The mid-19th century brought many new people into the London England area. The influx of Irish immigrants alone swelled the major cities of England (due to the horrendous potato famines in Ireland during the 1840's.) This included the East End of London. Around 1882, Jewish refugees had left the Tsarist Russia culture and were now finding residence in London as well. It wasn't long before the infamous White Chapel area on London's east end had become seriously overpopulated.
Housing and available work were worsening daily and as a result there was an economic class emerging that were both in much poverty and social misfortune.
People who lived under these conditions in the White Chapel area were now engaging in robbery and violent acts of survival. Alcohol dependency was common as people tried to find avenues of escape from their painful existence. Many women were driven to prostitution, a large part due to being widows at early ages, and simply trying to find ways to feed their children. The lifespan for men in this specific and notorious area of London was 22 years. Many of these shortened lifestyles were due to the harsh and toxic work conditions they were under (like tin mining). Women and children as young as 5 and 6 years old were working in deplorable conditions including 16 hours a day 6 to sometimes 7 days a week. 50% of the funerals in London in by 1840 were children, most under 10 years of age. They were forced to crawl in small crevices in the tin mines becoming weak and sick, until they simply died.
An interesting side note: The Victorian Age was in full swing yet only constituted less than 5 % of the entire English population. In 1843, a book was published that addressed the very vile conditions of English life by a young author named Charles Dickens. His book? "A Christmas Carol." One more thought: many of the first class passengers were heirs from this horrendous time in English society. These heirs of Victorian society later purchased tickets to an initial voyage upon a ship named "The Titanic."
In October of 1888, London's Metropolitan Police Service reported there were 1200 prostitutes and approximately 62 brothels in the White Chapel area alone. Demonstrations against the brutality of working conditions and poor pay were frequent between 1886 and 1889. Racism, crime, social disturbance, and various other deprivations gave the White Chapel area its renown fame as "the Den of Immorality".
In 1888, the notoriety of the White Chapel area seem to come to a head with a series of vicious and grotesque murders...attributed to a person referred to as "Jack the Ripper". The news coverage of these brutal murders were endless, and the popularity of this horrific news reached many throughout the world.
Between April 3rd of 1888 and February 13th of 1891...there were 11 separate murders in the White Chapel area, all of them women who had been forced to a life of prostitution. Now opinions vary as to whether one man, Jack the Ripper, was responsible to all of these brutal murders, but 5 of the murders were directly pointed to him. These 5 women became known as "the Canonical 5", and were all killed in a similar fashion.
Actually, the sites of the first 7 women killed were along the streets of Osborne, George Yard, Hanbury Street, Berner Street, Mitre Square, and the infamous Dorset Street, all in the White Chapel District of London.
Why the "Canonical 5" were attributed to one person was mainly due to the style of murders, namely dubbed " Jack the Ripper." The pattern was similar: deep throat slashes, abdominal and genital-area mutilation, removal of internal organs, and progressive yet unique facial mutilations, all done with a surgeon's precise skills. Also, keep in mind was there were no forensic techniques such as fingerprint analysis, dental records, or of course DNA identification.
It is horrible thought to even think how a person could do such a thing to another person. You have to ask yourself, "What drives a person to use such extreme cruelty?"
Or was it..."Jacqueline the Ripper?"
Housing and available work were worsening daily and as a result there was an economic class emerging that were both in much poverty and social misfortune.
An interesting side note: The Victorian Age was in full swing yet only constituted less than 5 % of the entire English population. In 1843, a book was published that addressed the very vile conditions of English life by a young author named Charles Dickens. His book? "A Christmas Carol." One more thought: many of the first class passengers were heirs from this horrendous time in English society. These heirs of Victorian society later purchased tickets to an initial voyage upon a ship named "The Titanic."
In October of 1888, London's Metropolitan Police Service reported there were 1200 prostitutes and approximately 62 brothels in the White Chapel area alone. Demonstrations against the brutality of working conditions and poor pay were frequent between 1886 and 1889. Racism, crime, social disturbance, and various other deprivations gave the White Chapel area its renown fame as "the Den of Immorality".
In 1888, the notoriety of the White Chapel area seem to come to a head with a series of vicious and grotesque murders...attributed to a person referred to as "Jack the Ripper". The news coverage of these brutal murders were endless, and the popularity of this horrific news reached many throughout the world.
Between April 3rd of 1888 and February 13th of 1891...there were 11 separate murders in the White Chapel area, all of them women who had been forced to a life of prostitution. Now opinions vary as to whether one man, Jack the Ripper, was responsible to all of these brutal murders, but 5 of the murders were directly pointed to him. These 5 women became known as "the Canonical 5", and were all killed in a similar fashion.
Why the "Canonical 5" were attributed to one person was mainly due to the style of murders, namely dubbed " Jack the Ripper." The pattern was similar: deep throat slashes, abdominal and genital-area mutilation, removal of internal organs, and progressive yet unique facial mutilations, all done with a surgeon's precise skills. Also, keep in mind was there were no forensic techniques such as fingerprint analysis, dental records, or of course DNA identification.
It is horrible thought to even think how a person could do such a thing to another person. You have to ask yourself, "What drives a person to use such extreme cruelty?"
Or was it..."Jacqueline the Ripper?"
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