On the morning of 11 January, 1888, two-year-old Percy Ostler was being looked after by his heavily-pregnant mother, Louisa, and her sister Henrietta Brown, at their basement flat below a chemist’s shop at 55 Trafalgar Road in Greenwich, south London. At around 10.45am, Miss Brown decided to go out briefly… You must be a paid […]
Category Archives: 1888
Year of the Ripper: Rose Mylett
Police sergeant Robert Golding was patrolling along Poplar High Street with a colleague at around 4.15am on 20 December 1888 when he noticed a woman lying on her left side in Clarke’s Yard. There was no obvious sign of any injury to the body. It was only when the woman… You must be a paid […]
Year of the Ripper: Sarah Brown
One night did more than any other to establish the legend of ‘Jack the Ripper’. In the space of three-quarters of an hour in the early hours of September 30, 1888, two women were found lying on the ground with their throats cut. The first, Elizabeth Stride, in Whitechapel, and… You must be a paid […]
Year of the Ripper: Sidney Pierrepoint
It was Saturday, 26 May 1888, and William Pierrepoint had not paid his rent for six weeks. His landlady Sophia Moon had been sympathetic at first – he had lost his job as a wheelwright and had a wife and two children to look after – but he now owed… You must be a paid […]
Year of the Ripper: Susannah Barrell
Robert and Susannah Barrell had been happily married for 22 years. They ran the Bancroft Arms Tavern together at 1 Moody Street, Mile End, and lived there with their four children. On Sunday July 1 they went to bed in good spirits. The next morning at a quarter-to-nine the eldest… You must be a paid […]