Montague John Druitt: Jack the Ripper Suspect
This is what The Southern Guardian wrote on Saturday, January 1st 1889, when it reported the death of Montague John Druitt:
“An inquiry was on Wednesday held by Dr. Diplock, at Chiswick, respecting the death of Montague John Druitt, 31 years of age, who was found drowned in the Thames.
The deceased was identified by his brother, Mr William Harvey Druitt, a solicitor residing at Bournemouth, who stated that the deceased was a barrister-at-law, but had lately been an assistant at a school at Blackheath.
The deceased had left a letter, addressed to Mr Valentine, of the school, in which alluded to suicide. Evidence having been given as to discovering deceased in the Thames - upon his body were found a cheque for £60 and £16 in gold - the jury returned a verdict of “Suicide whilst of unsound mind”
The deceased gentleman was well known and much respected in his neighbourhood. He was a barrister of bright talent, he had a promising future before him, and his untimely end is deeply deplored.
The funeral took place in Wimborne Cemetery on Thursday afternoon, and the body was followed to the grave by the deceased’s relatives and a few friends.”
Sir Melville Macnaghten, who joined the Metropolitan Police as Assistant Chief Constable the year after the murders, named Druitt as a suspect in a memorandum dated February 23rd 1894. Macnaghten said Druitt was “The man most likely to be Jack the Ripper”.
The description of the 31-year-old barrister might give us pause for thought. Druitt is described in Macnaghten’s memorandum as “A doctor about 41 years of age”.
Macnaghten says:
“A rational and workable theory to my way of thinking is that the Ripper’s brain gave way altogether after his awful glut in Millers Court and he then committed suicide, and from private information, I have little doubt that this own family suspected this man of being the Whitechapel murderer”.
Druitt was the second son of seven children. He was born on August 15th 1857 at Westfield, Wimborne, Dorset. His father was a doctor.
Winchester College
Montague John Druitt went to Winchester College, founded by William of Wykeham, in 1382. From there, he went to New College, Oxford.
At both of these, he won the double and single fives titles. He was also heavily involved in the debating society. After graduating in 1880, he took up a teaching post at a boys boarding school in Blackheath. Where he played cricket and was described as one of the best players in the history of the Blackheath Club.
In 1882, he began a second career in law and, in 1885, rented chambers at 9 Kings Bench Walk. Soon after this move, his father died of a heart attack, and his mother, Ann, began to show signs of mental instability.
Later, she attempted suicide with an overdose of laudanum. Ann Druitt’s sister also attempted suicide, and their mother did commit suicide.
At the end of November 1888, Montague was dismissed from the boarding school. Then, when his brother William went to investigate why he’d been missing for a week, he found a suicide note in which Montague had written:
“Since Friday, I felt I was going to be like mother, and the best thing for me was to die”.
His body was discovered floating in the Thames at Chiswick on December 31st 1888. It was believed to have been in the water for about a month.
The inquest, which was held in Chiswick, concluded that Montague John Druitt had committed suicide while of unsound mind.
On January 3rd 1889, he was buried in Wimborne Cemetery. His estate was valued at £2,600, equivalent to more than £300,000 today.
Macnaghten was wrong about Druitt’s age and occupation and also about when he committed suicide. It was not right after the murder of Mary Jane Kelly on November 9 but three weeks after that event at the beginning of December.
In 1903 when a Sunday newspaper claimed that Jack the Ripper was a young medical student who had drowned in the Thames, The Pall Mall Gazette interviewed retired Chief Inspector Frederick Abberline, who said:
“Yes, I know all about that story, but what does it amount to, simply this, soon after the last murder in Whitechapel the body of a young man was found in the Thames, but there is nothing beyond the fact that he was found at that time to incriminate him.”
Many modern writers on the subject agree with Frederick Abberline that there is no evidence that shows that Montague John Druitt was the Whitechapel murderer known as Jack the Ripper.
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