Jack the Ripper – Whitechapel Murders: London’s Illustrated Police News 1888-1899

Description

Illustrated Police News: Jack the Ripper Coverage

Timeline of Events (as per the source)

• April 7, 1888 – January 28, 1890: Period covered by the 83 issues of the Illustrated Police News included in the larger collection.
• April 21, 1888 – May 25, 1889: Period during which every issue of the Illustrated Police News published is included in this specific collection.
• August 18, 1888: The Whitechapel murder of a woman slashed first appears on the cover of the Illustrated Police News. This indicates the beginning of significant media attention on these crimes by this publication.
• August 31, 1888: Mary Ann Nichols is murdered in Buck’s Row, Whitechapel. She is identified by the Metropolitan Police as the first victim of the same murderer who would become known as “Jack the Ripper.”
• September 8, 1888: Annie Chapman is murdered in the rear yard at 29 Hanbury Street, Spitalfields. She is identified by the Metropolitan Police as a victim of the same murderer.
• September 30, 1888: Two women are murdered:
• Elizabeth Stride in the yard beside 40 Berner Street, St Georges-in-the-East.
• Catherine Eddowes in Mitre Square, Aldgate, in the City of London. Both are identified by the Metropolitan Police as victims of the same murderer.
• November 9, 1888: Mary Jane Kelly is murdered at 13 Miller’s Court, 26 Dorset Street, Spitalfields. She is identified by the Metropolitan Police as the fifth and final canonical victim of “Jack the Ripper.”
• 1888 – 1891: Period during which at least 12 murders of prostitutes occurred in the Whitechapel area of London, known collectively as the Whitechapel Murders.
• Throughout the coverage (April 1888 – January 1890): The Illustrated Police News chronicles the development of known facts and myths surrounding the “Jack the Ripper” murders.

Cast of Characters (as per the source)

• Jack the Ripper: The name soon given to the unidentified serial killer believed to be responsible for a series of homicides in the Whitechapel district of London in 1888. The Illustrated Police News played a role in popularizing this name and documenting the emerging details and theories surrounding the killer.
• Mary Ann Nichols: A woman murdered on August 31, 1888, in Buck’s Row, Whitechapel. She is identified by the Metropolitan Police as one of the five canonical victims attributed to “Jack the Ripper.”
• Annie Chapman: A woman murdered on September 8, 1888, in the rear yard of 29 Hanbury Street, Spitalfields. She is identified by the Metropolitan Police as one of the five canonical victims.
• Elizabeth Stride: A woman murdered on September 30, 1888, in the yard beside 40 Berner Street, St Georges-in-the-East. She is identified by the Metropolitan Police as one of the five canonical victims.
• Catherine Eddowes: A woman murdered on September 30, 1888, in Mitre Square, Aldgate, in the City of London. She is identified by the Metropolitan Police as one of the five canonical victims.
• Mary Jane Kelly: A woman murdered on November 9, 1888, at 13 Miller’s Court, 26 Dorset Street, Spitalfields. She is identified by the Metropolitan Police as the fifth and final canonical victim attributed to “Jack the Ripper.”
• Linda Strattman: Author of “Cruel Deeds and Dreadful Calamities” (2011). The source quotes her description of the illustrations in the Illustrated Police News, highlighting their “immediacy, a power and the ability to create an emotional link with the reader.”
• Metropolitan Police: The police force responsible for the Whitechapel district of London. They identified the five canonical victims of “Jack the Ripper” and investigated the series of murders.
• Readers of the Pall Mall Gazette: An audience who, in 1886, voted the Illustrated Police News as the “worst English newspaper,” indicating its sensational and potentially controversial style of reporting even before the Whitechapel murders.

Jack the Ripper – Whitechapel Murders: London’s Illustrated Police News 1888-1899

334 pages of The Illustrated Police News Law Courts and Weekly Record, 83 issues dating from April 7, 1888, to January 28, 1890,

In 1888, a series of unsolved homicides in London’s Whitechapel district were attributed to a serial killer who would soon be referred to as “Jack the Ripper.” The Metropolitan Police identify five women as victims of the same murderer: Mary Ann Nichols, Annie Chapman, Elizabeth Stride, Catherine Eddowes and Mary Jane Kelly, all killed between Aug. 31 and Dec. 20, 1888.

These issues of the Illustrated Police News chronicle the foundation of known facts and myths, which are basis of the history and pseudo-history of “Jack the Ripper.”

In print from 1864 to 1938, the weekly Illustrated Police News was one of the first British “tabloids.” It featured sensational illustrations and melodramatic articles on crime and punishment in England. It also published stories of shocking crimes from outside the country. The front page of every issue was made up of panels of drawings of dramatic crime scenes and despicable criminals related to the articles covered in the rest of its pages.

It also covered tragic deaths by accident and misfortune, executions, domestic violence, duels, attacks by animals on humans, acts of cruelty to animals, prison escapes, and boxing matches.

The newspaper was an offshoot of 18th and 19th century broadsheets, known as “Bloody Murders,” that were published in England, and often distributed at the site of public executions.

The newspaper’s reliance on illustrations was patterned after the highly successful Illustrated London News, founded in 1842. The Police News’ lurid coverage of tragedy and horror, even before its famous coverage of the Whitechapel Murders, in 1886 lead readers of the Pall Mall Gazette to vote the Police News the “worst English newspaper.” Linda Strattman, author of “Cruel Deeds and Dreadful Calamities” (2011), describes the images in IPN as having, “an immediacy, a power and the ability to create an emotional link with the reader shared with few.”

This collection contains 59 complete issues published between April 7, 1888 and May 25, 1889, and 24 complete issues published between July 6, 1889 and January 28, 1899. A Whitechapel murder of a woman slashed first appears on the cover of the August 18, 1888 issue.

There were at least 12 murders of prostitutes in the Whitechapel area of London from 1888 to 1891, known as the Whitechapel Murders. Five of these are commonly identified as the Jack the Ripper murders, the canonical five. The victims: Mary Ann Nichols at Buck’s Row, Whitechapel, on Friday 31 August 1888; Annie Chapman at Rear Yard at 29 Hanbury Street, Spitalfields on Saturday 8 September 1888; Elizabeth Stride at the yard at side of 40 Berner Street, St Georges-in-the-East on Sunday 30 September 1888; Catherine Eddowes at Mitre Square, Aldgate, City of London on Sunday 30 September 1888; Mary Jane Kelly at 13 Miller’s Court, 26 Dorset Street Spitalfields on Friday 9 November 1888.

Included in this collection is every issue of Illustrated Police News published from April 21, 1888 to May 25, 1889.