Tuesday, 3 September 2013

Jack the Ripper

This year is the 125 years of the Jack the Ripper murders in the East End of London. WHITECHAPEL to be precise.  Infact I work in Whitechapel and walk around the area where Jack the Ripper found his victims.
Now why and I writing about Jack?

Well his fourth victim was Catherine Eddowes. Catherine is/was my great great great grandmother.

We don't have any photos of her, only this drawing and the photos taken after her death.
As a family we never knew about this until someone who was focusing on the victims of Jack contacted my cousin. He had traced her through the family tree.

Catherine's daughter Annie who was 22 when Catherine was killed had disowned her because Catherine was always drunk -- not unusual at that time. and she had stolen money from Annie.


So Annie never spoke to her daughter (my great nan) about her mother.

To say this all came as a bit of a shock 5 - 6 years ago was an under statement. So began the investigation into the killings and trying to unearth information about our family member.

So we took a bus trip to the spot where Catherine was killed. Bizarrely I pass by the very spot ever day twice a day for the past 28 years
Here are a few of my family as we gather on the spot where Catherine was killed, im the one in the white top

I was asked to be in a Canadian film with a descendant of the first victim Mary Nichols, she came over with the film crew and we met at Manor Park cemetery where both victims are buried. it was a very emotional meeting even if we were being filmed at the time.
I have been over to visit Catherine a few times and each time I have found that someone has left a flower or old pennies on her stone. the victims are remembered through people who don't even know her, which is nice to know she's being looked after

So on the weekend of 28th September I shall be going to visit Catherine to lay some flowers
 

Posted by at

9 comments:

  1. Shaz6 September 2013 at 00:20

    Amazing to find you have so much well doucumented history in your family x (although quite scary and sad)x #pocolo

    ReplyDelete
  2. BavarianSojourn6 September 2013 at 01:44

    Wow, it's incredible that you walked past that spot for so long without knowing that! Really interesting post!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Jaime Oliver6 September 2013 at 07:11

    what a really incredible revelation! the story has always fascinated me, i do hope you keep uncovering more information about your family x

    ReplyDelete
  4. Unknown6 September 2013 at 10:38

    thanks guys. I shall be posting more about the actually anniversary later this month.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Lisa19706 September 2013 at 13:30

    Oh my goodness, how brilliant (but sad) to find that out! I've long had a fascination with Jack The Ripper theories, don't know why, maybe because I'm a quarter Cockney?! I did a walking tour in London once of the murder sites and it was quite emotional to note all the tributes left in each spot despite the very big changes that have taken place over the years.

    I'm so pleased you shared this blog for #PoCoLo & I shall look forward to your updates now :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Unknown8 September 2013 at 10:06

      thanks lisa its ashame tower hamlets haven't done a memorial site for the victims, esp on this the 125th year. most of the places are now gone

      Delete
  6. Wendy7 September 2013 at 10:53

    very interesting post, i will look forward to reading more xx

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Unknown8 September 2013 at 10:07

      thank you glitzy, will be posting for the anniversary on the weekend of 28th

      Delete
  7. Unknown12 September 2013 at 10:25

    What an absolutely fascinating story, thank you so much for sharing this - no wonder you were emotional. Thank you for linking to PoCoLo x

    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)