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
One of the fascinating things about researching Jack the Ripper is the characters that are connected, however indirectly, to the case. In my latest Ripperologist article, I talk about Lizzie Halliday and her interview with Nellie Bly. At that time Bly was at the peak of her fame, after breaking the record for travelling around […]
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 […]
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 […]
PaulECWilliams 