Getting The Facts Straight

Correcting five misconceptions about the Ripper’s victims

They were not all prostitutes

It was often stated at the time of the murders that all five women were prostitutes, and this myth still persists to this day. But there is very little evidence to suggest that three of the women were sex workers at all. In fact, Mary Jane Kelly was the only victim to have ‘prostitute’ listed as her occupation on her death certificate.

Not all of the women were young

The victims of Jack the Ripper are usually thought to have been young but, in reality, four of them were in their 40s when they were murdered. The oldest was Annie Chapman, who was 47 when she was killed, and the youngest was Mary Jane Kelly, who was 25.

They weren’t from the East End

Polly Nichols grew up in Holborn, Annie Chapman lived between Knightsbridge and Windsor, Elisabeth Stride was from Sweden, Catherine Eddowes hailed from Wolverhampton and Mary Jane Kelly claimed she was from Ireland and Wales.

They were not all working class

It’s commonly assumed that all five women spent their entire lives as members of the working class. However, Annie Chapman managed to enter the lower middleclass with her husband and even attended one of Britain’s first alcoholic rehabilitation centres for middle-class women.

They were not lone figures

It’s perhaps fair to say that many of us have forgotten that these five women all had families. The various depictions of their brutal murders which have circulated for over a century have eclipsed the fact that they were not alone in life as they were in death – for example, Polly, Annie and Catherine all had children.