This day in London history: on the 9th of November 1888 Jack the Ripper claimed his fifth and last victim, Mary Kelly, who was found in Miller’s Court off Dorset Street in the Spitalfields area of London.
The Dorset Street of the time, considered to be the worst street in London, was in what was a dirty and crime-ridden slum area.
The area is now known for the modern and bustling Spitalfields market, a market that began in the 13th century, in the fields that forms part of its name. The rest of the name comes from the ‘spital’ – hospital and priory of St Mary, founded in 1197 by Walter Brune.
Now, 125 years after the first Ripper killing, theories as to the killer’s identity still abound, from Queen Victoria’s surgeon to a German sailor to no one killer at all. There have been innumerable movies and TV shows about or based on Jack the Ripper, from Alfred Hitchock’s The Lodger to From Hell with Johnny Depp as Inspector Abberline – possibly one of the most famous policemen of all time.
thestreetnames 
2 responses to “The last of Jack the Ripper”
[…] There is a statue of William Booth in the road: in 1865 he began work here that was later to lead to the formation of the Salvation Army. Mile End Road was also the site of the People’s Palace, which was officially opened by Queen Victoria on 14 May 1887, damaged by fire in 1931, and is now part of Queen Mary University of London. It was reopened in 2013 following a £6.3m investment into the venue.There were already facilities for working men’s education and recreation in the area, as well as almshouses and a school. The various authorities involved in those facilities decided to open an entire social, recreational, and educational centre for East London – an area known for poverty and poor working conditions. (And the haunt of Jack the Ripper – see Flower and Dean Street and Dorset Street.) […]
[…] Incidentally, two other London streets on this blog with Jack the Ripper associations include Flower and Dean Street and Dorset Street. […]