Last week (circa 2/97), together with a friend who was visiting the UK from California, I visited all five of the victims' graves. The following update may be of interest to Casebook visitors.

Elizabeth Stride's Grave

Tuesday (25th February 1997) we went to the East London Cemetery at West Ham. This is the last resting place of Liz Stride. With the help of a lady at the Cemetery Office, and then one of the gardeners, we found her grave. It does not have a headstone or a marker to indicate that she is there but we were assured that it is the correct location. The grave has what is called a "frame" - a plain and simple concrete outline which indicates the position of the grave. It is nothing more than a low (4 inches) concrete "wall".

The following day, we first went to the City of London Cemetery at Manor Park where we visited the graves of Mary Ann Nicholls and Catharine Eddowes.

City of London Cemetery

Catherine Eddowes' Grave (Pre 2003)

The graves are only a few yards apart and each has a plain and somewhat formal bronze marker - set horizontally in the ground. We noticed that both of Eddowes' names were spelt differently (wrongly?) than normal. I understood that her Christian name was Catharine (rather than the normal Catherine) and that there was the letter E between the W and S of her surname. Her marker, however, is exactly as follows:

Mary Ann Nicholls marker was exactly the same apart from her age (42 years) and burial date (6th September 1888).

Both the graves and their markers are in a well-kept condition in a pleasant part of the cemetery.

Catherine Eddowes' Grave (Post 2003)

Mary Ann Nichols' grave (Pre 2003).

Polly Nichols' Grave (Post 2003)

We next went to the nearby Manor Park Cemetery to seek out the grave of Annie Chapman. The two gentlemen in the Cemetery Office were very kind to us but the bad news was that her grave no longer exists. They explained that it had been a public grave (virtually a communal grave) and that she had been buried twelve feet down! That ground has since been re-used. The office did have records however and we were given photocopies of a large framed "tribute" which had been prepared some years ago. This included pictures of the grave site and what appeared to be a rough wooden marker reading as follows:

There was also a copy of the relevant extract from the Admittance Register of the Cemetery.

Finally, we re-visited St Patrick's Roman Catholic Cemetery at Leytonstone where Mary Kelly was buried.

St. Patrick's Roman Catholic Cemetery at Leytonstone

Mary Kelly's Grave

We had tried to find her grave (unsuccessfully) last year and had later learnt that the marker had been stolen. We had, however, been in the correct place. We again found the spot (row 67,grave 16) but the marker had not been replaced. Due to severe storms over the previous few days, there were many wreaths and flowers scattered about and I placed a wreath on the spot where we calculated the grave to be. We then took photographs of it.

We also took photographs of the three graves we did find (Eddowes, Nicholls and Stride), together with photographs of the entrances to the City of London Cemetery and St Patrick's Cemetery. Anybody interested in copies is invited to contact me by email.

Catherine Eddowes' grave.

(The following two photos by Maureen Barlow)

These photos were taken in September, 1996, in Leytonstone (NE London) at St. Patrick's Roman Catholic Cemetary. The headstone is painted in black with the inscription, 'Marie Jeanette Kelly, Age 25, MURDERED Frio Nov 9th 1888.'

The grave of Mary Jane Kelly.

The grave of Mary Jane Kelly.

As you can see, several mementos were left: several plants, roses (which I left), a small bottle of gin, a wooden rosary (which can be seen to the left of the stone above), and a "snow globe" with a plastic flower in the globe, with an inscription: "MJK: R.I.P. -- J.B."