The “Jack the Ripper” Witnesses

those who have witnessed key aspects of the Whitechapel Murders

The Whitechapel Murders were a spate of unsolved brutal attacks and increasingly gruesome murders of women that befell the London East End District of Whitechapel and its environs in 1888. These crimes would make the area world famous as the stalking ground of the mysterious, and as yet unidentified, killer now widely known as “Jack the Ripper”.
      On this page we will be looking in detail at those who witnessed key aspects of the Whitechapel Murders and related crimes, including those who may have seen the Whitechapel Murderer (or Murderers) and, perhaps more importantly, those who may have been able to actually identify the notorious “Jack the Ripper”.

Key Witnesses in the Case of Martha Tabram

Murdered at George Yard Buildings, George Yard, Whitechapel

Martha Tabram was attacked and murdered at around 2.30am on Tuesday the 7th of August, 1888, by a person or persons unknown.

Henry Turner
(Witness in the Case of Martha Tabram)

Witness Profile: Henry Turner was a short slovenly and dirty young man (probably around thirty?) with a fair moustache and light skin. Although a carpenter he was working as a hawker of trinkets. He'd lived, off and on, with Martha Tabram as his common-law wife for about nine years previous to her murder but they separated in July of 1888.

Mary Ann Connelly
(Witness in the Case of Martha Tabram)

A.K.A. “Pearly Poll” and “Mogg”.

Witness Profile: Mary Ann Connelly, mainly going by the name “Pearly Poll”, was a tall masculine looking woman aged about 35 years (though she apparently looked about 50) - with a low husky voice (having recently suffered from laryngitis) and a drink reddened face. She was an unmarried sex-worker who had been lodging at Satchell's Lodging House, 19 George Street, Spitalfields for at least two or three years previously and had known Martha Tabram, as Emma Turner, for about four or five months. Between the 20th of July and the 4th of August she was in the Whitechapel Infirmary suffering from Myalgia (muscle pain).

Witness Claims: At about 10.00pm on the night of 6th August 1888 Mary Ann Connelly claimed that she and Martha Tabram were on Whitechapel Road, when they were accosted by two soldiers, one a Private and the other a Corporal, who invited them to drink at a neighbouring public house. The invitation was accepted. All four went into a public house and they were drinking together for the following hour and three-quarters but not in the same house.
      At about 11.45pm Connelly and Tabram separate at the covered archway entrance to George Yard on Whitechapel High Street. Martha Tabram went with the Private up George Yard and Connelly went with the Corporal up Angel Alley (another narrow passage to the east of, and running parallel with, George Yard). They all parted on good terms.
      At about 12.00am (now 7th August) Connelly and her Corporal arrive at the top of George Yard on Wentworth Street where they wait for the other couple (presumably as arranged), but they do not see them.
      At about 12.25am Connelly left the Corporal at the corner of George Yard and Wentworth Street. Connelly stated that they parted amicably despite a quarrel over money in which he hit her with a stick. She went towards Whitechapel, the Corporal went west toward Aldgate.

Witness Actions: Mary Ann Connelly hears about the murder of Martha Tabram later in the day but doesn't go to the police until the 9th August. She tells them that she will be able to identify the two soldiers they had been with and arrangements are made for a line-up at the Tower of London the next morning. Connelly tells the police that she will attend.
      On the 10th August, instead of attending the line-up, Connelly goes to her cousin's, Mrs Shean, who lives at 4, Fuller's Court, Drury Lane, without informing the police and she remains there two days and two nights.
      On the 12th August, DS Eli Caunter locates Mary Ann Connelly at her cousin's and takes her to see DI Edmund Reid. She promises to attend a line-up at the Tower of London the next morning.
      On the 13th August, Connelly attends the line-up of non-commissioned Officers and privates who were on leave during the time of the murder. However, the two soldiers that accompanied her and Tabram on that fateful night were never identified.

Other Witnesses (coming soon): PC Thomas Barrett, John Reeves, Mr. and Mrs. Hewitt, Dr. Timothy Killeen

Key Witnesses in the Case of Mary Ann Nichols

Murdered at entrance to Brown's stable yard, Buck's Row, Whitechapel

Mary Ann Nichols was attacked and murdered at around 3.30 to 3.35am on Friday the 31st of August, 1888, by a person or persons unknown.

Witnesses: Charles Cross (AKA Charles Allen Lechmere), Robert Paul,

Key Witnesses in the Case of Annie Chapman

Murdered in the back yard of 29 Hanbury Street, Spitalfields

Annie Chapman was attacked and murdered at around 5.31am on Saturday the 8th of September, 1888, by a person or persons unknown.

Witnesses: Albert Cadosch, John Davis, Elizabeth Long, Mrs Fiddymont, Joseph Taylor

Key Witnesses in the Case of Elizabeth Stride

Murdered just inside Dutfield Yard, off Berner Street, Whitechapel

Elizabeth Stride was attacked and murdered between 12.45 and 1.00am on Sunday the 30th of September, 1888, by a person or persons unknown.

Witnesses: Louis Diemschutz, William Marshall, Constable Smith, James Brown, Israel Schwartz

Key Witnesses in the Case of Catherine Eddowes

Murdered at the most southerly corner of Mitre Square, Aldgate

Catherine Eddowes was attacked and murdered at around 1.37am on Sunday the 30th of September, 1888, by a person or persons unknown.

Witnesses: Joseph Lawende, Joseph Hyam Levy and Harry Harris,

Key Witnesses in the Case of Mary Jane Kelly

Murdered inside 13 Miller's Court, Dorset Street, Spitalfields

Mary Jane Kelly was attacked and murdered around 3.30 to 4.00am (though possibly as late as 8.00am... or later?) on Friday the 9th of November, 1888, by a person or persons unknown.

Witnesses: Maurice Lewis, Mary Ann Cox, George Hutchinson, Sarah Lewis, Caroline Maxwell, Thomas Bowyer

Next in Ripperology 101...

The Ripperologist

The Ripperologist: purveyor of all the latest news, updates, chatter and trends from the field of Ripperology - investigating and exploring the mystery of the 1888 Whitechapel murders and the origins and legacy of Jack the Ripper - the archetypal serial killer!

Stay up-to-date by following The Ripperologist on X (Twitter) @Ripperology101!

Other great resources for the study of Ripperology can be found in our list of Ripperology websites HERE and our list of Jack The Ripper documentaries HERE.

Buy the Latest Books about the Whitechapel Murders and Jack the Ripper from Amazon.co.uk or from Amazon.com.

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