murders – London in 1888

In the run up to Halloween, and a highly anticipated trip to London the day after, I decided to do some proper posts on the murders in Whitechapel in 1888 by the notorious Jack the Ripper. It’s a subject that has long fascinated me, and in some of my previous posts on this blog I briefly outlined some of the murders as we had just returned from London where we had followed the Rippers trail with the help of the fantastic Haunted London app. It was so atmospheric and fascinating I decided that I would like to discover more and potentially become a Ripperologist. I can’t wait for our trip on the 1st as we have booked a hotel in the heart of Spitalfields on the edge of Whitechapel where Jack roamed and I am excited to get some creepy night time pictures in some of the unchanged areas and alleyways surrounding the hotel.

So lets begin by taking a step back in time to the dank, dark, and dangerous streets and thoroughfares of the East End of London in the late 1880’s. With my trusty Jack the Ripper Casebook by Richard Jones as my guide, I will try to set the scene for these grizzly crimes.

It is the year after Queen Victorias Golden Jubilee, 1888. London is expanding, having just experienced a period of sustained economic growth, and a new middle class has been created due to the need for managers, clerks and administrators. However, things are starting to change with growing competition coming from Germany and America challenging our Industrial dominance. A slump in trade has caused mass unemployment, and thousands of people are on the brink of poverty. There is unrest among the lower classes, and socialism is becoming more and more popular. In 1886 and 1887 there are several riots and protests on the streets of the West End, with several shops being looted and property damaged. The middle and upper classes fear a revolution is inevitable, and focus their nervousness on Whitechapel and the East End.

Whitechapel had some of London’s worst slums, highest death rates and the most dreadful living conditions. Every day was a constant fight for survival, where people were endlessly fighting for jobs in order to feed their families. The area was densely populated, with the worst area seen to be the “evil quarter mile” which consists of a series of thoroughfares such as Thrawl Street, Flower and Dean Street, and Wentworth Street. The dregs of society were crammed into rank dwellings with sometimes as many as 20 people sharing a house. In some cases, entire families were forced to live in one room, and in dire situations they would sublet a corner to a lodger.

The “evil quarter mile” was the largest provider of accommodation, with many common lodging houses in which thousands of men, women and children were crammed into dormitories. Many of these lodging houses were above board and orderly, however a large number were dens of iniquity inhabited by dangerous criminals, prostitutes and mentally unstable characters. The upper and middle classes virtually never ventured into these slums, but if the wind was blowing in the wrong direction they were reminded of their existence due to a foul stench of sewage or the areas slaughterhouses and factories.

A quarter of a million people lived in Whitechapel, 15,000 of it’s residents were classed as homeless. Disease, hunger, neglect and violence claimed the lives of one in four children before they reached the age of five. A wealthy shipping magnate turned philanthropist and social reporter, Charles Booth, claimed that as many as 60,000 East End men, women and children loved their daily lives on the brink of starvation.

At this time, a surge of immigrants flooded into the area, mostly consisting of jews. Throughout the 1880’s the Jewish population had surged from 45,000 to 50,000. The mass unemployment due to the economic depression saw the Jews vilified for stealing English jobs. Many Jewish workers were willing to work long hours for minimal wages, and so were accused of underhand methods in order to obtain jobs over the English populace. In June of 1887, a Jewish man named Isreal Lipski who was lodging at a house in Batty Street, forcibly poisoned another Jew and fellow lodger named Miriam Angel by pouring nitric acid down her throat. He was hanged for the murder, but it did increase the anti-Semitic feeling in the area. “Lipski” was by 1888 being used as a term of abuse towards jews from Gentiles.

The harsh and demoralising living conditions that many were forced to endure in the East End were blamed for many young women turning to the streets in order to make a living. They were labelled “unfortunates”, and were forced to become prostitutes in order to provide for themselves and their families. A prostitute could make more in one night than many could in one week in a factory or sweat shop, and this money would go towards food and lodging, but more importantly, towards the drink that would allow them to forget their horrific existence. Many of these unfortunates could conduct their business relatively safely in brothels. That was until the well-meaning campaign of a local brewing dynasty heir, Frederick Charrington, caused the closure of 200 of the areas brothels, thus forcing the displaced prostitutes out onto the streets and into the path of the Ripper.

In my next post, I will talk about the policing of the case and the inspectors and officers assigned to bring the murderer to justice.

Spooky Bonanza

So, Halloween is nearly upon us, and I have been getting pretty excited. (If you follow me on Instagram this is pretty obvious!) I managed to restrain myself from putting the decorations up on October 1st, and as we had company on Saturday night I decided to crack them out at the weekend. I have always loved a bit of Halloween tat, but I like to think that i’ve managed to make it look fairly tasteful in our lovely little old house. With the decorations come the spooky pins (which I collect) and jewellery, like this little Tatty Devine ghost that Lee bought me a couple of years ago. I love it all! We went to visit Lee’s family the weekend before last, so I decided a funereal look was required.

Barnaby the pug.

My new pins from deer heart.storenvy.com

When I have been on a late shift (8:30 pm finish) or if it has been my course night, I love getting back to this cosy sight.

I paid a tenner to get this fella over from America. He’s a vintage Hallmark wind-up dracula, and I’m in love.

Yet more Halloween crap! Gotta love a solar powered dancing skeleton and pumpkin man!

Our front door.

The mantelpiece takes on a Halloween theme.

My nieces 7th birthday was last week, so we went to visit my sister and family on Sunday. The girls are Harry Potter obsessed, and this reached a peak when they visited the HP studio tour on Harriets bday. I made her a themed box for good measure.

Nothing like a good hot Sunday Roast dinner with family.

Followed by one of my favourites, Apple Crumble and custard!

I love visiting Kate and her little fam, they’re house always feels cosy and warm. They’ve just moved into this house, but I think it’s grand.

We had to re-arrange the front room to accommodate our new rather large TV table, and I prefer it so much! I got a new Weeping fig tree to fill the empty space we created.

Lee’s bro bought some tasty meringues from Selfridges.

Another cosy return home!

Tonight I went into town to meet my friend as she had got tickets for a live ‘horror’ experience called ‘The Morgue’ in Birmingham. I was kinda freaking out all day worrying about being terrified, but I jumped on the bus to meet her. The Cafe opposite the bus stop looks really inviting now the evenings are getting darker and colder.

It was really well done, specially knowing that the people who have created it are not professionals and that this was there first endeavour. I was really impressed, and luckily not as petrified as I had thought i’d be. There were lots of ‘jumpy’ bits, and the sights, sounds and smells were all creepy and disturbing, but I think I handled it pretty well given that I jump out of my skin when the toast pops up or the postman puts letters through the letterbox.

My Twitchy Witchy Girl

This week has been so nice, starting with a much needed weekend off. Lee went out with a friend on Saturday night, and I decided to stay in and relax after a busy and stressful week at work. I lit the fire, watched crummy Saturday night TV (gotta love a bit of Strictly Come Dancing!) followed by Pirates of the Caribbean and had a little cat sleeping beside me. It was so cosy, and it is just why I love Autumn so much.

The following day I decided it was time to crack out my first Halloween inspired outfit. I had bought a vintage granny kilt skirt from the vintage store the day before, so thought i’d spice it up. Luna posed for a shot with me as my little familiar. The foliage around our door has turned a lovely copper colour, it looks amazing.

A few new trinkets. I can’t wait to decorate for Halloween!

Luna relaxes in some funny poses sometimes!

That night I had my friend Suzanne over for tea and cakes and to watch Downton. It was really nice.

This months read.

These candles smell so amazing! I wish I could eat them…

Lee has been experimenting with some new suppers, and made a Salmon and veg bake. It was delicious. It feels good to eat something healthy and wholesome for a change!

So excited to have Pumpkin Spice Lattes and Salted Caramel hot chocolates again!

So many spooky outfits, so little time!

Date night and Frankenweenie! We didn’t watch this when it came out last year, so I was pretty excited to give it a go. I loved it!

Luna has taken a liking to popcorn…

My first pumpkin spice of the season!

A new slime inspired polish.

Cracking out the spooky jewellery!

Sunday roast at The Fighting Cocks.

And treats while watching Sleepy Hollow!

Moseley Farmers market & Winterbourne House

On the last Saturday of every month, Moseley has it’s very own Arts & crafts market as well as a Farmers Market, so Lee and I decided to venture down to browse and also to visit a garden we had seen further up the road towards Kings Heath. The sun was shining and lets face it, weekends off for me are rare, so we were feeling pretty relaxed and looking forward to doing whatever the hell we wanted! The market itself does get pretty busy, but we mooched along enjoying the freedom of wasting time. We then walked up to the Dovecote which had caught my eye on our many jaunts to Kings Heath.

After the Dovecote we made our way to Edgbaston and Winterbourne House. I had never heard about this house or it’s Botanical Gardens until I saw someone I follow on Instagram posting there and was so excited! It’s literally only about 10 mins from us, and I do love a good garden so we got the train to University and walked through the campus to the house. The BCU students are pretty lucky, I wouldn’t mind walking through that pretty campus every day for lectures!

I love when the trees begin to turn and turn such gorgeous contrasted colours.

Catching up!

It’s been a couple of weeks since i’ve had a chance to post, and we’ve done a little bit since then. It is feeling a lot more Autumny, and the conkers from the tree are starting to rain down on our little garden, but we don’t mind so far. I’m quite enjoying going out and cracking them open to see the perfect shiny conker inside. (I know, i’m pretty weird but simple things please simple people!) I got a few new plants in the garden including a Nemesia and some Cyclamen to pop in little pots in the window. I love them although I need to remember to water them more often ‘cos thats how the poor Impatiens died I think… They look so sweet though, and I hope that before winter hits we can spend a little time tidying up the front garden. Although maybe it’s best to wait until the remaining plants have died to do that? I’m still learning so I have no idea yet! The course is going well, though it is really complex and getting harder. I’m enjoying it a lot though.

We have decided we need to eat a lot more fruit & veg and I think Autumn is a great time to start. What with casseroles and good hearty meals like that, seasonal veg is perfect. I started by roasting some veg with some Rosemary from our garden to go alongside some lamb chops. It was delicious and felt a lot healthier.

We lit the fire for the first time this Autumn!

I took a trip down to Digbeth in Birmingham to pick up an oversized denim jacket from the vintage shop.

Lee’s dad who is back visiting from America came to see us with Lee’s Grandma, so I got the house looking cosy and inviting with fresh roses and new candles, and we finally went to visit the little Italian restaurant on the corner next to our grove. We’d been looking longingly in every time we were walking home from work and it didn’t disappoint. Gorgeous food!

My good friend Lauren recently got engaged and had her engagement party in Solihull. It was great to hang out with some of the girls from work and have a few (too many) glasses of wine.

The dreaded conkers!

Early morning bus rides with atmospheric tunes are my new favourite thing!

Pretty Violas are still going strong.

Along with these Antirrinhum (?)

And the shops have finally started selling Halloween goodies! Now how can I justify buying this Halloween candle at a cool £20…

Autumn preparation

The evenings are beginning to draw in, and i’m watching as my lovely plants are slowly starting to wither. Some seem to be having a second burst like the Hydrangeas but from what I can see they flourish at this time of year so I can’t wait to see their lovely colour again. We’ve added a nice big bird feeder on a pole in the garden with lots of different food types, but as yet we have only seen a naughty squirrel on them and absolutely no birds. Luna does seem to be using the area surrounding the feeder as a toilet, so I hope that is nothing to do with their absence. A couple of Foxgloves also seem to be happily growing, I need to do some research and figure out how long I can expect these to be around. I’m surprised they’re still going strong as the weather is getting noticeably chillier! The double duvet has gone back on the bed and it’s finally knitwear weather, I love Autumn, so i’m so excited for cosy clothes, rust colour leaves, hot chocolates with amaretto and hearty casseroles! (Not to even mention Halloween!!)

We went out for a few drinks on Saturday night and stopped by a place called Brew Dog. I’d been meaning to go there for a while but the fact that they mostly sold beers as opposed to any other drinks put me off. As it turns out, beer cocktails are lovely and it was a super cool place to hang out.

The conkers look as though they are ready to pop and cover our garden. Whoop.

My little delicate sweet peas that I grew from seed. They may not be the most colourful, but it’s an achievement anyhow.

The Foxgloves

Hydrangea blooming

My little granny bedside table! I bought this lovely little miniature rose yesterday.

The Orchid never lets us down! We’ve had it for years and every time we think it’s a goner, it comes back to life. Beautiful.