Overview
On the 8th of September 1888 Annie Chapman was murdered by Jack the Ripper. She was thought to have been Jack the Ripper’s second victim during the Autumn of Terror. Throughout the Autumn of Terror in the Autumn of 1888, at least five women were murdered by the notorious serial killer - Jack the Ripper. The Ripper’s first victim was thought to have been Mary Ann Nichols; Mary Ann Nichols was murdered in Bucks Row on the 31st of August 1888. Just one week later, Hanbury Street on the 8th of September 1888 became the scene of another murder in Whitechapel; the murder of Annie Chapman. The murderous event on Hanbury Street on the 8th of September 1888, resulted in the place being treated like an open morbid museum, as Hanbury Street on the 8th of September 1888 had crowds of people gathering (and even paying to see) Jack the Ripper’s latest victim, Annie Chapman. People paid to view Annie’s murdered corpse from the flats that towered above, which looked down on the yard where Annie’s body lay. The surprising thing about the Ripper’s chosen spot was in its layout - there was only one escape (the way that he and Annie must have entered the yard), which perhaps tells us something about the Ripper: it tells us that his killings were more opportunity, than careful planning, as had he had planned his killings he probably would have chosen somewhere where he could easily escape from. Though, perhaps he on, or near Hanbury Street which would have resulted in him perhaps knowing when people would be around. Annie Chapman’s Early Life Annie Chapman was born in September 1841 (though the exact date of her birth is unknown); she was born ‘Annie Eliza Smith’ though she was also known as ‘Dark Annie’ later in life. Annie had one brother and three sisters. Annie Chapman’s Marriage To John Chapman On the 1st of May 1869, Annie Chapman married John Chapman Brompton. Both of them lived in several places before moving to Windsor in 1881, where John Chapman took on the role of a domestic coachmen. Before breaking up, the couple had three children. Their marriage didn’t last long after moving to Windsor, as they broke-up in either 1884 or 1885. Their marriage seems to have broke down either because one, or both of their drinking habits - both Annie and John were heavy drinkers, which seemed to have played a role in both of them going their separate ways. Annie Chapman only moved to Whitechapel in 1886 - which was just two years before her murder. Annie Chapman In Whitechapel Annie Chapman moved into 30 Dorset Street in Spitalfields, Whitechapel in 1886. She moved there and was with a man known as John Sivvey. For the two years that Annie was separated from her husband, Annie received financial support from her husband. However, in 1886 that financial support stopped for Annie when her husband died. When she stopped receiving financial support, the man that she was living with - John Sivvey, left her. It’s possible that this is when she started prostitution. The Last Hours Of Annie Chapman and Her Murder Before Annie Chapman was murdered in Hanbury Street on the 8th of September 1888, she was seen a few times by different people. On the 7th of September, at 5pm, Annie spoke to Amelia Palmer in Dorset Street. Amelia Palmer had stated that Annie was ill, and that she was going out that night to earn money as she wouldn’t have any lodgings for that night - basically, if Annie hadn’t earned money that night, she wouldn’t have had anywhere to stay for the night. Just a few hours later, Annie returned to her lodgings at 11.30pm, where she was in and out of the lodging house until about 1.35am on the 8th of September. While going in and out of her lodging house during that time, she was seen by numerous people. Annie left her loding house for the last time, sometime just after 1.35am on the 8th of September, she had to go out onto the streets again to earn money as she did not have any money for a bed that night in her lodgings. Some of the last people known to have seen Annie Chapman alive before she was murdered by Jack the Ripper, was the nightwatchman of her lodgings, John Evans, and the deputy head of the lodgings house, Tim Donovan - who she had asked to keep a bed for her for the night, before she went out onto the streets of Whitechapel to meet her ill-fate. The last person thought to have seen Annie Chapman alive (just a few hours later), was Elizabeth Long, who had known Annie. Elizabeth Long said that she had seen Annie with a man at the front of 29 Hanbury Street at around 5.30am that morning. Not long after that, Annie Chapman was thought to have been murdered in the backyard of 29 Hanbury Street. Annie’s body was found shortly after that, at 6am by John Davis who lived in 29 Hanbury Street. Annie Chapman became the second victim of Jack the Ripper’s.
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Jack the Ripper is believed to have murdered five women in Whitechapel London, throughout the Autumn of 1888. But this number is disputed: there are disagreements between people as to how many murders Jack the Ripper committed. And therefore. There are disagreements as to how many victims Jack the Ripper had throughout his notorious murder spree.
What is clear, however, is that Mary Ann Nichols was murdered by Jack the Ripper. Mary Ann Nichols was the first Canonical Five victim of Jack the Ripper’s. The Canonical Five were the five women believed to have been murdered at the hands of Jack the Ripper; up to eleven women have been thought to have been murdered by Jack the Ripper at one point or another. Mary Ann Nichols Was The First Canonical Five Victim
Mary Ann Nichols was the first Canonical Five victim. The Canonical Five victims were believed to have been the five women who were murdered by Jack the Ripper. Those five women who are believed to have been murdered by Jack the Ripper were: (1) Mary Ann Nichols, (2) Annie Chapman, (3) Elizabeth Stride, (4) Catherine Eddowes and (5) Mary Jane Kelly. Mary Ann Nichols was the first Canonical five victims because she was murdered before the other four women. The reason that all of these women were believed to have been murdered by Jack the Ripper, is because all of the women sustained similar injuries and murders, while also the timing of their deaths was similar (all five women were murdered in the early morning hours).
However, the five were not the only ones to have similar injuries, murders and the timing of their deaths being similar: there were other women from the Whitechapel Murders who had similar similar murders. Although Mary Ann Nichols was the first Canonical Five victim, she may not have been Jack the Ripper's first murder: Jack the Ripper's first murder may have been Martha Tabram. Martha Tabram was one of the Whitechapel murder victims - all of the Canonical Five murder victims were also Whitechapel Murder victims. Who Were The Whitechapel Murder Victims? The Whitechapel Murder victims were eleven women who were thought to have been murdered by Jack the Ripper. However, several senior police officers at the time of the killings as well as many historians today, dispute that all of these eleven women were killed at the hands of Jack the Ripper.
Most experts believe that Jack the Ripper only killed five of these women (the Canonical Five), while others believe that the Rippers killings included all of the Canonical Five women and Martha Tabram. This has led to some viewing the ‘Canonical Five’ as an outdated term for the Jack the Ripper murders.
However, Mary Ann Nichols was the first canonical five victim to meet her ill-fate with Jack the Ripper - something that we will get to later. But first, let us look at Mary’s life before her tragic end. The Life Of Mary Ann Nichols Mary Ann ‘’Polly’’ Nichols, was born on the 26th of August 1845 in London England. During her later life, Mary Ann ‘’Polly’’ Nichols was often known as ‘’Polly Nichols’’ or just simply ‘’Polly’’. It was common in Victorian Whitechapel for people to be known by or use second names - which could explain why she was known as ‘’Polly Nichols’’ during her adult life. But it might also have been a name that she used while being on the streets; Mary Ann ‘’Polly’’ Nichols was a prostitute. Her life didn’t start out like that though; she wasn’t always a prostitute. In fact, in was only in the final years of her life that she turned to prostitution. Beforehand, Mary’s life was a stable one. Mary Ann Nichols was married to William Nichols. They had five children together. Their marriage broke down due to Mary’s drinking habits. Her marriage to William Nichols broke up during 1881, after almost 25 years of being together. Both were married on the 16th of January 1884 in Saint Bride’s Parish Church. Although their marriage broke down in 1881 and they parted ways, William Nichols continued to provide for his wife up until 1882. He stopped supporting her financially though in 1882, because he found out that Mary was working as a prostitute. It is by 1882 that Mary’s life started to collapse around her. By the following year, 1883, the first record of Mary Ann Nichols entering a workhouse was on record - she was in an out of Lambeth Workhouse for years, right up until a few months before her death in 1888. Mostly, Mary entered Lambeth Workhouse; there is another record of her entering another workhouse in 1887 called the ‘Strand Workhouse’. During this period, Mary Ann Nichols briefly lived with her father in 1883. Mary’s father also said that she was a drunk.
It seems that Mary’s problem with drinking was the motivating factor her both her life collapsing around her, and her marriage collapsing around her.
A Short Turn Around For Mary After a difficult few years for Mary, from 1882 up until May 1888, things started to look as if they were turning around for Mary. However. The turn around for Mary was short - it didn’t last long. In May 1888, she left Lambeth Workhouse because she had secured a job as a domestic servant for Sarah and Samuel Cowdry. During her position as a domestic servant with the Cowdry’s, Mary wrote a letter to her father about her new position and told him that she was happy there. Her position with the Cowdry’s didn’t last long - it only lasted two months - as she was sacked by them for stealing clothes. It resulted in Mary going back into the workhouse; this time she ended up in Grays Inn Temporary Workhouse. Just a week before her murder, Polly moved into her last address: which was 56 Flower and Dean Street in Whitechapel. The Last Hours Of Mary Ann Nichols
Mary Ann Nichols was the first Canonical Five victim; she was murdered in the early morning hours of the 31st of August 1888. It’s unclear exactly when Mary Ann Nichols was murdered, but it’s thought that Mary Ann Nichols was murdered sometime between 3.15am and 3.40am on the 31st of August 1888 in Bucks Row Whitechapel. We know this was around the time that she was murdered for two reasons: the first reason was because a police officer - PC John Thain - walked down Bucks Row at 3.15am and didn’t see anything out of the ordinary, and the second reason, was that at 3.40am/3.45am the body of Mary Ann Nichols was found on Bucks Row by a man named Charles Cross (her body was still warm when Charles Cross found her). Therefore, it’s most likely that Mary Ann Nichols was murdered just before Charles Cross found her - or, possibly Charles Cross was her murderer? (Charles Cross is one of the Jack the Ripper suspects).
Before Mary Ann Nichols was murdered, she met her friend, Emily Holland, at 2.30am (just around an hour before she was murdered) on Whitechapel Road. Mary was drunk when she met Emily Holland on Whitechapel that hour. They both spoke for a while - Mary was out earning money through prostitution, although she had told Emily that she had already earned that money three times already that night, but had spent that money on drugs. The tragic things is, is that had Mary not spent that money - she may have live, rather than being murdered at the hands of Jack the Ripper, in the early morning hours of the 31st of August 1888. |
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