Edward Stanley

Witness at Annie Chapman's inquest.

Also known as 'The Pensioner'.

Stanley was a bricklayer living at 1 Osborn Place, Brick Lane and was rumoured to be an ex-soldier drawing a pension from the Essex regiment. The coroner's jury wanted Stanley called to the inquest as they felt he may have some light to bear on the piece of envelope found by Chapman's body that had the crest of the Sussex regiment on it.

He had known Annie Chapman for about two years and sometimes paid for her bed at Crossingham's Lodging House (he would also occasionally pay for Eliza Cooper's bed. He was on voluntary duty at Fort Elson, Gosport with the 2nd brigade, Southern Division, Hampshire Militia from 6th August to 1st September 1888 and had last seen Chapman on 2nd September between 1.00pm and 3.00pm. He said that on this occasion, she was wearing two rings on one of her fingers and had a slightly blackened eye.

On the day of the murder, Stanley went to Crossingham's to verify a story he'd heard from a shoe-black that Annie had been killed, after which he seemed to want as little to do with the deceased as possible.

When asked by the coroner if he was a pensioner, he replied "I am not a pensioner and have not been in the Essex regiment. What I say will be published all over Europe. I have lost 5 hours in coming here".