This book is dedicated to those often-forgotten women of Whitechapel who were savagely butchered in 1888 and whose deaths have been eclipsed since by the mystery of their killer.
If this Diary is a modern forgery — which I am sure it is not — and if I were the faker, then I would consider it to have been the summit of my literary achievement.
Bruce Robinson, Oscar nominee
and scriptwriter of The Killing Fields.
Contents
Title Page
Epigraph
Maps
Acknowledgements
Foreword
Preface
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Facsimile of the Diary of Jack the Ripper
Transcript of the Diary of Jack the Ripper
Index
Copyright
The opportunity to work on such an extraordinary project happens once in a lifetime. Since the day in 1992 that the Diary was first shown to me I have sought the help and guidance of literally hundreds of people. There have been experts, amateur enthusiasts in an astonishing range of subjects from pub signs to body snatching and descendants of anyone connected to the cases of James Maybrick and Jack the Ripper. As the material has continued to pour in it has been collated, researched and checked by my colleague Sally Evemy and forms the backbone of this new, fully updated edition. There are far too many individuals to mention but in particular we are grateful to:
Doreen Montgomery, our agent, whose iron glove conceals a velvet hand and without whose vision the project would not have been born.
Robert Smith, our original publisher. His enthusiasm and consumption of midnight oil went well beyond the call of duty.
Keith Skinner, Paul Begg and Martin Fido who have so generously guided our first faltering footsteps into the world of Jack the Ripper.
Richard Nicholas of Roberts, Moore, Nicholas and Jones of Liverpool, who advised and supported Albert Johnson in all matters relating to the watch.
Roger Wilkes, whose generous gift of the Christie material launched our research.
The late Paul Feldman, whose enthusiasm kept us on our toes and yielded some useful leads.
Naomi Evett of Liverpool Library whose limitless patience was invaluable.
Dr Nicholas Eastaugh; Dr David Forshaw; Sue Iremonger; Anna Koren; Melvyn Fairclough; art collector the late Sidney Sabin; Nicholas Campion; John Astrop; Jeremy Beadle; Camille Wolfe and Loretta Lay; scriptwriter Bruce Robinson; forensic handwriting examiner Lawrence Warner; Dr Glyn Volans of Guy’s Hospital; Judge Richard Hamilton, Liverpool; Bill Waddell former Curator, Scotland Yard Black Museum; music historian the late Tony Miall; Richard and Molly Whittington Egan; Paul Dodd; the late Brian Maybrick; Gerard Brierley; Berkeley Chappelle Gill; Derek Warman and John Matthews in the Isle of Wight; Sister Ursula Maybrick; Dr.W.Taylor, the Fazakerley Hospital; Seddons Funeral Service, Southport; Phil Maddox of Wordplay Public Relations; Kevin Whaye of Outhwaite and Litherland, auctioneers, Liverpool; David Fletcher Rogers; Walkleys Clogs; Gordon Wright of the Inn Sign Society; The Special Hospitals Service; Andrew Brown of the Metropolitan Police Archives, New Scotland Yard; Colin Inman of the Financial Times; Nick Pinto of the Public Record Office; R.H. Leighton and Co., Southport; Colin Wilson; Donald Rumbelow; the Liverpool Cotton Association; The British Medical Association Library; Mrs Gill Wokes of Hampshire and Mrs Delphine Cummings in Canada (descendants of Arthur Simenton Wokes); Des McKenna for help with the Museum of Anatomy; The Royal Netherlands Embassy; Peter O’Toole BEM and Lee Charles Allen of the Museum of the S.A.S Regiment and the Artists’ Rifles; the staff of libraries and local history departments throughout the country. In the United States: Dorothy MacRitchie of South Kent School and Peggy Haile of Norfolk Public Library; Carole Cain of the Mobile Register; the American Heritage Centre, University of Wyoming for permission to use excerpts from the Trevor Christie Collection and to Harper Collins for permission to use an excerpt from Hunting the Devil; Brian Pugh of the Conan Doyle Establishment; Stephen Shotnes of Simons, Muirhead and Burton.
PRINCIPAL SOURCES
The College of Heralds; Freemasons’ Hall; Public Record Office, Kew; Public Record Office, Chancery Lane; the IGI Index; The Scottish Record Office; the Governor of Walton Prison, Liverpool; General Register Office, St Catherine’s House; Principal Registry of the Family Division, Somerset House; Patent Office; Companies House; British Library; National Newspaper Library, Colindale; American State Archives, Washington DC; Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris; Victoria State Library, Australia; HM Land Registry; New Scotland Yard, Black Museum; Merseyside Police; Lancashire Constabulary; Ministry of Defence; Liverpool University; University of Wyoming, Christie Collection; Royal Liverpool University Hospital; Fazakerley Hospital, Histopathology Department; Historic Manuscripts Commission; Post Office Archives; Postal Museum; Post Mark Society; Shoe Museum; Liverpool Maritime Museum; Whitworth Museum, Manchester; Cotton Association, Liverpool; Liverpool Chamber of Commerce; Coldestone Park Cemetery; Lewisham Cemetery; Southwark Cemetery; Seddons Funeral Service; Parker Pens; John Lewis Partnerships Archives Dept; Boddingtons; Scottish College of Textiles; The Poetry Library; Peter Bower, paper historian; Dr Earl Morris Dow Chemicals; Stephen Ryder editor of the Internet Ripper Casebook.
Local History departments of Liverpool, Lambeth, Lewisham, Tower Hamlets, Southwark, Edinburgh.
Libraries: Guildhall, Tunbridge Wells, Morden, Carlshalton, Sutton, Sunderland, Camden, Westminster, Liverpool, Chester, Manchester, Rochdale, Royal College of Surgeons, Royal College of Psychiatrists, Royal Society of Medicine, British Toxicological Society, Wellcome Research Institute, Science Library, Patent Office.
Record Offices: