Latest Ripper Suspect a Friend of Queen Victoria

The Australian ^ | April 20, 2005 | Unattributed

[quidnunc]

Cardiff – A Welshman who was a personal friend of Queen Victoria has joined the long list of suspects accused of being serial killer Jack the Ripper, according to a BBC report.

A book by Tony Williams of Swansea claims his ancestor, John Williams, was the murderer.

Sir John was a doctor to the royals and a founder of the National Library of Wales in Aberystwyth, on the west coast.

Williams said he unearthed evidence linking the unsolved crimes to Sir John while carrying out research into the doctor's life. He claimed it showed that Sir John, his grandmother's great-great uncle, knew all five of the Ripper's victims and had treated them.

Between August and November 1888, Jack the Ripper terrorised the East End of London, murdering five women.

Williams said he was convinced his relation, born at Blaenllynantn in south Wales in 1840, was the killer and was possibly driven to commit murder in the name of medical research because his wife could not have children.

"My evidence is all documented," Williams told the BBC. "I started researching Sir John because I was proud he was my relation. While I was researching, I read in his diaries and medical notes in the national library that he knew the Ripper's first victim, Mary Anne Nicholls."

-snip-

[Fiddlstix]

BTTT

[Darkwolf]

I'm vaguelly interested in JTRipper stories, partly because it's a genre that will never die because it will never be solved.

[Reaganwuzthebest]

A Welshman who was a personal friend of Queen Victoria has joined the long list of suspects accused of being serial killer Jack the Ripper, according to a BBC report.

The last I heard they were claiming Jack the Ripper was an American. Sounds to me like they haven't got a clue.

[infidel29]

I liked the old "THAMES" production about JTR starring Michael Caine as the lead detective. That one had JTR as the Queen's doctor, a highly respected man as well.

[infidel29]

...but not this doctor, I can't remember that one's name.

[Theresawithanh]

I am fascinated by the JTR story. We'll never really know who he was, but it is widely thought he was a doctor because of the way the bodies were dissected. The supposed notes from him to the authorities were written by a person who didn't seem to me to have good command of proper English, or maybe it was a ploy.

[quidnunc]

infidel29 wrote: ...but not this doctor, I can't remember that one's name.

It was Sir William gull who was fingered as an accomplice by a wrtiter named Stephen Knight.

[PzLdr]

I still like Druitt.He comes close to the description a Bobby gave of a man leaving Miter Square before they discovered Eddowes, the second victim, on the night of the "double event"

[nuconvert]

"Others suspected of being Jack the Ripper include Queen Victoria's grandson, Prince Albert Victor; royal physician William Gull; barrister and teacher Montague John Druitt; and artist Walter Sickert."

I've read about them all. And there seems to be fairly good circumstantial evidence for all.

[infidel29]

RIGHT! I thought that film had a good premise and I found it to be believable. More than the Johnny Depp "From Hell" film.

[chaosagent]

I think Patrica Cornwell laid out a pretty good case that it was the artist, Walter Sickert.

[1066AD]

OJ was a pretty good ripper too...

[jordan8]

Unlikely, this fantasy will probably be destroyed in short order. The definitive study of the Ripper case is The Complete History of Jack the Ripper by Philip Sugden.

[Reaganwuzthebest]

This writer makes a good case that Jack the Ripper was indeed American doctor Francis Tumblety. At the very least Tumblety was a strange character who was there at the time and could have been the killer:

The Enduring Obscurity of Jack the Ripper

[lizma]

but it is widely thought he was a doctor because of the way the bodies were dissected.

From everything I've heard or read this guy seemed to know what he was doing when it came to his surgical "skills". It's really not possible to hide from that even back then.

It just makes sense that he had friends in very high places. Think of the Swimmer and Mary-Jo. He could have chosen to save her but he chose to save his political career.

I'm sure the English upper crust would not stand for this stain on there record. I think they quietly took him out.

[Theresawithanh]

"I'm sure the English upper crust would not stand for this stain on there record. I think they quietly took him out."

It certainly makes you wonder why this was never solved. Were there not enough resources at that time to solve such a case, or was it covered up?

Good comparison to Schwimmer Kennedy, also.

[jordan8]

Jack the Ripper was almost certainly the same sort of local nonentity that commits such crimes today. Here is a webpage with lots of info on the case.

[Oztrich Boy]

I still like Druitt.He comes close to the description a Bobby gave of a man leaving Miter Square

Unless it was "person or persons unknown" I like Druitt for the crime too,

The policeman (I believe called Stephen Smith) wasn't a bobby, he was a Special Branch detective. And he wasn't on the Ripper caze, he was on a sepatrate operation against Fenian terrorists, which is why his encounter wasn't considered by the City Police at at the time.

But if the man he met was the Ripper, his description "a man of foreign appearance, but with an educated English voice" is fairky significant.

"foreign appearance" is usually assumed to be a euphanism for "Jewish", but it may have simply meant "continental" or "not typically English".

If that is the case, the description rules out every candiate except Montague John Druitt (and the man he closely resembled, Prince Albert Edward Victor - But Eddie has an alibi, and probably a bit of a germanic accent)

(Sickert was Danish born, but in appearance Anthony Andrews English)

The case againsr Druitt may not be ironclad, but he was an early suspect, and in 40 years noone has come up with a convincing argument that rules him out.

[Jazzper]

Ive read quite a bit about the Rippper. It's not certain wether he had surgical knowledge, though he may have been a butcher by trade.

Im sure he was not a famous doctor, or part of a Royal conspiracy. These conpiracy's just seem like a good way for authors and moviemakers to make money.

As someone posted above, JtR was probablay a local nonentity. Kosminski seems to be a serious suspect.

I also read the Special Branch Detective's sighting. It has to be treated with caution but is nevertheless intriguing.