The canonical five Jack the Ripper victims
Mary Ann Nichols
Annie Chapman
Elizabeth Stride
Catherine Eddowes
Mary Jane Kelly

Catharine (Kate) Eddowes (often spelled "Catherine") is widely believed to be the fourth victim of the notorious unidentified serial killer "Jack the Ripper," who killed and mutilated prostitutes in the Whitechapel area of London during the late summer and autumn of 1888. Since her birth certificate was brought to light only in recent years, the spelling of her name is rendered as "Catherine" in most sources, including contemporary newspaper accounts of her murder. She also used the aliases "Kate Conway," "Kate Kelly," and "Mary Ann Kelly," after her two common-law husbands. She was 44 at the time of her death, killed on the night of the "Double Event" that had seen the murder of Elizabeth Stride less than an hour earlier. A hand held magnifying glass This image has been released into the public domain by the copyright holder, its copyright has expired, or it is ineligible for copyright. ... Jack the Ripper is the pseudonym given to an unidentified serial killer active in the largely impoverished Whitechapel area of London, England in the second half of 1888. ... Mary Ann Polly Nichols is widely believed to be the first victim of the notorious unidentified serial killer Jack the Ripper, who killed and mutilated prostitutes in the Whitechapel area of London during the late summer and autumn of 1888. ... Annie Chapman (September, 1841 - September 8, 1888) is widely believed to be the second victim of the notorious unidentified serial killer Jack the Ripper, who killed and mutilated prostitutes in the Whitechapel area of London during the late summer and autumn of 1888. ... Elizabeth Stride is believed to be the third victim of the notorious unidentified serial killer Jack the Ripper, who killed and mutilated prostitutes in the Whitechapel area of London during the late summer and autumn of 1888. ... Mary Jane Kelly (c. ... Serial killers are individuals who have a history of multiple slayings of victims who were usually unknown to them beforehand. ... Jack the Ripper is the pseudonym given to an unidentified serial killer active in the largely impoverished Whitechapel area of London, England in the second half of 1888. ... Whitechapel is a place in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, United Kingdom. ... This article is about the British city. ... 1888 (MDCCCLXXXVIII) is a leap year starting on Sunday (click on link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar or a leap year starting on Tuesday of the Julian calendar. ... Elizabeth Stride is believed to be the third victim of the notorious unidentified serial killer Jack the Ripper, who killed and mutilated prostitutes in the Whitechapel area of London during the late summer and autumn of 1888. ...

Eddowes' body was discovered at 1:44 in the early morning of Sunday, September 30, 1888, lying in a dark corner of Mitre Square. She was the only victim killed within the City of London, though close to the boundary of Whitechapel. Eddowes' killing was very typical of Ripper murders, and similar to that of Annie Chapman three weeks earlier. Eddowes was found with her throat slashed, her abdomen cut open and completely disembowelled, her intestines thrown over her right shoulder, and facial mutilations besides. Her killer had taken away her uterus and left kidney. The police constable who found her body had seen nothing there on his previous visit twelve to fourteen minutes before, and he saw and heard nobody in the area at the time of the body's discovery. Eddowes had been killed only minutes earlier, and her killer fled into Whitechapel, where a piece torn from Eddowes' apron was later found in a doorway off Goulston Street. September 30 is the 273rd day of the year (274th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar, with 92 days remaining. ... Coat of arms The City of London is a small area in Greater London. ... Annie Chapman (September, 1841 - September 8, 1888) is widely believed to be the second victim of the notorious unidentified serial killer Jack the Ripper, who killed and mutilated prostitutes in the Whitechapel area of London during the late summer and autumn of 1888. ...

Catharine Eddowes, who never formally married, was the daughter of George Eddowes, a tinplate worker, and his wife, also named Catharine. She was born in Wolverhampton on April 14, 1842. Soon after her birth the family moved to London. Eddowes' mother eventually bore twelve children, but the large family later fell into poverty and misfortune. Two younger children died in infancy; Eddowes' mother died of tuberculosis on November 17, 1855, and her father died two years later. By then, two older sisters were in domestic service and another married, while some of the younger children were sent to the Bermondsey Workhouse and Industrial School. Her sister Emma sent Eddowes, in her mid-teens, back to Wolverhampton to live with an aunt, but she became restless and ran away to Birmingham to live with a shoemaker uncle for a while. Wolverhampton is an industrial, commercial and university city and metropolitan borough in the English West Midlands, traditionally part of the county of Staffordshire. ... April 14 is the 104th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (105th in leap years). ... 1842 was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar). ... 17 November is also the name of a Marxist group in Greece. ... 1855 was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... Bermondsey is a place in the London Borough of Southwark. ... The Poor Law was the system for the provision of social security in operation in England and the United Kingdom from the 16th century until the establishment of the Welfare State in the 20th century. ... The city from above Centenary Square. ...

In the next few years Eddowes met Thomas Conway in Birmingham, and the couple started living together. They had a daughter Annie, born around 1865, and two younger sons. By 1881 they had returned to London, but separated shortly after, having been together nearly twenty years. One of Eddowes' sisters blamed the breakup on Conway, who drank and beat Eddowes frequently, though Eddowes herself was also a drinker. That same year, Eddowes met John Kelly in a Whitechapel lodging house. He was her companion for the last seven years of her life. 1865 (MDCCCLXV) is a common year starting on Sunday. ... 1881 (MDCCCLXXXI) was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar). ...

Witnesses' accounts suggest the couple had an amicable enough relationship, though Eddowes continued to drink. Kelly took casual labouring jobs, while Eddowes found housecleaning work or sold trinkets on the streets. Friends insisted that she was never a prostitute, but the evidence of her death suggests she supplemented their income that way occasionally.

The previous Thursday, September 27, 1888, she and Kelly returned on foot to London from Kent, where they had been hop picking, but they arrived virtually destitute. After pawning some remaining items for food, on Saturday, September 29, Kelly resolved to look for casual work while Eddowes reportedly said she was going to visit her married daughter Annie. (Annie had previously moved away, and some believe that Eddowes should have known about it by this date. Whether she proposed a family visit to cover her intention to earn money by prostituting herself or for some other reason is unknown.) Somehow, in the hours after parting from Kelly at 2:00pm, Eddowes acquired enough money to become drunk, possibly by prostitution. Found lying in the street at 8:30pm, incapable of standing, she was taken into custody by a City of London police officer and kept in the cells until she sobered up and was released close to 1:00am. She was probably last seen alive by men leaving a club close to Mitre Square about 1:30am, talking to a man most scholars believe had to be her killer, based upon the timing. September 27 is the 270th day of the year (271st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar, with 95 days remaining. ... Kent is a county in England, south-east of London. ... September 29 is the 272nd day of the year (273rd in leap years). ...

Further reading

• The Complete History of Jack the Ripper by Philip Sugden, ISBN 0786702761, is widely held to be one of the best on the topic.

External links

• Casebook: Jack the Ripper has numerous articles covering many aspects of the case, and reproduces many original source texts relevant to the case.
• Jack the Ripper: jacktheripper.nl is a new website from the Netherlands. Albeit in dutch, it's still a useful source for ripperologists.