a pair of kid gloves

[DVV]

Bounjour en tołti,
I wonder why I never came through a discussion about the pair of "kid gloves" found on Druitt.
What can be the use of a pair of kid gloves for a grown man?
As a non-english speaker, I doubt if a kid glove is really a kid glove...
And the man described by Hutchinson also holds a pair of kid gloves in his right hand.
By the way, he has this parcel in his left hand, and these bloody kid gloves in his left...very strange way of prowling the streets, with no hand free. And anyway he managed to pull out this bloody red handkerchief.
With a third hand, may be?
Thanks everybody (and special thanks to Ben for welcoming) and forgive my broken english,
DVV (aka Fu Manchu)

[Mike Covell]

Hi DVV (Fu Manchu)
What is the source of this information? I cannot seem to find anything about "Kid gloves".
Welcome to the boards

[DVV]

Hi Mike,
the pair of kid gloves is a part of Hutchinson's statement (see Begg, the Facts, p 283, or Sugden, 2002, p 336, quoting the Star and the Times of november 14).
As for Druitt, the kid gloves are mentionned by Sugden p 382 (quoting the Acton, Chiswick and Turnham Gazette, jan. 5 1889).
Best regards,
DVV (aka Fu Manchu)

[Mike Covell]

Many thanks, I have those and will take a look.

[revpetero]

Kid Gloves

Correct me if I'm wrong but Kid Gloves are gloves made from a soft leather (Usually Kidskin, Goat)

These I don't think would be uncommon. Such a soft touch hence "Treat with Kid Gloves"

Peter

[DVV]

So many thanks Revpetero,
that is exactly the information I was waiting for, since I wrote "as a non-english speaker I doubt that a kid glove is a kid glove". My dictionnaries are silent about "kid gloves", and the only French book mentionning these (Bourgoin, 1998) gives "gloves of children size". A mistake, so, as I always suspected.
Thanks again for clearing this disturbing detail
DVV (aka Fu Manchu)

[Mike Covell]

A pretty much essential item on those cold autumnal months. I suspect quite a lot of the gentlemen in the higher classes wore such a piece of clothing.

[DVV]

Yes, yes, yes,
another witness would have sait "gloves", but our luxurious Hutchinson gives us "kid gloves".

[Ben]

Exactly, DVV, and if you're paying so much attention to the gloves that you can discern what colour and type they were, it's pretty much impossible to pay equal attention to other minute aspects of the man's appearance, such as the colour and origin of the "tightly-grasped" American-cloth parcel, or the dark eyelashes, or the horseshoe tie pin, or the "white buttons over button boots", especially not for a fleeting moment in darkness and foul weather.

As one plucky journalist observed with typical Victorian understatement, "It engenders a feeling of scepticism".

Yeah, just a bit.

Best wishes,
Ben

[aspallek]

Kid gloves were expensive, dressy gloves worn by gentlemen of the period. They were made of soft lamb or kid (young goat) skin.

[Natalie Severn]

Kid gloves were part of the everyday "uniform"-or" conventional attire" of all Victorian gentlemen.
Wearing a hat outdoors, was obligatory,as were kid gloves and it was the norm to wear a red or white silk handkerchief in a jacket top pocket ,also a waistcoat,buttoned spats,a watch and chain with a decorative insignia of some kind.In Montague Druitt"s case he was fished out of the Thames in exactly such an attire,,the insignia attached to his watch being a spade guinea.He was minus his hat and shirt collar but wearing KID GLOVES.
There is an interesting description in Fenian Fire with reference to the "likelihood" of Hutchinson"s sighting of a well dressed Mr Astrakhan.
Robert Anderson"s double agent Frank Millen,was described thus in 1887:
Age 50-55........Very slight build, dressed dark clothes, dark over coat with astrakhan collar and cuffs- hard felt hat.Wears sword pin -and re insignia-has Irish harp and shamrock on locket and watch chain.........
Nothing remarkable at that time over being out and about sporting a decorative watch chain.He probably,like Hutchinson"s Mr Astrakhan and Montague Druitt"s drowned corpse,wore kid gloves too!!!

[Ben]

I just knew someone was going to make the Astrakhan-Druitt-Gloves comparison, and you were the big favourite by a wide margin, Norma.

Unfortunately, the fact that other people wore kid gloves and astrakhan overcoats says nothing about the "likelihood" of:

A) A man so attired being seen in that part of Spitalfields at that time. Nothing remarkable at being seen like that in Chiswick, but everything remarkable - and dangerously so - about being seen like that in what was advertized as one of the worst slums in Greater London, with the added bonus of a serial killer roaming the streets.

B) That level of accessorial and clothing detail being noticed and committed to memory in the time and conditions available.

Both remain unlikely in the extreme, I'm afraid.

"Buttoned spats" and red handkercheifs were certainly not "obligatory" apparel for the Victorian gentleman.

All the best,
Ben

[Christine]

"Kid" meaning child is actually slang, as technically you are calling the child a little goat. However it's so common these days that it isn't really an insult and very few people think of little goats when they say "kid." However it does imply that the child is full of energy.

[Natalie Severn]

"Kid" meaning child is actually slang, as technically you are calling the child a little goat. However it's so common these days that it isn't really an insult and very few people think of little goats when they say "kid." However it does imply that the child is full of energy.

Wow,that goes a long way towards solving this case Christine

[Mike Covell]

Kid can also be slang for Brother or Friend as in "He is alright, our kid!"