“No Such Thing As Bad Weather” Guided Walk January 2024
The gas-lit riverside of London in the 19th century
Small Group Jack the Ripper Tour of Whitechapel Thursday, January 4 2024.
It is often pointed out that there is no such thing as bad weather, only inappropriate clothing. The evening of Thursday, January 4th 2023, certainly tested the truth of those words of wisdom.
The rain was sometimes torrential, but those who turned up were suitably dressed. Although a few were glad to use the extra umbrellas I had brought along.
Detours were necessary as some places were ankle-deep in water. As usual, the group was international, with North America well represented by Arizona, California and Alberta.
Two school teachers from West London represented the UK. One of those teachers described the evening in her Google review. Thank you very much for taking the time to do that, Jo.
“Absolutely fantastic tour”
“Absolutely fantastic tour. Richard has an incredible depth of knowledge, and his friendly manner keeps you engrossed throughout. Being able to visit key locations and hear about all the suspects makes it a fascinating couple of hours. The small group size is an obvious bonus but is made even better by the individual headsets worn by everyone, so you don't miss a word, he says. This was worth its weight in gold when Richard had to compete with the noise of monsoon-strength rainfall during our tour.”
Jo had an extra special interest in my Jack the Ripper walk. The Whitechapel murders form part of the curriculum that she teaches.
We were all dressed in well-designed 21st-century outdoor clothing. In 1888, the poor and destitute who inhabited the hovels in London’s East End, an area that Jack London called “The Abyss”, would not have been so lucky.
It’s worth thinking about the weather conditions on the nights that the victims of Jack the Ripper were brutally murdered.
Storms swept the whole of Britain during the month of August 1888. Strong winds and heavy rain caused serious flooding, which led to crop damage and disruption on the railways.
A Thunderstorm struck London when Jack the Ripper struck his first victim.
A violent thunderstorm swept across London at 2:30 in the afternoon of August 30. The thunderstorm moved on, but showers of rain followed it, and it was cold for August. At 1:30 in the morning of August 31st, Polly Nichols sat in the kitchen of Wilmott’s Lodging House on Thrawl Street. The deputy keeper asked for her ‘doss money’. Polly had no money, and the deputy keeper refused to let her stay in the kitchen.
An hour later, she met Ellen Holland, who had been out with thousands of others to watch a fire that was sweeping through the East End’s docks.
An hour later, and half a mile east of where the two women had met, Polly was murdered.
When Polly Nichols was murdered, it was 8 degrees Celsius (46 Fahrenheit).
In the small hours of September 8, when Annie Chapman was murdered, the temperature was just 6 degrees Celsius (43 Fahrenheit), and again, there were showers of rain.
Her murder on September 8 followed a week of frenzied mass hysteria created as newspapers reported and speculated about the murder of Polly Nichols in Buck’s Row on August 31st 1888.
The temperatures on August 31st and September 8th, 1888, will be no problem for those of us checking out these murder sites in the 21st century. Well-wrapped up and sure of a warm bed to retire to, we won't be too concerned about whatever the weather throws our way.
For these homeless and penniless women, unsure of when they will be able to lie in any bed and not knowing when the next meal will be set in front of them, the situation would be a little more tricky.
The night of the ‘Double Event’.
On September 30, when Liz Stride and Kate Eddowes were out on the streets, the temperature was 43 Fahrenheit (6 Celsius) and again, there were showers of rain before they were both murdered between one and two o’clock in the morning.
The climax of ‘The Autumn of Terror’
November 9th began with showers of rain, and when Mary Jane Kelly was murdered in her bed, the temperature was 36 Fahrenheit or 2 Celsius.
The murder of Mary Jane Kelly marked the end of what became known as ‘The Autumn of Terror”. Mary Jane Kelly was the only victim under 40 and the only victim murdered in her own home. A single room, no bathroom and no kitchen, which she rented by the week.
No matter what the weather throws at those of us in 2024, we will all be a lot more comfortable than the poor women who became the victims of these brutal crimes.
Fortunately for us, there is enough that remains in Whitechapel to help us understand the world these women struggled in.
Is the best tour the one that is taken in the rain? It is certainly the most atmospheric.
Thank you for checking out this post.
Whatever the weather, I hope I will get to meet you on one of my tours.