May 2019 No. 164 MARTIN FIDO 1939–2019 DAVID BARRAT • MICHAEL HAWLEY • DAVID pinto STEPHEN SENISE • jan bondeson • SPOTLIGHT ON RIPPERCAST NINA & howard brown • THE BIG QUESTION victorian fiction • the latest book reviews Ripperologist 118 January 2011 1 Ripperologist 164 May 2019 EDITORIAL Adam Wood SECRETS OF THE QUEEN’S BENCH David Barrat DEAR BLUCHER: THE DIARY OF JACK THE RIPPER David Pinto TUMBLETY’S SECRET Michael Hawley THE FOURTH SIGNATURE Stephen Senise THE BIG QUESTION: Is there some undiscovered document which contains convincing evidence of the Ripper’s identity? Spotlight on Rippercast THE POLICE, THE JEWS AND JACK THE RIPPER THE PRESERVER OF THE METROPOLIS Nina and Howard Brown BRITAIN’S MOST ANCIENT MURDER HOUSE Jan Bondeson VICTORIAN FICTION: NO LIVING VOICE by THOMAS STREET MILLINGTON Eduardo Zinna BOOK REVIEWS Paul Begg and David Green Ripperologist magazine is published by Mango Books (www.MangoBooks.co.uk). The views, conclusions and opinions expressed in signed articles, essays, letters and other items published in Ripperologist Ripperologist, its editors or the publisher. The views, conclusions and opinions expressed in unsigned articles, essays, news reports, reviews and other items published in Ripperologist are the responsibility of Ripperologist and its editorial team, but are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views, conclusions and opinions of doWe not occasionally necessarily use reflect material the weopinions believe of has the been publisher. placed in the public domain. It is not always possible to identify and contact the copyright holder; if you claim ownership of something we have published we will be pleased to make a proper acknowledgement. The contents of Ripperologist No. 164, May 2019, including the compilation of all materials and the unsigned articles, essays, news reports, reviews and other items are copyright © 2018 Ripperologist/Mango Books. Cover photograph courtesy Jon Horlor. The authors of signed articles, essays, letters, news reports, reviews and other items retain the copyright of their respective contributions. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, transmitted or otherwise circulated in any form or by any means, including digital, electronic, printed, mechanical, photocopying, recording or any other, without the prior permission in writing from Mango Books. The unauthorised domestic laws and international agreements and give rise to civil liability and criminal prosecution. reproduction or circulation of this publication or any part thereof, whether for monetary gain or not, is strictly prohibited and may constitute copyright infringement as defined in Ripperologist 164 May 2019 Editorial ADAM WOOD, Executive Editor Friday, 17th April 1998 was the day on which much happened in my Ripper ‘life’. It started, EXECUTIVE EDITOR as all such things should, in Whitechapel. It was the opening day of the second Jack the Adam Wood Ripper Conference, held in Norwich following a hugely successful debut two years earlier in EDITORS Ipswich, and I had somehow found myself roped into the ‘entertainment’ for that evening by Gareth Williams BBC Producer Andy Aliffe, a performance of a Ripper-themed comedy radio play. Also in the Eduardo Zinna ‘cast’ were esteemed researcher (and professional actor) Keith Skinner, Sherlockian Nick Utechin and author Paul Begg. Andy was performing the sound effects and TV personality EDITOR-AT-LARGE and Ripperologist Jeremy Beadle introduced the play. Jonathan Menges I’d arranged to meet Paul in the East End that afternoon in order to go over our ‘lines’, and then REVIEWS EDITOR to catch the train together out of Liverpool Street to Norwich. Joining us on that journey was the Paul Begg much-missed Ripper bibliophile, Ross Strachan (if you weren’t around in those days, Google him). The three of us spent an hour or two in The City Darts, former Princess Alice and now Culpeper, COLUMNISTS before heading up to The Ten Bells. And that’s where the trouble began. Nina and Howard Brown David Green Readers who recall the lunchime ‘entertainment’ at the Bells in those days will know what I mean when I say that there was plenty of distraction during our discussions. It might explain why ARTWORK Mystery of Jack the Ripper for more Adam Wood than was strictly necessary. Ross was able to sell me a first edition copy of Leonard Matters’ Bizarrely, a journalist from the Glasgow Herald entered the pub and approached us, asking whether we were going to the Conference. Why he went to the Bells on a Friday lunchtime rather Ripperologist magazine is than going to Norwich to cover the event is a mystery in itself. Yes, we replied, and the reporter published six times a year and supplied in digital format. It is free the article. We then headed to Liverpool Street and caught our train, arriving at the Norwich hotel of charge to subscribers. proceeded to interview first Paul and then Ross, delighted to have comment from a fellow Scot in Back issues from 62-163 are of Jeremy Beadle). available in PDF format on our still slightly under the influence but just in time to ‘perform’ the play (much to the consternation Herald, website. and to make sure she bought a copy of the following day’s paper. The next morning he called to see An index to Ripperologist Ross telephoned his fiancée back home to proudly tell her he’d been interviewed for the magazine can also be downloaded. Alexandra wrapped herself around a pole, while boozy Ripperologists looked on in admiration...” what had been written, only to have his icy-voiced fiancée read out the opening paragraph... “Lithe To be added to the mailing list, The weekend might have got off to a bad start for Ross, but it soon transformed into a magical to submit a book for review or to place an advertisement, get in conferences, and also Martin Fido. We’d communicated by letter in the past, when he’d taken the touch at contact@ripperologist. timeevent. to It respond was the to first my time suggestion I met Jeremythat Daniel Beadle, Good, who the became 10-year-old a friend son and of thecolleague murderer on futureof the co.uk same name whose eventual arrest had lead to the creation of the Met’s Detective Department in 1842, might have been mentally affected by witnessing the savage murder and mutilation of Jane We welcome well-researched articles on any aspect of the Jones. I asked Martin whether there was any evidence that Daniel Good Jr had afterwards gone Whitechapel murders, the East End or the Victorian era in that the boy could have grown to become the Whitechapel murderer was a non-starter, but Martin general. to live to his stepmother, Molly Good, who lived in Spitalfields. There wasn’t, and my suggestion the serial killer. And that was the mark of the man; a ‘high-ranking’ Ripper researcher and author, www.ripperologist.co.uk awas broadcaster intrigued byand the acknowledged idea that witnessing expert, but such still an preparedhorrific event to discuss could others’have eventually theories andproduced ideas even to the detriment of his own. News of his recent death casts a dark cloud over Ripperology, and we know that many of our readers feel the same sense of loss. This is why, rather than run a ‘traditional’ obituary, we invite those of you who also have personal memories of Martin and his work to share these with us so that we may publish them in our next edition. Please get in touch via [email protected]. Thank you. 1 Ripperologist 164 May 2019 Secrets of the Queen’s Bench By DAVID BARRAT The Court of Queen’s Bench (King’s Bench in times of the standard form of words: ‘We command you that within a male monarch) was established in medieval times eight days after the service of this writ on you, inclusive and was based at Westminster Hall in the Palace of of such day of service, you do cause an appearance to be Westminster. During the reign of Queen Victoria it entered…’. The Defendant’s solicitor would then, within was replaced by the Queen’s Bench Division of the High Court, under the Supreme Court of Judicature eight days, have to acknowledge service by putting in an Act 1873, and first sat in 1875, transferring from appearance at the High Court, essentially registering with Westminster to the Royal Courts of Justice in the the court that he was acting for the Defendant – or the Strand when that building opened in November 1882. Defendant could put in an appearance himself - indicating It was, and remains, the division in which one would an intention by the Defendant to defend the claim. Failure issue, amongst other things, defamation and debt to do so would allow the Plaintiff to obtain a judgment in claims. default. A significant amount of documentation from cases century has been retained and is held at the National filed in the Queen’s Bench Division during the nineteenth Archives. It allows us to gain a better understanding of certain legal proceedings which occurred during the late Victorian period. It will first be useful to set out how litigation in the century. Queen’s Bench Division worked during the late nineteenth It was all governed by the Rules of the Supreme Court, a new edition of which was published in 1883. An action would be commenced by the Plaintiff issuing a Writ of Summons and would be assigned a unique claim number by the court. Claim numbers were assigned sequentially in (a) year (b) alphabetical and then (c) numerical form. Hence if Smith sued Jones on 1 January 1888, being, let the claim number would be 1888 S.