Maps of Whitechapel, 1888-1894 - A series of maps dating from between 1888 and 1894 depicting the Whitechapel area in relation to the murder sites. Includes Charles Booth's famous study of London poverty, originally published in 1889.
"An Autumn Evening in Whitechapel" - An article from Littell's Living Age (Nov. 3, 1888) describing one reporter's experience walking around the darkened streets of Whitechapel in the midst of the Ripper murders.
"Commercial Road" - Article from "The Copartnership Herald", Vol. II, no. 21 (November 1982), on the history of the Commercial Road, built in 1803.
"Through Whitechapel with Dickens" - An article from The Dickensian (Sept. 1905) discussing Charles Dickens' fascination with Whitechapel and his use of various Whitechapel locations in many of his works.
"Whitechapel" - Article from "The Copartnership Herald", Vol. III, no. 34 (December 1933), on the history of the parish from the 14th to the 19th centuries.
"Whitechapel" - A contemporary description of the area by Arthur G. Morrison published in "The Palace Journal", (24 April 1889).
"Whitechapel Road on a Saturday Night" - An article describing the scene in the Whitechapel market one Saturday night, the women shopping, the quack doctors peddling their wares, a waxworks and a freakshow. The cutting is dated 1862 but the source isn't identified.
"A Night in Whitechapel" - A fictional short story by famed French author Guy de Maupassant (1850-1893), in which two men meet a strange white-haired prostitute on a darkened Whitechapel street.
"A Visit to Whitechapel" - An article by Stewart P. Evans describing his visit to Whitechapel in the 1960s, when many of the original sites connected to the Jack the Ripper case still existed.
"The Pubs of Whitechapel" - An article by John Smithkey III on the many public houses of Whitechapel and their connections to the Ripper murders.
The Ten Bells Pub - Another article by Mr. Smithkey focusing solely on the Ten Bells Pub. Includes photographs.
Whitechapel -
A chapter from Old and New London: A Narrative of Its History, Its
People and Its Places by Walter Thornbury, 1881. Describes the
history of Whitechapel from 1329 to Victorian times.
Overcrowding in a School Room -
A detailed description of the houses at Millers Court, Dorset Street from the Whitechapel Board of Works Annual Report for 1878. Mary Kelly was murdered at 13 Millers Court exactly ten years later.
Victorian London
Books on
Victorian London - A comprehensive list of books about Victorian
London, many of which should be considered required reading for any
Ripperologist.
Weather Conditions -
Official and unofficial weather reports for London and the Whitechapel area on the nights of the Whitechapel murders, including times of sunrise and sunset, and lunar phases.
"The Worst Street in London" - A pamphlet published in 1901 concerning the social conditions surrounding the lodging houses of Dorset Street, Spitalfields. Contains a rebuttal by a "Mr. Jack McCarthy."
"Bethnal Green" - Article from "The Nineteenth Century" (June 1924) about conditions around Green Street (now the western end of Roman Road).
"Down East" - The West End takes a look at the East End (accompanied by a policeman, of course) in this article from "The Metropolitan", 14th September 1872. A look at the nightlife of the East End from a German dancehall to a "penny gaff" in Whitechapel.
"East and West London" - Selections from a book by the Rev. Harry Jones of St. George's-in-the-East on his impressions of East London, subtitled "Being notes of common life and pastoral work in Saint James's, Westminster, and in Saint George's-in-the-East". Published in 1875.
"An East End Vicar and his Work" - Article, written circa 1895, about Revd. Daw and his work in the parish of St. Mary, Spital Square.
"A Friend in my Retreat" - An account of the day-to-day life of that great East End institution: mother. Kingsley Royden remembers the daily routines of his mother (and father) living in Bromley-by-Bow in the 1920's. Published in the "East London Record", no.1 (1978) and republished here with the kind permission of the East London History Society.
"Memories of Mile End" - Life in Mile End at the end of the 19th and start of the 20th century as remembered by C.A. Brown (1887-1978). Published in the "East London Record", no.2 (1979) and republished here with the kind permission of the East London History Society.
"More Revelations of Bethnal Green" - Article from "The Builder", Vol. XXI, no. 1082 (31st October 1863), about the appalling housing conditions in the Old Nichol area of Bethnal Green. The slum was later cleared and the Boundary Street Estate built in its place.
"To Check the Survival of the Unfit" - A dose of social darwinism from a Bethnal Green vicar interviewed in "The London", 12th March 1896. The Rev. Osborne Jay was vicar of Holy Trinity Church in the Old Nichol, also known as the Jago.
"Tower Hamlets 1888" - Article from the "East London Record", No. 2 (1979), on conditions in the borough in the year of the Matchgirls' Strike and the Jack the Ripper murders. Republished with the kind permission of the East London History Society.
"The Birth of London's Underground" - Some discussion has arisen on the Casebook regarding the possibility that the Ripper may have used the London Underground for his escape after the murders. This is an essay by Adam Wood concerning the beginnings of the Underground.
Saturday Night in the East End - An 1889 account of Saturday
night drunkenness, revelry and violence in the East End. Originally
published in the "Eastern Post & City Chronicle", 17th August 1889.
History of London (General)
"Mile End" - Article from "The Copartnership Herald", Vol. III, no. 33 (November 1933), on the history of the hamlet of Mile End Old Town and Stepney Green.
"Poplar in the Past" - Article from "The Copartnership Herald", Vol. III, no. 32 (October 1933), on the history of Poplar and the Isle of Dogs from Saxon times to the 19th century.
"St. George's-in-the-East" - Article from "The Copartnership Herald", Vol. II, no. 24 (February 1933), on the history of the parish from its creation in 1729 to the 1930's.
"Spitalfields (Part I)" - Article from "The Copartnership Herald", Vol. I, no. 10 (December 1931), covering the early history of Spitalfields and the Old Artillery Ground up to the 17th century.
"Spitalfields (Part II)" - Article from "The Copartnership Herald", Vol. I, no. 11 (Christmas 1931-January 1932), covering the history of Spitalfields in the 17th and 18th centuries and the arrival of the Huguenots.
"Spitalfields (Part III)" - Article from "The Copartnership Herald, Vol. I, no. 12 (February 1932), giving more details of the 17th and 18th centuries, of silk weaving and the Huguenots.
"Spitalfields (Part IV)" - Article from "The Copartnership Herald, Vol. II, no. 13 (March 1932), about the silk weaving industry in Spitalfields in the 18th century.
"Spitalfields (Part V)" - Article from "The Copartnership Herald, Vol. II, no. 14 (April 1932), about the decline of the silk weaving industry in Spitalfields in the late 18th and 19th century.
Photographs
Whitechapel, Then and Now - A series of photographs displaying
various sections of Whitechapel, both in 1888 and today.
Photographs of the Modern East End - A
collection of photographs of modern Whitechapel, Spitalfields and
surrounding areas, taken during May and June of 1999, and July, 2000.
