Mary Ann Nichols
Mary Ann Nichols, known as Polly Nichols, was the first canonical victim of the unidentified serial killer known as Jack the Ripper, who is believed to have murdered and mutilated at least five women in and around the Whitechapel district of London between late August and early November 1888.
The two earlier murders linked to the Whitechapel murderer are unlikely to have been committed by Jack the Ripper. When Nichols's murder was first associated with the series, it heightened both press and public interest in the criminal activity and general living conditions of the inhabitants of London's East End.
Early life
Mary Ann Walker was born on 26 August 1845 in either Dean Street, off Fetter Lane in London, or Dawes Court, Shoe Lane, London. She was the second of three children of Edward Walker, a locksmith who later worked as a blacksmith, and his wife, Caroline, a laundress. Little is known of her early childhood, although records indicate that she had been christened by 1851.At the age of eighteen, Walker married William Nichols, a printer's machinist. The ceremony took place on 16 January 1864 at Saint Bride's Parish Church in the City of London, with Seth George Havelly and Sarah Good acting as witnesses. After their marriage, the couple briefly lodged at 30–31 Bouverie Street before moving to 131 Trafalgar Street to live with Walker's father. Between 1866 and 1879, they had five children: Edward John, Percy George, Alice Esther, Eliza Sarah, and Henry Alfred.
Nichols was tall, with brown eyes, high cheekbones, and dark brown hair that had begun to grey by the time of her death.
Separation
On 6 September 1880, the couple moved into their own home at 6 D-Block, Peabody Buildings, Stamford Street, Blackfriars Road, paying a weekly rent of 5s. 9d. Shortly afterwards, they separated, and William later relocated with four of their children to an address near Old Kent Road.Nichols's father accused William of abandoning his daughter after conducting an affair with the nurse who had attended the birth of their final child. William, however, claimed to have proof that the marriage had continued for at least three years after the date of the alleged affair. He stated that their marital difficulties had been caused by his wife's heavy drinking, and that he had begun an affair only after Nichols had left him. He later told authorities that his wife had deserted him and was supporting herself through prostitution.
Over the following years, Nichols accumulated a lengthy police record, although all of her arrests were for minor offences, including drunkenness, disorderly conduct, and prostitution.
1881–1887
By 1881, Nichols was living at Lambeth Workhouse, where she described herself as a charwoman. She left the workhouse on 31 May. Her movements for much of the following year are uncertain, although she returned to Lambeth Workhouse on 24 April 1882. She later lived with her father in Walworth for several months in 1883, leaving his home after a quarrel.William Nichols, who was legally required to support his estranged wife, initially paid her a weekly allowance of five shillings. These payments ceased in the spring of 1882 after he received word that she was working as a prostitute. Nichols responded by sending a summons through the Lambeth Union requesting that the allowance continue. When parish authorities attempted to collect the maintenance money, William stated that his wife had deserted her family, leaving their children in his care, and was living with another man while earning money through prostitution. As he was not legally obliged to support her if she was receiving income through illicit means, Nichols received no further maintenance.
Nichols spent most of her remaining years in workhouses and lodging houses, relying on charitable relief and her limited earnings as a prostitute, although she frequently spent her income on alcohol. By 1887, she had formed a relationship with a widower and father of three named Thomas Stuart Drew, but the couple separated on 24 October. By December 1887, Nichols was sleeping rough in Trafalgar Square, although a clearance of the area on 19 December led to her returning to Lambeth Workhouse. On this occasion, she remained there for less than two weeks.
1888
In April 1888, the matron of Lambeth Workhouse, Mrs Fielder, found Nichols employment as a domestic servant in the household of Mr and Mrs Cowdry in Wandsworth. Shortly after taking the position, Nichols wrote to her father expressing her satisfaction with the post, stating: "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 teetotallers, 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."Possibly because Nichols was an alcoholic and her employers were teetotallers, she left the position after three months, stealing clothing worth £3 10s. and absconding from the premises. Her father learned of this incident via a postcard dated 12 July, sent in response to his attempt to write to her.
By the summer of 1888, Nichols was living in a common lodging-house at 18 Thrawl Street, Spitalfields, where she shared a bed with an elderly woman named Emily "Nelly" Holland. On 24 August, she moved to another common lodging-house at 56 Flower and Dean Street, Whitechapel.
30–31 August
At approximately 11:00 pm on 30 August, Nichols was seen walking along Whitechapel Road. She visited the Frying Pan public house in Brick Lane, Spitalfields, leaving at 12:30 am on 31 August. By 1:20 am, she had returned to the kitchen of her Flower and Dean Street lodging-house. Fifty minutes later, she was seen by the deputy lodging house keeper, who asked her for the 4d required for her bed. When Nichols replied that she did not have the money, she was ordered to leave the premises. Unconcerned, she motioned to her new black velvet bonnet and replied: "I'll soon get my doss money. See what a jolly bonnet I've got now." She then left the lodging-house, likely intending to earn the money needed to pay for a bed through prostitution.Nichols was last seen alive by Emily Holland, who encountered her walking alone down Osborn Street at approximately 2:30 am, about an hour before her death. Holland later stated that Nichols appeared noticeably drunk, at one point slumping against the wall of a grocer's shop. She attempted to persuade Nichols to return to her Thrawl Street lodging-house, but Nichols refused, saying, "I have had my lodging money three times today, and I have spent it." Holland observed that Nichols seemed unconcerned about her prospects of earning the 4d. required for her bed. The two women then parted, with Nichols walking towards Whitechapel Road.
Murder
At 3:40 am on 31 August, a carman named Charles Allen Cross discovered what he initially believed to be a tarpaulin lying on the ground in front of a gated stable entrance in Buck's Row, Whitechapel, as he walked to his place of employment in Broad Street. The location was approximately 150 yards from the London Hospital and 100 yards from Blackwall Buildings.On closer inspection, Cross realised that the object was the body of a woman. She lay on her back with her eyes open, her legs straight, her skirt raised above her knees, and her left hand touching the gate of the stable entrance. A second carman, Robert Paul, approached as he made his way to work and saw Cross standing in the road, looking at the body. Cross called him over, and the two men examined her. Cross touched the woman's face, which was still warm, and then her hands, which were cold. He told Paul that he believed she was dead, although Paul thought she might simply be unconscious. The two pulled her skirt down to cover her lower body, then went in search of a policeman. They encountered PC Jonas Mizen at the corner of Hanbury Street and Baker's Row. Cross informed him of their discovery, adding, "She looks to me to be either dead or drunk, but for my part, I believe she's dead." The two men then continued on their way to work, leaving Mizen to investigate.
Shortly before PC Mizen reached Buck's Row, PC John Neil approached the street from the opposite direction on his beat and illuminated Nichols's body with his lantern. By flashing the lantern, Neil attracted the attention of PC John Thain as Thain passed the entrance to Buck’s Row, calling out, "Here's a woman with her throat cut. Run at once for Dr Llewellyn." Neil then examined the scene for blood trails but found none. He also inspected the road and observed no wheel marks.
PC Thain fetched surgeon Dr Llewellyn, who arrived in Buck's Row at 4:00 am. Llewellyn noted two deep knife wounds to the woman's throat and quickly pronounced life extinct, estimating from the warmth of her body and legs that she had been dead for approximately thirty minutes. He instructed PC Neil to remove the body to the Old Montague Street Mortuary on a handcart fetched by Mizen, stating, "Move the woman to the mortuary; she is dead. I will make a further examination of her."
As news of the murder spread, several people converged on the scene. Among them were three horse-slaughterers from a neighbouring knacker's yard in Winthrop Street: Harry Tomkins, James Mumford, and Charles Britten. PC Thain had informed them of the discovery as he passed their yard on his way to fetch Dr Llewellyn. All three men were questioned, with Tomkins and Britten admitting that they had left their workplace at 12:20 am for approximately thirty minutes, possibly to visit the nearby Roebuck public house. All three were eliminated as suspects. Police also questioned every tenant of Buck's Row, including the residents of the house closest to where Nichols's body had been found. Although several occupants had been awake during the early hours, none reported seeing or hearing anything unusual. Likewise, all police officers patrolling along or near Buck's Row in the early hours of 31 August stated that they had observed nothing suspicious before the discovery of Nichols's body.