Rippiers / Rippers of Rye

[Astatine211]

Hi all,

I was doing some digging in old archive index's when I came across an interesting term:

Rippers or Rippiers of Rye, i. 187: so called from carrying fish for sale in a ripp or basket; pedlars in Kent used them in pairs and slung on each side of a horse for carrying loads, such as salt, fish, sand.

This was what fish porters who caught their fish in Rye and Great Yarmouth referred to themselves as. It was said these fish porters would then take their fish to London to sell.

I do find it interesting since Joe Barnett was a fish porter and Great Yarmouth has connections to Eddowes and the Ripper letter from 14th Dorset Street (Maxwell was one of the residents there) sent to Yarmouth police which discussed Yarmouth.

Maybe it could've inspired Jack's name if he had a connection to Yarmouth and therefor would've know about the Rippers of Rye.

Sorry if this has already been discussed but when I searched I couldn't find any mentions of it. Also this is my first proper post :-)

[Azarna]

Something to consider indeed.

I have often wondered if (and I appreciate it is a big if) the Dear Boss letter was indeed written by the murderer, and the line "Don't mind me giving the trade name" was literally what was being done.. "ripper" was his trade.

A fish porter, leather worker or sailmaker perhaps (I found reference to a group of 1850s sailmakers calling themselves "The Rippers" though whether this was a common name for these craftsmen I don't know).

Though it is perhaps more likely that the writer was just giving a "trade name" to the murderer, as a "ripper" of women.

And if the Dear Boss letter was indeed written by a journalist then the sobriquet, "Jack the Ripper", is a brilliant way to catch the attention and help sell more papers.

[Al Bundy's Eyes]

Hi all,

I was doing some digging in old archive index's when I came across an interesting term:

Rippers or Rippiers of Rye, i. 187: so called from carrying fish for sale in a ripp or basket; pedlars in Kent used them in pairs and slung on each side of a horse for carrying loads, such as salt, fish, sand.

This was what fish porters who caught their fish in Rye and Great Yarmouth referred to themselves as. It was said these fish porters would then take their fish to London to sell.

I do find it interesting since Joe Barnett was a fish porter and Great Yarmouth has connections to Eddowes and the Ripper letter from 14th Dorset Street (Maxwell was one of the residents there) sent to Yarmouth police which discussed Yarmouth.

Maybe it could've inspired Jack's name if he had a connection to Yarmouth and therefor would've know about the Rippers of Rye.

Sorry if this has already been discussed but when I searched I couldn't find any mentions of it. Also this is my first proper post :-)

Hello, and welcome!

I've seen this discussed before, but things aren't always clearly labelled, and more often they're discussed at length half way through a totally unrelated thread, so no surprise you couldn't find anything.

The biggest issue for me is that for any of that to have relevance, you need the 'Dear Boss' letter to be genuine. The 'trade name' is clearly a reference to the line "I shan't quit ripping them" so for me it's pretty clear that the writer intended for "Jack The Ripper" to mean just that. As it is, I'm no great fan of hidden messages and cryptic clues though, so take that into account when reading my response.

The Yarmouth theme has piqued my interest though. That's a niche line for any new poster. Is this of particular interest to you, or was it just the Rip basket thing?

There has been discussion around 14 Dorset St residents with Yarmouth connections, I think I'm right in saying Mr Barnett could direct you to the appropriate thread.

Enjoy the boards.

[DJA]

Rye made by a bloke named Hiram,with a Royal Warrant from Queen Victoria.
Ripper stuff apparently.