When I found the letter and the photograph, I thought it was just an old photo of Whitechapel taken by my great-great-great-grandfather. He had been an early user of the, then, new photographic technology.
The letter writer was my grandfather, James Butterworth, who had opened a small shop on Whitechapel Road in the Spring of 1888. The shop sold everything, and anything and my grandfather James had befriended many of the locals. He had come originally from Derby or somewhere near. However, my family were never too sure.
It was said that he was a kind soul, who lent many of his neighbours a farthing here or there to stave off their troubles. This was the reason that he got to know Mary. A woman who was a little older than James, but he had befriended her on sight. She would travel to his small shop for a talk or perhaps to repay him on his kindness when she could afford to.
There was one other man. One who James mentions in the letter. The man would regularly follow Mary, and when James would refer to the ‘gentleman standing outside’ – Mary would just laugh and say ‘oh, him, he’s harmless’. In the letter, James remembers that the gentleman was known as ‘Leather Apron’ in those parts.
James had lent Mary another penny ha’penny to get her through another tough week. So it was a surprise to my grandfather when the constable came calling on the morning of August, 31st to inform him that Mary had spent the previous night in a bar in Brick Lane. The constable was interested if James knew anything of Mary’s whereabouts beforehand.
James told the constable about lending her the money and wondered why he was asking the questions. The constable told James about Mary’s horrible death at the ‘hands of a madman’.
Several more women met an untimely end, and my grandfather noted that each time, the man known as ‘Leather Apron’ was always in close proximity to those ladies. My grandfather had even been under suspicion himself as were many in the area.
That was why James was determined to take a photographic plate of the man. The sad point is – according to the letter – the man was facing him when he was ready to take the picture but had turned to walk away, sharply, when he saw James looking at him.
The man is the person in the centre of the photo with the black jacket.
That is Jack The Ripper.
bobby stevenson 2020
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