March 2020 No. 166 Henry Farquharson, M.P. Joanna whatley LOOKS AT THE PAST OF the ‘Untrustworthy’ Source of Macnaghten’s ‘Private Information’ MICHAEL HAWLEY • martin baggoley from the archives: sex or no sex? SPOTLIGHT ON RIPPERCAST • NINA & howard brown the latest book reviewsRipperologist 118 January 2011 1 Ripperologist 166 March 2020 EDITORIAL: Pandemic, 1892 Adam Wood HENRY RICHARD FARQUHARSON, M.P. The Untrustworthy Source of Macnaghten’s ‘Private Information’? Joanna Whately INSPECTOR ANDREWS’ ORDERS TO NEW YORK CITY, DECEMBER 1888 Michael L. Hawley ELIZA ROSS The Female Burker Martin Baggoley FROM THE ARCHIVES: SEX OR NO SEX? Amanda Howard Spotlight on Rippercast: RIPPERCAST REVIEWS ‘THE FIVE’ BY HALLIE RUBENHOLD MURDERS EXPLAINED BY LONDON BRAINS Nina and Howard Brown VICTORIAN FICTION Eduardo Zinna BOOK REVIEWS Paul Begg and David Green Ripperologist magazine is published by Mango Books (www.MangoBooks.co.uk). 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The unauthorised reproduction or circulation of agreements and give rise to civil liability and criminal prosecution. this publication or any part thereof, whether for monetary gain or not, is strictly prohibited and may constitute copyright infringement as defined in domestic laws and international Ripperologist 166 March 2020 Editorial: Pandemic, 1892 ADAM WOOD “From the time of the earliest tidings of its appearance in the East, its progress EXECUTIVE EDITOR was carefully watched from Whitehall; and the moment it became apparent that Adam Wood the malady had assumed pandemic characters and was spreading westwards, EDITORS our Local Government Board took tbe precaution of sending inspectors to all Gareth Williams ports... with the view of warning the local authorities the danger, and see that Eduardo Zinna the machinery necessary for quarantine and isolation was in thorough working EDITOR-AT-LARGE order. This, as we know, had been followed by the best results, and we might now Jonathan Menges perhaps congratulate ourselves that great disaster had warded off, that we had escaped the introduction of a pestilence, which otherwise there was every reason REVIEWS EDITOR to believe might have ravaged the country far and wide.” Paul Begg Let’s hope the self-isolaton of 2020 is as effective in warding off COVID-19 as that of COLUMNISTS 1892, as decribed by Professor John Hamilton in a talk given at Aberdeen that October. Nina and Howard Brown David Green With the current outbreak causing worldwide panic – not least on social media – many have been looking to history and pandemics of the past, especially the so-called ARTWORK Adam Wood million people. Spanish flu of 1918-20 which resulted in an estimated death toll of between 17 and 50 quickly spread across the northern hemisphere. Recurrences came to Europe in early 1891Before and thenthis wasNovember the influenza 1891 to pandemicJune 1892 ofand 1889-90, again in whichwinter started1893/94. in OneRussia million and people died, and among the millions struck down by the virus were people known to readers of this magazine. Chief Inspector Donald Swanson was one such who succumbed, being diagnosed with pharyngitis on 12th January 1892 and forced to take a week away from his duties. Despite returning to work on 19th January, Swanson then developed tonsillitis and was sent home for another twelve days, returning on 2nd March only to be diagnosed with March after a total of 41 days absent. Ripperologist magazine is influenza. He would spend twenty-two days recovering, returning to his duties on 27th published six times a year and Over eighteen weeks that year some 2,242 people died in London alone, including, supplied in digital format. It is free it was reported in the Sussex Agricultural Express of 6th February 1892, Chief Inspector of charge to subscribers. Swanson: available in PDF format on our Back issues from 62-165 are Over a thousand of the London Police are still down, and the death is reported of website. Detective Swanson who it may be remembered took a prominent part in the Lefroy An index to Ripperologist [Mapleton] murder a case a few years ago. magazine can also be downloaded. In fact, reports of Swanson’s demise were premature. It had actually been his nephew To be added to the mailing list, James Alexander Swanson, fourth son of Donald’s eldest brother John, who had passed to submit a book for review or away. James had served in the Metropolitan Police for several years, and at the time of to place an advertisement, get in his death, on 26th January 1892 aged just 28, was a Sergeant living at south London. touch at contact@ripperologist. co.uk We welcome well-researched Swanson was not the only sufferer; virtually all officers of the CID were struck down, articles on any aspect of the along with Hon. Hamilton Cuffe, the Director of Public Prosecutions, some 50 workers Whitechapel murders, the East at Knightsbridge Barracks. End or the Victorian era in at the Bank of England, firemen at the Brigade’s Southwark headquarters and soldiers President of the Local Government Board Arthur Balfour, later Prime Minister, was general. severely affected, as was Lord Rosebery, also a future Prime Minister. The Rev. Samuel www.ripperologist.co.uk Flood Jones, a Minor Canon and Precentor of Westminster Abbey, died there on 26th 1 Ripperologist 166 March 2020 February following a week suffering from bronchitis. Heir to the throne and Jack the Ripper suspect Prince would die in London alone as a direct result of influenza Albert Victor, the Duke of Clarence, would be the highest- during the sixteen-week outbreak of 1895. These figures pale when compared with those of 14 January. reference point when considering the 2020 outbreak. profile casualty, when he passed away at Sandringham on the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic, but perhaps serve as a Birmingham Daily Post reported And there are no reports of the Victorians stockpiling that 111 people had died in the previous seven days as toilet paper. Stay safe, dear Reader. On 27th February, the * week before. In total, date there were 3,119 deaths from A good read for those self-isolating is A History of the a direct result of influenza, compared with just 24 the diseases of the respiratory organs that week, against the Great Influenza Pandemics: Death, Panic and Hysteria, 1830-1920 by Mark Honigsbaum (2013). previous week’s 1,840. By way of contrast, 2,156 people The death of Prince Albert Victor during the 1892 influenza pandemic. From the Illustrated Police News, 3rd January 1892 2 Ripperologist 166 March 2020 Henry Richard Farquharson, M.P. The Untrustworthy Source of Macnaghten’s ‘Private Information’? By JOANNA WHYMAN Today Henry Farquharson is a footnote in history, most express them forcibly and agreeably. But he carried often cited in regard of the accusation of libel made originality to the verge of eccentricity.’3 The reporter for against him by his political opponent Charles Gatty in the Wells Journal also added that he was ‘somewhat deaf’, 1893 or with his identification as the ‘West of England but this did not affect his ability to speak well in public.4 MP’ who accused a son of a surgeon who drowned Although he was capable of being charming, Farquharson himself as the perpetrator of the Jack the Ripper frequently involved himself in petty squabbles, especially murders. Generally, Farquharson has been dismissed by modern authors as ‘a bit of a political naïf.’1 But with those he considered to be beneath him such as careful scrutiny of contemporary newspapers and traders, tenant farmers and political rivals. He would then memoirs reveal a more complex character who go to ridiculous lengths in his own defence to assert the displayed a pattern of compulsive lying dating back validity of his claims, claims it would often transpire had to his teenage years. Thus, a wider discussion of very little merit whatsoever. Farquharson’s track record of exaggerating or making up stories has never been fully discussed before. This The Trouble at Eton article aims to redress this. Background By 1875, memoirs written about life at Eton during the of the leaders of a ‘bad set’ that had emerged within the Henry Richard Farquharson was born at Marine 1870s by his contemporaries identify Farquharson as one school, most of whom resided at house of Edward Pecker Rouse, a mathematics master. This set was described as Farquharson, fourth son of James John Farquharson of Parade, Brighton on 29 May 1857 to Henry James having been ‘collected from the5 dregs of other houses’,6 Langton, Dorset and his wife, Fanny Marcia, née Ward, his and as containing ‘all the rowdy characters of the school’, He was, at the time of his birth, the second son and fourth parents having married at Child Okeford on 1 May 1852.