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 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 […]
On 15 August 1914 the poet John Barlas died in the Gartnavel Royal Asylum, Glasgow, aged 54. According to his friend, Robert Sherard, Barlas gave away his fortune and became destitute. On New Years Eve 1891 he fired a revolver at the House of Commons. Oscar Wilde paid part of his bail. Afterwards his mental […]
The Routledge Handbook of Jack the Ripper studies will be published on 27 November 2025. This is an extensive multi examination of the 1888 Whitechapel murders across multiple disciplines with forty chapters written by experts in each field. My contribution covers copycat and legacy killings. More information is available here, https://www.routledge.com/The-Routledge-Handbook-of-Jack-the-Ripper-Studies/Kilday-Nash-Watson/p/book/9781032203348
I have an article in Issue 173 of Ripperologist, out this month, looking at the life and crimes of Lizzie Halliday, a woman accused of being Jack the Ripper. I first wrote about Halliday in my book about the Jack the Ripper suspects, published in 2018 which, coincidentally, is the last time I contributed to […]
My research into the Jack the Ripper suspects involves reading books that seek to connect individuals to other crimes with no evidence other than his presence in the same area. Contemporaries also made unwarranted connections. An American newspaper in October 1888 thought that the Ripper was identical with the Austin Axe murderer of 1884-85, a […]
The foreman at the inquest into the death of Mary Ann Nichols wanted the government to offer a reward and said he would donate twenty-five pounds himself. At the inquest into Jack the Ripper’s next victim, the coroner stated that the Government would not be giving a reward. Despite this a juryman asked if the […]
A biography of the famous barrister, Sir Edward Marshall-Hall suggests that serial killer Thomas Cream had an underworld double. Marshall-Hall once defended Cream on a charge of bigamy at the Old Bailey and was amazed to secure an acquittal with proof that Cream was in prison in Sydney at the time of the offence. Aware […]
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