Was Annie Chapman a rotund woman?

[DJA]

Possibly. Two flaps from the anterior part of the abdomen and "another" from the... well, "posterior" flows naturally from "anterior" and sounds slightly rude, but there's no "posterior abdomen" as far as I know. I'd suggest, therefore, that the missing term was "pubic region", which is that part of the abdomen that extends from below the navel to just above the external genitalia. I daresay that "pubic region" might have been deemed a little too risqué for Victorian ears!

The posterior abdominal wall is sometimes referred to as the back wall .......

as in ...... lateral/sides and anterior/front.

[Bridewell]

Probably written by a journalist after he repaired to the local pub for a pint or ten! And Dr Phillips wouldn't have said "the deceased was fatty", as he was an educated man and that wouldn't be grammatically correct; it should be "the deceased was fat."

Not sure about that. She could have carried a significant amount of fatty tissue, yet not presented visually as 'fat'. Phillips might have referred to her as 'fatty' in that scenario because he was not only an educated man, but a medical man also. That said, the mortuary photograph does suggest that she wasn't thin, although strangulation might have been partially responsible for her appearance there.

[Joshua Rogan]

Possibly. Two flaps from the anterior part of the abdomen and "another" from the... well, "posterior" flows naturally from "anterior" and sounds slightly rude, but there's no "posterior abdomen" as far as I know. I'd suggest, therefore, that the missing term was "pubic region", which is that part of the abdomen that extends from below the navel to just above the external genitalia. I daresay that "pubic region" might have been deemed a little too risqué for Victorian ears!

According to Swanson's 19th Oct reoort, there were two flaps of wall of belly, and one "pubes". It does read as if the info was gained from Dr Phillips' inquest evidence, so perhaps it was the paper that was being coy, rather than the doctor?

[Joshua Rogan]

The Echo 10th Sept has a similar report;

"Judging by the appearance of the woman, as she lay in the mortuary on Saturday, she must have been about five and forty years of age. She was a little over five foot in height, well and strongly built"

[John G]

Star 8th Sept;

"As she lay in the dead-house, where Simmons identified her, she was a stout woman of fair complexion"

And what, or should I say who, was The Star's source for this information? Mind you, we are talking about a newspaper who's typically headline was on the lines of "there's been another 'orrible murder!"

[John G]

Sorry John, it's from the Daily News, 14th Sept.

Probably written by a journalist after he repaired to the local pub for a pint or ten! And Dr Phillips wouldn't have said "the deceased was fatty", as he was an educated man and that wouldn't be grammatically correct; it should be "the deceased was fat."

[Joshua Rogan]

Star 8th Sept;

"As she lay in the dead-house, where Simmons identified her, she was a stout woman of fair complexion"

[Scott Nelson]

Thirty plus posts now. Have we resolved this important question?

[Sam Flynn]

I doubt there were too many fat people in such an impoverished area as that.

True enough, but there may have been a high incidence of fatty livers, given that alcoholism was such a problem in the slums. Annie Chapman had had alcohol issues for years before she arrived in Whitechapel, and her husband left her because of her drunkenness. Ironically, he was also an alcoholic who died of cirrhosis not long after their separation.

[YomRippur]

I doubt there were too many fat people in such an impoverished area as that. And certainly not the standard of "fat" we have today.

[Patrick S]

Being "fatty" doesn't mean that she was "a fatty", so what Phillips said needn't have been contradictory. There's a body type now referred to as TOFI (Thin Outside, Fat Inside) where large amounts of fat are hidden from view by being deposited in the internal organs, esp. the liver, rather than on the belly and hips.

Ah, yes. "Skinny Fat". That's how I know it. I first heard the term at weigh-in for a weightlifting meet in Las Vegas, in 2003. A guy stripped to his undies to get on the scale and another guy said, "You're skinny-fat. How long have you been training?" Understandably, we had to pull the skinny-fat guy off of Mr. smart ass. Then skinny-fat proceeded to win the bronze (barely missing the silver medal to some guy who's really interested in Jack the Ripper) while Mr. smart ass bombed out in the snatch (google it - it's not a pornographic). Good times.

[Jon Guy]

Being "fatty" doesn't mean that she was "a fatty", so what Phillips said needn't have been contradictory. There's a body type now referred to as TOFI (Thin Outside, Fat Inside) where large amounts of fat are hidden from view by being deposited in the internal organs, esp. the liver, rather than on the belly and hips.

Yes, Alan Partridge had a fat back, but you wouldn`t think it, looking at him.

[Sam Flynn]

Dr Phillips describing Chapman;

"Although the deceased was fatty there were signs of great deprivation"

Being "fatty" doesn't mean that she was "a fatty", so what Phillips said needn't have been contradictory. There's a body type now referred to as TOFI (Thin Outside, Fat Inside) where large amounts of fat are hidden from view by being deposited in the internal organs, esp. the liver, rather than on the belly and hips.

[Joshua Rogan]

Sorry John, it's from the Daily News, 14th Sept.

[John G]

Dr Phillips describing Chapman;

"Although the deceased was fatty there were signs of great deprivation"

Well that doesn't even make any sense; it's contradictory. And not according to The Times, which I quoted above. Source please.