Frederick Nicholas Charrington
Charrington was suggested as Jack the Ripper by M.J Trow in a short story for the book The Mammoth Book Of Jack The Ripper. Trow built up a credible case against Charrington and suggested he was the right age, build, and knew the area well. Also, being well known for his religious work, he could lure his victims into a false sense of security.
Trow then went on to admit that there was in fact no evidence against Charrington whatsoever, and did not believe he was Jack the Ripper, but had only used his name as an example to demonstrate how easy it is to build a case against any individual from that period, and claim them as Jack the Ripper.
Frederick Nicholas Charrington was born in Bow Road, Stepney, on 4 February 1850, and was the heir to the Charrington brewing fortune, until he turned his back on the family business as a result of what he had witnessed as a teenager, outside one of the pubs that his father supplied beer to. He had seen a man, worse the wear for drink, beat his wife to a pulp. He turned to religion and walked the streets at night lecturing against drink and vice in all its manifestations, and would interview prostitutes and their clients and keep little black books on brothel visitors. By 1888, despite been frequently beaten up for his efforts, Charrington, by his actions, was responsible for the closure of more than 200 brothels, though as the police Commissioner pointed out, this forced many vulnerable women on to the streets, were as a result, they were horrifically murdered. He founded The Tower Hamlets Mission at 31 Mile End Road, the centrepiece of which was the great assembly hall, capable of seating 5,000 people. Here the hungry would be fed for the price of signing the pledge. Charrington died in the London hospital in 1936, at the age of 86. At the time of the Whitechapel murders he was 38 years of age, tall with a slender build, dark brown hair and a drooping moustache.
