Author: Peter Birchwood
Saturday, 14 November 1998 - 03:47 pm |        |
One of the first books written in the "modern" era about the Ripper crimes was: "Jack the Ripper, a new theory" by William Stewart, (Quality Press, 1939. Although the theory, that the murderer was a deranged midwife, is not likely to impress many researchers nowadays, it has always seemed to me something more than a coincidence that two artists interested in the crimes have the same initials, the other being of course Walter Sickert. I have never seen the book although Robin Odell once told me that it was illustrated by the author. Is it possible that Stewart was a pen name for Sickert? It seems to me that some of the more exotic theories may well have had their origen in gossip from Sickert and his circle. One author commented that Sickert seemed to be fascinated by two matters: the Ripper and the Tichbourne Claimant. Although I don't know what side he was on in the great debate about Arthur Orton that mesmerised the Victorians, we do at least have his views about the Ripper, relayed via Sir Osbert Sitwell who tells how Sickert believed that he had lived in the rooms that the Ripper had also lived in. It has been mentioned that there are correspondences between Sickert's story and the Druitt theory. Donald McCormick broached the idea that Sickert had told the story to Melville Macnaghten and that had set Macnaghten off on the Druitt track. McCormick however can not be relied upon.
It seems to me that we have four suspects who we know were believed by various members of the Police force to have been likely Rippers: Kosminski, Druitt, Ostrog and Tumblety. My money would be split pretty evenly between the first two. I can't help feeling that for Macnaghten to accuse Druitt, who came from the same strata of society as Macnaghten himself, there must have been very convincing reasons. On the face of it, Ostrog seems to old to have been the Ripper and to have had no obvious psychopathic habits. Although Tumblety is a fashionable suspect, he again seems too old although his rather unpleasant collecting instincts do seem to make him a likely suspect. |
Author: Bob Hinton
Wednesday, 09 February 2000 - 01:59 pm | |
A rather interesting connection between Sickert and the Ripper is given in the 1941 book, 'The Life and Opinions of Walter Richard Sickert'
It tells of how Sickert used to traverse between the Music halls and his home wearing a long check coat that reached to his ankles and carrying a little bag which contained his drawings.
On night in Copenhagen St a party of young girls fled from him in terror yelling 'Jack the Ripper, Jack the Ripper'.
The source for this story is not given but is presumably Sickert himself. I wonder if he later emroidered this event into a mystery concerning Jack the Ripper with himself taking the major role.
all the best
Bob Hinton
PS Compare Sickerts pastel 'Blackmail' with the photo of Catharine Eddowes face with special reference to the nose and mouth area. |
Author: Simon Owen
Thursday, 16 March 2000 - 07:57 am | |
| The picture ' Blackmail , Mrs Barrett ' , pastel ,1903-1904 , National Gallery of Canada is so like Catherine Eddowes it is quite scary . Compare with the mortuary photos. This picture appears between pages 96 and 97 of ' Sickert and the Ripper Crimes ' by Overton Fuller. Comparing the two other ' Mrs Barrett ' pictures to this one , they don't seem to be of the same woman. And what does the title ' Blackmail' mean ? Mrs Barrett was supposed to be a cleaning lady , why would anyone blackmail her ? |
Author: Peter R.A. Birchwood
Thursday, 16 March 2000 - 01:43 pm | |
Given that Sickert was interested in the Ripper crimes as well as the Camden Town murder and other cases, his degree of prescience is unnerving. He was looking nearly 90 years into the future and Mrs. Barrett's first name is Anne.
Peter |
Author: Simon Owen
Friday, 17 March 2000 - 04:36 am | |
| Surely the title would be ' I forged the Maybrick Diary , Mrs Barrett ' then ? Anyone fancy doing a painting of that one ? |
Author: Simon Owen
Thursday, 23 March 2000 - 07:42 am | |
Back to Walter's pictures again. There is a famous one called ' La Hollandaise ' of a nude woman reclining on a bed , which is supposed to be of Mary Kelly. The face is supposed to have been painted as being mutilated , however if you look closely at it you can see that the black dot is the girls left eye and not a gaping hole or dog's nose or whatever. This painting is now in the Tate Gallery , London. There is a Dutch connection to Mary Kelly though , it is in Stuart Evan's book ' The Man who Hunted Jack the Ripper ' although I won't reveal it here. It is important to note that there is one though. |
Author: Simon Owen
Thursday, 23 March 2000 - 07:44 am | |
| P.S. In the case of the Tichborne Claimant , I am sure I have read somewhere that Sickert was on the side of the claimant. |
Author: Peter R.A. Birchwood
Thursday, 23 March 2000 - 12:40 pm | |
The majority of people were on the side of the Claimant at least up to his second trial. What really made him unpopular was his explanation of the letter left with Roger's cousin (Ann Doughty? I'm writing from memory.)Now was he Thomas Castro, Arthur Orton, Roger Doughty Tichborne or none of them? That's the question
Remember Sickert's habit of giving "jokey" titles to his pictures? And ask yourself who says that the titles have anything to do with JtR.
Peter. |
Author: Christopher T. George
Thursday, 23 March 2000 - 02:07 pm | |
Hi, Simon and all:
You will excuse me, I hope, for being punnish and commenting that perhaps Sickert was a "sicko" who liked to give his paintings titles that inferred some connection with the murders. In this sense, did he really know something about the facts behind the murders? Or was he merely a hanger-on like a large number of other people who lived at the time and who got some relected glory from the notoriety of the crimes? Remember, the murders were a media sensation of the day much as the deaths of Diana and JFK Jr. have been media sensations of our day. So perhaps he was just another individual jumping on the Jack the Ripper bandwagon rather than a man who played any significant role as a keeper of the truth of the murders.
Chris George |
Author: Simon Owen
Friday, 24 March 2000 - 05:12 am | |
Thats certainly possible Christopher , but we have Sickert's own testimony that he knew something about the murders. He told Joseph the famous story which formed the basis for Knight's The Final Solution. And he told Florence Pash in 1920 that he was painting clues into his pictures to reveal the murderers identity. Thus the famous picture ' Ennui' where the 1918 version of the picture has a gull painted on the shoulder of Queen Victoria , while the 1913 version of the picture does not. Royal Gull = Dr William Gull , the Queens physician. He told Pash that he had seen the Ripper victim's bodies , Florence had seen his paintings of the corpses and found them grotesque and horrible. Was the Sickert the Ripper ? This is the conclusion that Jean Overton Fuller and Stephen Knight (of sorts) came to ; as for me I personally believe that he did know something. But I don't believe he committed any murders. As mentioned before , Mary Kelly was the nanny to Alice Crook and was employed by Sickert to look after her : this puts Walter right in the middle of things. |
Author: Christopher T. George
Friday, 24 March 2000 - 12:35 pm | |
Hi, Simon:
You claim that Mary Jane Kelly served as the nanny to Alice Crook. I would like to know where your proof for this statement. There is no one in the case files, including Joe Barnett or anyone else, who testified that this happened. I think most would agree that Joseph Sickert cannot be trusted if he is your source for this statement.
Chris George |
Author: Peter R.A. Birchwood
Friday, 24 March 2000 - 01:41 pm | |
Simon, Simon, Simon:
Who says that Walter told Joseph about the Great Conspiracy? And how much of the Pash testimony comes from the same source? Who was it who told Knight about these strange scenes in Walter Sickert's paintings? and lastly, who says that Mary Kelly was Alice Crook's nanny? The answer should come directly or indirectly down to one man. Do you want to phone a friend?
Peter. |
Author: Simon Owen
Monday, 27 March 2000 - 06:58 am | |
Peter , are you saying Joseph Sickert is making it all up ? Surely not. You have mentioned that Joe influenced either Florence Pash or Jean Overton Fuller in relation to this story , please present evidence to prove that this is correct : in fact it seems that Fuller completely disbelieve most of the details of the Knight/Sickert story anyway. The story that Mary Kelly was Alice Crook's governess comes from Florence Pash , friend and occasional portrait model for Walter Sickert. It was passed on to Violet Overton Fuller by Florence , and Violet passed it on to her daughter Jean. Neither Violet , nor Jean at the time , knew anything about the Ripper murders. " Florence said that there was a girl engaged for a time to act as nanny ( to Sickert ); an Irish girl named Mary Kelly. The irony of this story is that I did not know who Mary Kelly was. Neither , from the way she told it , did Mother...That name had no resonance , either for Mother or me...She ( Mary Kelly ) did not think Sickert treated her with sufficient respect and consideration. She was ambitious for better things and not really cut out to be a nanny...Mary Kelly eventually flounced off , leaving Sickert holding the baby almost literally ". ( ' Sickert and the Ripper Crimes ' , Jean Overton Fuller , p.15 ) |
Author: Simon Owen
Monday, 27 March 2000 - 06:59 am | |
Peter , are you saying Joseph Sickert is making it all up ? Surely not. You have mentioned that Joe influenced either Florence Pash or Jean Overton Fuller in relation to this story , please present evidence to prove that this is correct : in fact it seems that Fuller completely disbelieves most of the details of the Knight/Sickert story anyway. The story that Mary Kelly was Alice Crook's governess comes from Florence Pash , friend and occasional portrait model for Walter Sickert. It was passed on to Violet Overton Fuller by Florence , and Violet passed it on to her daughter Jean. Neither Violet , nor Jean at the time , knew anything about the Ripper murders. " Florence said that there was a girl engaged for a time to act as nanny ( to Sickert ); an Irish girl named Mary Kelly. The irony of this story is that I did not know who Mary Kelly was. Neither , from the way she told it , did Mother...That name had no resonance , either for Mother or me...She ( Mary Kelly ) did not think Sickert treated her with sufficient respect and consideration. She was ambitious for better things and not really cut out to be a nanny...Mary Kelly eventually flounced off , leaving Sickert holding the baby almost literally ". ( ' Sickert and the Ripper Crimes ' , Jean Overton Fuller , p.15 ) |
Author: Simon Owen
Monday, 27 March 2000 - 07:02 am | |
| Oops , double post ! |
Author: Peter R.A. Birchwood
Monday, 27 March 2000 - 09:05 am | |
| Yes |
Author: Simon Owen
Monday, 27 March 2000 - 09:35 am | |
| Being laconic will get you nowhere ! Please present evidence that Sickert influenced Jean Overton Fuller's or Florence Pash's story then ! |
Author: Karoline L
Monday, 27 March 2000 - 02:00 pm | |
Point is, Simon, since Joseph's story is all you have to base so much of your case on then just to be on the safe side, you should really do a bit more than just take his word for it.
I mean if you were buying a house, would you just believe the previous owner about its condition, or would you check it yourself?
And since Joseph has told a few fibs in the past,
this obviously makes it more difficult to take his story seriously without additional corroboration.
Of which you have virtually none.
So from a purely practical point of view, your case is not strong.
You COULD be right, because heck, anything's possible -but evidentially, it's not too promising right now, is it?
Come on - all special pleading aside - you have to admit at the moment - it's pants.
But personally I still hope you're right.
I WANT it to have been a conspiracy almost as much as you do. |
Author: Simon Owen
Tuesday, 28 March 2000 - 07:26 am | |
Karoline , I WANT it to be a conspiracy because it raises the whole thing above the sordid level somewhat. And I BELIEVE there is some truth in Joe Sickert's and Florence Pash's stories. BUT , you're right , at the moment I can't prove any of it with a set of hard facts , I can only offer speculations which make it likely that certain things might have happened. Part of the reason I believe in it is that Pash's story corroborates Sickert's story in certain parts. Pash says that Walter Sickert told her that , because she had spoken to Mary Kelly and knew some of the details that Kelly knew , if she opened her mouth she could be killed. Now no-one has proved Joseph Sickert influenced Pash or Jean Overton Fuller's telling of this story. And we have no reason to believe Pash is making this up , she got no fame or financial reward from her telling this tale , thus we have to assume it is TRUE. In fact , Fuller almost entirely DISBELIEVES Joe Sickert's story and thinks Walter himself was the Ripper. Sickert had painted pictures of the corpses of the Ripper victims and Florence had seen them , Sickert told her he had seen the bodies personally. If you have any idea where to take this theory next Karoline , I'd be most grateful ! |
Author: Simon Owen
Thursday, 27 April 2000 - 04:17 pm | |
Hi all. I now have my own computer system and a scanner , so I am going to try and upload some of Sickert's pictures to this site , I hope this will help illustrate some of the strange things contained in some of them. Some of them are in grainy B&W , but I will do my best to get them to you clearly. |
