#18 thrawl street

[ultralowoxygen]

Thrawl Street by Brett Sheehan Via Flickr: Mary Ann Nichols was lodging at 18 Thrawl Street around the time she became a victim of Jack The Ripper on August 31 1888. She was turned down for a bed for the night the night she died. The spot where 18 Thrawl Street was is I think about there the building on the left is where the second door & window on ground level are (left of the small tree in the middle). Nikon F4. AF Nikkor 24mm F2.8D lens. CineStill bwXX 35mm B&W film.

[tossacointoyourhotmess]

Mary Ann “Polly” Nichols: 26th August 1845 - 31st August 1888

Mary Ann “Polly” Nichols was born Mary Ann Walker in Soho on the 26th of August 1845. She was the second of three children born to Edward Walker and his wife Caroline. Few details remain of her childhood years but what is known is that by 1851, she had been christened.

At the age of 18, Mary married William Nichols, a machinist, on the 16th of January 1864 at Saint Bride's Parish Church. After their marriage the couple resided at 30-31 Bouverie Street before moving to live with Mary's father at 131 Trafalgar Street. The couple went on to have five children together: Edward John, born 1866, Percy George, born 1868, Alice Esther, born 1870, Eliza Sarah, born 1877, and Henry Alfred, born 1879.

On the 6th of September 1880, the family moved into their own home, 6 D-Block, Peabody Buildings, paying a rent of 5s. 9d. They lived there for only a short time before they separated under disputed circumstances. Nichol's father claimed that that William had left his daughter after having an affair with the nurse who helped in the delivery of their final child. William maintained that no such affair occurred, and the split was due to troubles caused by Mary's drinking. He and four of the children moved into an address near Old Kent Road. He sent her an allowance of five shillings a week until 1882 when he was informed that she was working as a prostitute. When authorities attempted to collect the money on her behalf, William informed them that she was earning her own money through prostitution, that she had deserted him and her children, and that she was living with another man. Law stated that if a woman was making money from 'illicit means,' Mary no longer received maintenance from her estranged husband.

Many of Mary's movements during the intervening years are unknown. We know she resided at Lambeth Workhouse in 1881 and left on 31st May that same year, and that she returned on 24th April 1882. It is also known that she lived for some months with her father until an argument caused her to leave in 1883. After this point she was in and out of workhouses, attempting to earn a living on the streets, and frequently spent this money on alcohol. In 1887 she had begun a relationship with Thomas Dew, but this had fallen apart by October. In December 1887, she was homeless and began sleeping on the streets near Trafalgar Square though through a clearance of this area, she found herself back at Lambeth Workhouse where she stayed for only two weeks.

Her movements in 1888 are more documented. The matron of Lambeth Workhouse found employment for Mary as a domestic servant in the home of Mr. and Mrs. Cowdry in Wandsworth.

Nichols wrote a letter to her father shortly after taking this position in which she wrote the following:

"I just write to say you will be glad to know that I am settled in my new place and going on all right up to now. My people went out yesterday, and have not returned, so I am in charge. It's a grand place inside, with trees and gardens back and front. All has been newly done up. They are teetotalers, and religious, so I ought to get on. They are very nice people, and I have not too much to do. I hope you are all right and the boy has work. So goodbye for the present. From yours truly, Polly."

When Edward attempted to respond to this communique, he received word that Mary had absconded from the premises, taking with her clothing that amounted to £3 10s. By that summer, she was staying at a common lodging house at 18 Thrawl Street before relocating to 56 Flower and Dean Street on 24th August.

We come, then, to the 30th of August and the last instances Mary was seen alive. She was seen at 11pm walking along Whitechapel Road before visiting the Frying Pan public house, complete with a new black velvet bonnet that she was rather proud of. She stayed there until just after midnight and after leaving, had returned to her lodging house at Flower and Dean Street by 1:20am, August 31st. She was informed by the deputy housekeeper that she needed the 4d for her bed and upon response that she didn't have the money, she was ordered from the house, with an unconcerned Nichols responding quite proudly that "I'll soon get my doss money. See what a jolly bonnet I've got now." She left to work the streets, confident that her bonnet would attract clients with ease.

Emily Holland saw Nichols at 2:30am and saw that the woman was noticeably drunk and slumped against a nearby wall. Holland, concerned for the woman, attempted to convince her to return to the lodging house but Nichols refused. It seems her hopes that the bonnet would attract clients were met as she responded that she'd "had my lodging money three times today, and I have spent it." The two women parted ways, with Nichols heading off towards Whitechapel Road with the intention of securing her lodging house money. She would be found dead an hour later, the first victim of Jack the Ripper.

(Excerpt from Chapter 4: The Autumn Begins from Bloody Autumn: The Reign of Jack the Ripper by Victoria Strachan)

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[victorianwhitechapel]

October 10th is the World Homelessness Day, a time to draw attention to the needs of the homeless people. Approximately 150 million people around the world don’t have a home. This equals 2 percent of the world’s population. Homeless people face many issues, including:

Mental and health problems, such as infectious diseases, dental problems, and chronic pain.

A lack of income which makes it difficult to afford food and rent.

Not having access to basic needs, such as dry clothes and clean water.

Prolonged exposure to the elements, such as heat, cold, rain, and snow.

Hunger and poor nutrition.

Many homeless people in large cities live in areas called slums. These slums are overcrowded and have very poor living conditions.

In the Victorian era, at least 15 poor and working class women were attacked and murdered in and around London’s Whitechapel area. At the time of their murders, they lived in either lodging houses, doss-houses, or workhouses, even some of them had to sleep in the streets if they lacked the money to pay for a bed; but they had also known better times, living in homes (marked in italic). These are the known residences:

Margaret Hames: 18 George Street Common Lodging House, Spitalfields, London.

Annie Chapman: Knightsbridge, West London; Raphael Street, Knighsbridge, West London; 29 Montpelier Place, Brompton, Middlesex, London; 1 Brook Mews in Bayswater, City of Westminster and the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in central London; 17 South Bruton Mews, Berkeley Square in West End, City of Westminster; Windsor, Bershire; 30 Dorset Street Common Lodging House, Spitalfields, London; Crossingham’s Lodging House at 35 Dorset Street, Spitalfields, London.

Catherine Eddowes: 20 Merridale Street, Graisley Green, Wolverhampton, West Midlands; a Bermondsey workhouse, in the London borough of Southwark; Biston Street, Wolverhampton, West Midlands; Birmingham, West Midlands: Westminster, London; 1 Queen Street, Southwark, Central London, London Borough of Southwark; 71 Lower George Street, Chelsea, South West London; Cooney’s common lodging-house at 55 Flower and Dean Street, Spitalfields, London; 26 Dorset Street, known locally as "the shed" (sleeping rough)  Spitalfields, London; City of London Union Casual Ward, Robin Hood Court, Shoe Lane, St. Andrew Holborn, City of London.

Emma Elizabeth Smith: 18 George Street Common Lodging House, Spitalfields, London.

Elizabeth Stride: Stora Tumlehed, Torslanda parish, west of Gothenburg, Sweden; Carl Johan parish, Gothenburg, Sweden; Cathedral parish, Gothenburg, Sweden; Philgaten in Ostra Haga, Gothenburg, Sweden; Husargaten, Gothenburg, Sweden; 67 Gower Street, Bloomsbury, Central London; East India Dock road in Poplar, Tower Hamlets, London; 178 Poplar High Street, Tower Hamlets, London; Poplar Workhouse, Tower Hamlets, London; 69 Usher Road, Old Ford Road, Bow, London borough of Tower Hamlets, London; Whitechapel Workhouse, Whitechapel, London; 32 Flower and Dean Street Lodging House, Spitalfields, London; 35 Devonshire Street, Marylebone, City of Westminster, London; 36 Devonshire Street, Marylebone, City of Westminster, London; Poplar Workhouse, Tower Hamlets, London; 32 Flower and Dean Street Lodging House, Spitalfields, London.

Emily Horsnell: 4 Edward St in Bethnal Green, East End, London; 19 George Street common lodging house, Spitalfields, London.

Alice McKenzie: High Cross Street, Leicester; 4 Joseph Street, St. Mary, Leicester; St George Workhouse, Mint Street, Southwark, London; Mr. Tenpenny’s common lodging house, 52 Gun Street, Spitalfields, London.

Mary Ann Nichols: Dawes Court, Shoe Lane, City of London; Bouverie Street, City of London; 131 Trafalgar Street, Walworth, Central London, within the London Borough of Southwark; 6D Peabody Buildings, Stamford St, Blackfriars Road, Lambeth, South London; Lambeth Workhouse, South London; Camberwell, London borough of Southwark; Strand Workhouse, Edmonton, North London; Trafalgar Square, City of Westminster, Central London (sleeping in the rough); Mitcham Workhouse, Holborn and Holborn Infirmary, London borough of Camden; “Ingleside”, Rose Hill Road, Wandsworth, south London; Grays Inn Temporary Workhouse, Holborn, London borough of Camden; Wilmot’s Lodging House at 18 Thrawl Street, Spitalfields, London; White House at 56 Flower and Dean Street, Spitalfields, London.

Martha Tabram: 17 Marshall Street, London Road, Southwark, London; Pleasant Place, Newington, London; 20 Marshall Street, Newington, London; 4 Star Place, Commercial Road, London; Satchell’s Lodging House at 19 George Street, Spitalfields, London.

Annie Millwood: Spitalfields Chambers doss-house at 8 White’s Row, Spitalfields, London; South Grove Workhouse, Mile End Road, East of London.

Frances Coles: 18 Crucifix Lane in Bermondsey, Southwark, London; 8 White Lion Court in Bermondsey, Southwark, London; St. Mary Magdalen Workhouse, Russell Street in Bermondsey, Southwark, London; 192 Union Street Lodging House, Southwark, London; a Christian mission on Commercial Road, London Borough of Tower Hamlets in the East End of London; Wilmot’s Lodging House at 18 Thrawl Street, Spitalfields, London; Spitalfields Chambers doss-house at 8 White’s Row, Spitalfields, London.

Rose Mylett: 13 Thomas Street, Whitechapel, London; 6 Maidman Street, Mile End, London’s East End; 18 George Street Common Lodging House, Spitalfields, London; Pelham Street Lodging House, Baker’s Row, Spitalfields, London.

Mary Kelly: Limerick, Ireland; Cardiff, Wales; France; Commercial Gas Works in Stepney, East End of London; St George’s Street, Mayfair, London; Breezer Hill, Ratcliffe Highway, East End of London; Bethnal Green, East End of London; Cooney’s common lodging-house at 55 Flower and Dean Street, Spitalfields; George Street, London; Little Paternoster Row, Dorset Street, Spitalfields, London; Brick Lane, East End, London; 13 Miller’s Court, back of 26 Dorset Street, Spitalfields, London.

Ada Wilson: Clarence Square, in Bedminster, Bristol; 39 Stratfield Road, in Bromley St Leonard, London Borough of Tower Hamlets in East London; 9 Maidman Street, Bow, London Borough of Tower Hamlets in East London; 78 Rounton Road, Bromley St Leonard, London Borough of Tower Hamlets in East London.

Elizabeth Jackson: Chenie-place, Pimlico, City of Westminster; 14 Turk’s Row common lodging house, Chelsea Barracks, City of Westminster; Ipswich, Suffolk; Manilla Street common lodging house, Millwall, London; Soho Square, City of Westminster, London (sleeping in the rough).

[victorianwhitechapel]

🔵CHAPTER 255: Frances🔵 Frances was living at Wilmott's Lodging House at 18 Thrawl Street in Spitalfields. She'd been living there since July 1899, one year and a half now. Mrs Hague was the landlady, and that day she spoke to Frances. - I am sorry, girl - said the landlady -. I don't mind if ya don't pay some days, but now this is happening too often. - As soon as I have a job I'l pay ya Mrs Hague - said Frances. - Sorry. Ya can't stay. - Where should I go? - Frances was sad and upset. She reluctantly left the familiar surrounding she had called home and her only option was to seek shelter in the lowest and meanest doss houses. What she saw there didn't surprise her: beggars, drunks of all ages, unfortunates, unattended children... It wasn't this sight what upset her, it was the thought she had to live among them until she found a job and could go back to Wilmott's. 🔹🔹 Frances vivía en la casa de huéspedes Wilmott, en el 18 de la calle Thrawl en Spitalfields. Había estado viviendo allí desde Julio del 1889, ahora hacía un año y medio. La Sra Hague era la propietaria, y aquél día habló con Frances. - Lo siento chiquilla, no me importa si no pagas una o dos veces, pero 'ara está sucediendo demasiao. - Cuando tenga un trabajo le pago Sra Hagues - dijo Frances. - Lo siento, no te pués quedar. - Y dónde voy? - Frances estaba triste y disgustada. Marchó a regañadientes del lugar familiar al que había llamado casa y su única opción era buscar cobijo en las peores pensiones de mala muerte. Lo que vio allí no le sorprendió: mendigos, borrachos de todas las edades, desdichada, niños desatendidos... No era eso lo que la renrabiaba, sinó el mero pensamiento que tenía que vivir rodeada de aquella gente hasta que en o trata un trabajo y pudiera volver a Wilmott. #victorianplaymo #victorian_playmo #FrancesColes #FrancesColeman #CarrotyNell #MrsHague #Wilmottslodginghouse #spitalfields #wilmotts #playmobil #victorianinspired #victorianinspiration #playmobiltoys #playmobilfigures #playmobilcollector #playmobilvictorian #victorianplaymobil https://www.instagram.com/p/CK3vOeBpVFo/?igshid=vyt6biya5s7e

[victorianwhitechapel]

Mary Ann Nichols timeline

1845 – Mary Ann “Polly” Walker is born at Dawes Court, Shoe Lane, City of London (London) to Edward and Caroline Walker (August 26). 

1851 – She is christened. 

1852 – Her mother Caroline dies, Polly is around 7. 

1864 – Mary Ann marries printer’s machinist William Nichols at Saint Bride's Parish Church in Fleet Street, London (January 16). 

1864 – Polly and William's first son, William Edward, is born (December 17). 

1866 – Polly and William’s first son, William Edward, dies in his infancy. 

1866 – Polly and William’s second son, Edward John, is born (July 4). 

1868 – Polly and William’s third son, Percy George, is born (July 18). 

1868 – Polly and William's children get christened on the same day at St Peter, Walworth (August 9). 

1870 – Polly and William’s fourth child, daughter Alice Esther, is born (December). 

1874 – The family moves to the Peabody buildings, Stamford St, Blackfriars Rd, Lambeth (South London). 

1876 – Polly and William’s fifth child, second daughter, Eliza Sarah, is born (December). 

1878 – Polly and William’s sixth child, son Henry Alfred, is born (December 4).

Ca. 1880/81 – Polly and William separate and he gets the custody of the children, except the oldest, who leaves home. 

1880 – Polly enters the Lambeth workhouse (September 6). 

1881 – Polly leaves the Lambeth workhouse (May 31). 

1882 – William stops paying Polly's allowance of 5 shillings a week when he knows she's living “as a prostitute” (with another man). Polly went to Lambeth Parish who summonsed William for restoration of maintenance but he won the case. 

1882 – Polly stays at Lambeth workhouse (April 24 1882, to January 17 1883).

1883 – Polly stays at Lambeth Infirmary (January 18 to 20). 

1883 – Polly stays at Lambeth workhouse (January 21 to March 24). 

1883 – Henry Alfred, Polly and William’s son, is baptised as his son with his lover Rosetta Walls. 

1883 – Polly lives with her father Edward at Camberwell, London borough of Southwark, south London (March 24 to May 21). 

1883 – Polly stays at Lambeth workhouse (May 21 to June 2). 

1883 – Polly goes to live with blacksmith Thomas Stuart Dew. 

1886 – She attends the funeral of her brother, who had died in an explosion of a paraffin lamp. 

1887 – Polly and Thomas Stuart Dew split, she stays at St Giles Workhouse, Endell Street, West End (October 25). 

1887 – Polly stays at Strand workhouse, Edmonton, North London in the London Borough of Enfield (October 26 to December 2). 

1887 – She is caught sleeping rough in Trafalgar Square and sent to Lambeth workhouse (December 2 to 29). 

1888 – Polly stays at Mitcham Workhouse and Holborn Infirmary, Holborn (January 4 to April 16). 

1888 – She stays at Lambeth workhouse (April 16 to May 12). 

1888 – Polly takes a position as a domestic servant with the Cowdrys at Rose Hill Rd, Wandsworth (May 12 to ca. June/July). 

1888 – Polly stays at Gray’s Inn Temporary workhouse (August 1 and 2). 

1888 – She goes at Wilmot Lodging house at 18 Thrawl street, Spitalfields (August 2 to 30). 

1888 – Polly is seen at Whitechapel Road and the Frying Pan Public House before returning to Wilmot's. As she doesn’t have the doss money to pay for the bed, she is requested to leave (August 31). 

1888 – Polly meets fellow lodger Emily Holland, who asks her to come back to the lodging house with her. Polly refuses and goes down Whitechapel Road (August 31). 

1888 – Polly's murdered body is found by Charles Cross and Robert Paul at Buck's Row. She was 43 (August 31).

Your life was difficult and cut short. You were free at last... 🌼

[victorianwhitechapel]

Frances Coles timeline

1859 – Frances is born at her family’s home at 18 Crucifix Lane in Bermondsey (Southwark, London), to James William Coles and Mary Ann Carney (September 17). 

1871 – The family lives at 8 Lion Court, Berdmondsey. 

1873 – Frances' father, James William, now widow, moves to St Mary Magdalen Worhouse in Berdmondsey, maybe with his youngest children, Frances and James Jr. 

Ca. 1877 – Frances works as a trainee in the packing department of a soap and toiletries manufacturer called James Sinclair & Son, at 65 Southwark Street, and she moves into a lodging house at 192 Union Street. 

1881 – Frances still lives at 192 Union Street, but now works at Winifred Hora & Co., a small wholesale druggist company in the East End, located at 58 Minories Street, stoppering the bottles. 

1883 – Frances lives in a new residence, Wilmott’s Lodging House at 18 Thrawl Street in Spitalfields. She doesn’t work at Hora’s anymore. At this time she meets and starts a relationship with labourer James Murray. 

Ca. 1886 – Her relationship of 4 years with James Murray ends.

Ca. 1887 – She has to support herself through prostitution, adopting the nickname of ‘Carroty Nell’.

1889 – Frances meets merchant seaman James Thomas Sadler (September). 

1890 – Frances visits her oldest sister Mary Ann and tells her she is living with an elderly woman in Richard Street, Commercial Road, still working at the chemist’s in the Minories (December 26). 

1891 – Frances is forced to leave Wilmott’s lodging house because she cannot pay her bed (early January). 

1891 – Frances visits her father in the Bermondsey Workhouse on Tanner Street, for the last time, she tells him she doesn’t work at Hora’s anymore (February 6). 

1891 – James Thomas Sadler arrives to London and meets Frances and go to several pubs and spend the night together at Spitalfields Chambers, a common lodging house at 8 White’s Row (February 11). 

1891 – Frances buys a new hat with money that James has given her. In the evening she meets with James at Spitalfields chambers, but they don’t have money to pay for a bed (February 12). 

1891 – Frances has a meal at Shuttleworth’s eating house in Wentworth Street (February 13). 

1891 – Frances meets prostitute Ellen Callana in Commercial Street who's approached by a violent man. She refuses him but Frances goes with him instead (February 13). 

1891 – PC Ernest Thompson finds a mortally wounded Frances in Shallow Gardens, Whitechapel. She would die there soon after. She was 31 (February 13).

Your life was difficult and cut short. You were free at last... 🌼

[victorianwhitechapel]

Jack the Ripper walk (part 1)

I've done the Jack the Ripper Walk three times, maybe due to my fascination about Victorian London and about Whitechapel, a neighbourhood where I lived for two months on Summer 2007. Here you'll find the pics my friends and me took. Enjoy your walk!! 

This is the guide we used to make our Jack The Ripper Walk. The first walk we did it on August 7th 2007, the second walk we did it one year later, on August 1st 2008 and the third walk (this time within a guided group) the 15th August 2012.

Durward Street (Buck's Row) 

Please, note also that the epitaph should be on the exact point of the murder but it's not sure due to the ancientness of the murder.

Whitechapel

Following Durward Street, you have to cross Valance Road and wald through Whitechapel High Street, where you can see The Royal London Hospital on the other side of the road. You keep on walking and you'll find Osbourn Street, a street that leads to Brick Lane, the heart of Banglatown! In the place where there is the Bangla Town door and there is an old building of balti cuisine. In that corner it was when Emma Elizabeth Smith was attacked by three man on April 3rd 1888 and died two days later, on April 5th. 

At the confluence between Osbourn Street and Brick Lane there is the Bangla Town Entrance and the old building of Balti Cuisine where in front of it Emma Elizabeth Smith was attacked. 

Gunthorpe Street (George's Yard)

Go back again to Whitechapel High Street 'till Gunthorpe Street (former George's Yard) where Marta Tabram was murdered. Marta Tabram's body was discovered on 6th August 1888 at George's Yard Buildings on the first floor corridor by John reeves who had a room in that buildings. 

The pub in which refers the text is the pub called White Hart. 

After passing the pub, if you turn right (after passing that three houses you see at the right of the pic) you'll see a ground, in this ground there was a public women's house where the poorest women of the neighbourhood stayed at night. They slept in wooden boxes and sometimes while sleeping their items (shoes, handkerchiefs...) were stolen by others. Some of them also when came to sleep never woke up again.

This part of whitechapel is Bangla Town today, you just have to have a look at the street names banners to see it, they are written in Bengali!! :)

Thrawl Street

Walk through Gunthorpe Street and turn left. Take Wentworth street and keep on walking 'till meet Commercial Street. Walk through Commercial Street 'till find Trawl Street. At 18 Trawl Street lived Mary Ann Nichols. The building no longer exists.

Fashion Street

Come back to Commercial Street and walk untill meet Fashion Street where is though that some victims lived here. What is certain is that this street was full of slum housing and overcrowded rooms and it was part of thew area where the victims worked.

Christ church of Spittafields

Go back again to Commercial Street and keep on walking until find The Christ Church of Spittafields. It would have been a common sight for both the Ripper and his victims, many of them would walk through this stretch of road looking for clients.

The Ten Bells

Just besides of the Christ church of Spittafields there is the Ten Bells Pub, the most ancient pub in London. It was in this pub where Annie Chapman was last seen alive with a suspect man believed to be the Ripper himself. In this pub frequently Jack the Ripper had a drink, and so did his victims.

Inside the Ten Bells, it seems like time has not passed.