Census

[Ashkenaz]

A (very) quick and dirty survey of those entries Chris posted reveals that, of about 783 entries in total (inclusive of both censuses), only 34 male residents of 1881 seem to have still been there in 1891. They were:

John Alexander
Charles Beams/Beans
John Brooks
John Brown
William Brown
William Callaghan
Frederick Clarke
James Clarke
James Connor
John Cooney
John Crawley
James/John Fuller
James Hill
Thomas Jenkins
Thomas Johnson
William Johnson
John Jones
Thomas Jones
William Jones
John/Edward Lane
John/George/Alexander Mason
John Moore
Joseph Norton
Edwin Smith
George Smith
George Smith
Henry Smith
Thomas Smith
John Sullivan
John Taylor
George Walker
John White
Jack Williams

Note that the forenames with "/"s against them might have been from the same family. Whilst no single name appears in both censuses, I've made the assumption that at least one member of the family remained in Flower & Dean, possibly using a middle name in one census compared to the other.

This is very rough and ready, but it shows a little of what we're up against. In Flower & Dean Street at least, it seems that only circa 5% of the males from those samples taken in 1881 and 1891 were "long-term" residents of that street.

Amazing. Not a single Jewish sounding name left by 1891. They really were a people on the move.

[Ashkenaz]

If you have a pet theory, like, JtR stopped killing because he got on a boat and went to New Zealand or whatever, then you can check all those residents who, right after 1888, bailed to NZ. It'd give some focus to your enquiries, anyhow (not the NZ thing, just having a hypothesis to test). Me, I don't think he stuck around. So I'd exclude those (for the first go round) who appear on both censuses. Then, as you disprove hypotheses, you can delete names.

I also believe that jtr probably emigrated. It seems to be what most poor people dreamed of doing at the time. It explains the ceasation.

He was also a young man, why on earth wouldn't he want to leave the East End ? The grass probably was greener over there then.

Another idea could be to produce a list of those East Enders, or perhaps those of the three streets mentioned earlier, who left for the new world from Autumn 1888, to say 1890. A mammoth task of course, but passenger lists may still survive from those times. We would once again de-list the females, together with the males under 17 and over 50, so that only men who fit the psycholical profile regarding age remained.

Thence,we would be looking for crimes of this type against women in New York City, Boston and other US cities on the eastern seaboard. As well of course should be considered other poular destinations in other countries

[Sam Flynn]

Amazing. Not a single Jewish sounding name left by 1891.

I was struck by that, too, Ashkenaz - but then I noted that there weren't all that many Jewish-sounding Flower-and-Dean Street residents to start with. I spotted a "Gleisinger" and a "Cohen", but that was about it.

[claire]

Hi Sam,
How exciting! Thanks for that spreadsheet--I'm a bit of a spreadsheet addict, so this will be fun to browse That's a big piece of work by Mr Scott there; again, highly impressive.

I hear what you're saying about the census-raking. But, as you say and as I hinted before, it may not provide anything definitive in the JtR suspect stakes, but there's a lot more there which is absolutely fascinating.

When did the Jewish exodus to North London start?

[Sam Flynn]

When did the Jewish exodus to North London start?

In earnest? Probably after the Second World War, although some East End Jews had been drifting northwards before then, albeit in comparatively small numbers. The first "emigres" from the East End to settle in Golders Green seem to have arrived there during the first decade of the 20th Century, which was around about the time that Golders Green crematorium/cemetery was established. However, it would take quite some time before that part of North London could hold claim to being the "promised land". Even by the 1950s, the East End - specifically Hackney - could still boast that it had the largest Jewish population in London.

I wholeheartedly recommend Modern British Jewry, by Geoffrey Alderman, and Jews of Britain, 1656-2000 by Todd Endelman. Both offer absorbing accounts of this fascinating aspect of British social history.

[claire]

Thanks, Gareth...I'll look them out.

[Ashkenaz]

I was struck by that, too, Ashkenaz - but then I noted that there weren't all that many Jewish-sounding Flower-and-Dean Street residents to start with. I spotted a "Gleisinger" and a "Cohen", but that was about it.

Of the three streets of interest to Kim Rossmo - the geographical profiler, he considers Flower and Dean Street is the most likely street of residence for jtr.

If Rossmo is correct, then we must statistically accept that jtr was unlikely to have been Jewish.

The data for Flower and Dean Street 1881 produces just three Jewish sounding names. I found a Gehringer, a Gleisinger and a Fitzpa ? from a long list of British sounding names.

The data for Flower and Dean Street 1891, produces a few more - Stoffel, Desher,Gesling, Lazarus and Garrutz. Again these few are dwarfed by the number of British sounding names.

Of those men who appear in both censi - long term residents of Flower and Dean Street, there are no Jewish sounding names at all, just British ones.

[Chris Scott]

1881 Flower and Dean Street

The Fitzpa?? - The original reads Fitzpatrick

Jewish and possible Jewish names:

M Beareek (possibly Dutch jewish)
David Birman
Isaac Cohen
Frederick Gehringer
Jacob Gleisinger
Joseph Isaacs

Interesting that Fashion Street in the same census was overwhelmingly Jewish

[Ashkenaz]

1881 Flower and Dean Street

The Fitzpa?? - The original reads Fitzpatrick

Jewish and possible Jewish names:

M Beareek (possibly Dutch jewish)
David Birman
Isaac Cohen
Frederick Gehringer
Jacob Gleisinger
Joseph Isaacs

Interesting that Fashion Street in the same census was overwhelmingly Jewish

Hi Chris

Fitzpa is what is listed in Chris's list. I wondered if it was a Jewish name I'd never encountered before ! So it was Fitzpatick then. lol.

I haven't gone over Fashion Street, or Thrawl St yet. What a shame. I was hoping for a similar result.

[Sam Flynn]

Re Fitzpatrick - note that many of the Flower & Dean Street residents seem to have had Irish names (among them Cooney and Donovan).

[Pinkerton]

I want to thank Chris Scott and Sam Flynn for compiling that spreadsheet. Its quite remarkable. I don't want to sound pushy but is there data about the Whitechapel infirmary available for the years BEFORE 1888? The reason I ask is that I don't see any JTR related characters (with the exception of William Henry Piggott) on the list. For some reason (maybe I imagined it?) I thought that one of the victims was on one of these infirmary lists (like Polly Nichols or Annie Chapman). Does anyone know where the next nearest infirmary was located to the Whitechapel/Spitalfields area besides the one in Whitechapel?

Though I think geographical profiling can often be helpful to the case of a serial killer, I am skeptical that it is very helpful in this case. If you look at all of the entries for women listed as prostitutes in the Whitechapel infirmary, you can quickly get a good idea of where most of the prostitutes of the area resided. From memory I seem to recall the number #1 street by far being Flower and Dean, with Dorset being second, followed by Thrawl, Fashion, and White's Row (perhaps "Flower and Dean" was actually the WORST street in London, and not Dorset...). This area is EXACTLY the area the geographical profiler brings up. Therefore I wonder just how credible this is. This is the area where most of the prostitutes lived and is mainly made up of lodging houses. Combine this with the question: do we REALLY believe that Jack operated out of a lodging house? I find this almost inconceivable. Jack needed immediate shelter after butchering his victims. And he is unlikely to have come back to a lodging house in the middle of the night (most wouldn't have even let borders in after a certain time), since this would have drawn attention to himself.

Of course not all the houses in this area were lodging houses, but I believe a fairly high percentage of residents of this area (area around Flower & Dean and Dorset) were living in lodging houses. Does anyone disagree with this?

[Sam Flynn]

Thanks, Pinkerton, and - again - Chris for transcribing the original records. Re the JTR-related characters, you'll also find Nathan Kaminsky and Pearly Poll (Mary A Connelly) there - as well as a possible explanation for her deep, husky voice. Perhaps she caught her laryngitis from John "No-boots" Kelly, who's also listed there.

[Chris Scott]

Hi Pinkerton
Thanks for the comments
Apart from the case related names that Gareth mentions, there are also David Cohen and two mentions of James Evans, who some think may be the Joseph Fleming related to the Kelly case, as this was the name under which he was committed to an asylum
Regarding the registers, Im currently transcribing the entries from 1885 to 1887
regards
Chris

[Pinkerton]

Thanks Chris. Your contribution to this site is invaluable! Needless to say when this data is released, I will also be scanning for any name that sounds anything like "Mary Jane Kelly". Especially if the person is listed as a prostitute...

Of course! I thought the name "Mary Connely" looked familiar. Chris, is the Whitechapel infirmary the place that "David Cohen" acquired his pseudonym? I thought this name was a pseudonym acquired when an unknown Jewish man who presumably was too mentally ill to give his name was committed to Colney Hatch?

[Chris Scott]

Hi Pinkerton
the first 100 records Ive just posted on a new thread
the name David Cohen appears as such in the admissions register and it is undoubtedly the case that this is the same man referred to in court as Aaron Davis Cohen. It was Martin Fido's thesis that "David Cohen" was a Jewish equivalent of "John Doe" in that it referred to a Jewish man whose real name was unknown.
The whole three-way argument (Kosminki/Cohen/Kaminsky) is complex and it would be worth reading Martin's piece on the subject in the Dissertations section
regards
Chris

Below are the records for 7 December 1888. Cohen is the last entry