I am pleased to announce the release of my fifth book. Spring Onions: His Life and Crimes is available in electronic formats and print from reputable sellers. William Onion was notorious as Britain’s most convicted man, allegedly being arrested over a thousand times before giving up alcohol and reforming as a street poet in his […]
The blog BleakChesneyWold contains a number of interesting posts on a range of historical topics. The most recent post contains a review of Seeking Mary Jane and an interview with me. Grateful for the opportunity to answer questions about the book. BleakChesneyWold
I am pleased to announce the release of my fourth book. Seeking Mary Jane is available in electronic formats and print from reputable sellers. A woman was killed by Jack the Ripper in November 1888. People knew her as Mary Jane Kelly, but her real name is unknown. In the absence of evidence to support […]
The Routledge Handbook of Jack the Ripper Studies is now available for pre-order on Kindle. This is a high-quality multi-disciplinary work on the Whitechapel murders of 1888, comprising eight themes and forty chapters by experts in their fields. I contributed Chapter 13, Copycat and Legacy Killings. Abstract below. This chapter will look at various other […]
During the search for Jack the Ripper members of the public wrote to the newspapers and the police with their theories. On 3 October 1888 the Daily Telegraph published a letter from X of St Albans who reported that a lunatic, considered dangerous to women, had escaped from Leavesden asylum the previous year. His name […]
On 27 September 1888 a letter signed by Jack the Ripper arrived at the Central News Agency. The writer claimed to be responsible for the recent murders in Whitechapel and threatened more. On the morning of 30 September two women were killed. The next day a postcard was received from the same writer, which some […]
On 19 September 1888 Sir Charles Warren, Head of the Metropolitan police, named a suspect in the search for a murderer who would soon be called Jack the Ripper. He wrote: “A man named Puckeridge was released from an asylum on 4 August. He was educated as a surgeon – has threatened to rip people […]
I am often asked to recommend a book about Jack the Ripper. My answer is always Phillip Sugden’s Complete History. First published in 1994 this is a masterclass of quality research presented in a readable narrative. It persuaded historians to take the topic seriously, with the forthcoming Routledge Handbook showcasing the growing interest of professionals […]
One of the interesting aspects of Jack the Ripper research is the discovery of coincidences and connections between seemingly unrelated events or individuals. In October 1895 newspapers published an interview with a recently released prisoner about her encounters with Florence Maybrick in Woking Prison. In 1889 Florence was convicted of poisoning her husband, James Maybrick, […]
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