Jack the Ripper

Jack the Ripper is possibly the most famous serial killer in history.

Background
"Jack" as he called himself, was active in the Whitechapel district of London, England during the late 1800s. Whitechapel itself was known as a Red Light District of the city; meaning that it was a haven for prostitutes, drug addicts and gangsters. The London Metropolitan Police estimated that there were 1200 active prostitutes at any given time, every one of them a potential target of a serial killer.

Leading the investigation were inspector Frederick Aberline, and Medical Examiner Thomes Bond. They were unsuccessful in capturing or even identifying The Ripper.

Theories
There have been many theories concerning the identity of The Ripper, mostly involving royal figures, prominent business men, and even a female Jewish immigrant. These include, but are not limited to:


 * David Cohen (a Jewish cobbler)
 * Aaron Kosminski (a Jewish butcher)
 * Prince Edward Albert Victor (the son of Queen Victoria and heir to the throne)
 * Walter Sickert (a German-born painter who was the mentor of Prince Albert)
 * John Pizer (a Jewish cobbler)
 * Unnamed female
 * Doctor William Gull (the Victor family physician)

Known Victims

 * Mary Ann Nichols
 * Annie Chapman
 * Elizabeth Stride
 * Catherine Eddowes
 * Mary Jane Kelly

In addition, The Ripper is thought to have killed the following women:


 * Emma Elizabeth Smith
 * Martha Tabram
 * Rose Mylett
 * Alice McKenzie
 * Frances Coles
 * Unidentified woman

Legacy
There are no documents in the Whitechapel murder file dated after 1896. The murderer or murderers were never identified and the cases remain unsolved.

The poor of the East End had long been ignored by affluent society, but the nature of the murders and of the victims drew attention to their living conditions. The murders galvanised opinion against the overcrowded, insanitary slums of the East End, and led to demands for reform. On 24 September 1888, George Bernard Shaw commented sarcastically in a letter to The Star newspaper on the media's sudden concern in social justice:

Whilst we conventional Social Democrats were wasting our time on education, agitation and organisation, some independent genius has taken the matter in hand, and by simply murdering and disembowelling … women, converted the proprietary press to an inept sort of communism.

Acts of Parliament, such as the Housing of the Working Classes Act 1890 and the Public Health Amendment Act 1890, set minimum standards for accommodation in an effort to transform degenerated urban areas. In the two decades after the Whitechapel murders, the worst of the slums were closed down and demolished.

Sensational reportage and the mystery surrounding the identity of the killer or killers fed the development of the character "Jack the Ripper", who was blamed for all or most of the murders. Hundreds of books and articles discuss the Whitechapel murders, and they feature in novels, short stories, comic books, and films of multiple genres.