Was Barnett Irish?

[GordonH]

If the Lusk letter is genuine then it means that the writer was either Irish or making himself appear to be Irish.

Where did Barnett come from?

[ChrisGeorge]

Hi GordonH

I believe Barnett was of Irish background but not, I think, born in Ireland. He probably spoke with a Cockney accent. Interestingly, Barnett is also a common Jewish name.

Chris

[GordonH]

Interesting.

What is your view on the Lusk letter and kidney?

Its the only one of the letters that I would consider to be possibly genuine, but even then I am sitting on the fence as human organs were not as difficult to obtain in those days.

[Crystal]

Ive got the local Post Office Street Directory for 1882 here, and there do seem to be rather a lot of Barnett's living in Whitechapel. There clearly is a Jewish connection, I've come across one Joseph Barnett whose wife's maiden name is Cohen. There are a bunch of fruit merchants living on Mitre Square at the time who are clearly Barnetts of Jewish descent. Ancilliary information, but it all adds to the picture, I guess.

[GordonH]

My concern about the Lusk letter is: do people actually write the way they speak?

I would say in general that they don't. When someone writes a letter, even a not very well educated person, they tend to put on a "telephone voice" type of writing rather than writing in their own vernacular.

There is one exception to this, a well known actor and comedian whom I used to deal with professionally who wrote letters exactly as he spoke, pouring out a stream of consciousness that verged on rambling.

If the Lusk letter had not come with the piece of kidney then I would probably view it as a fake. Its the kidney that really pushes it into the area of credibility, with the proviso that organs were easier to obtain then.

[ChrisGeorge]

My concern about the Lusk letter is: do people actually write the way they speak?

I believe the letter is written in stage Irish. It's not the way an Irishman would actually write it but the way an Irishman would be portrayed on stage or in the cartoons of the day. The Openshaw letter is similarly written in such a vein, but more Cockney as with Dear Boss. Somebody or several people were having a lot of fun. Were any of these letters from the killer? Many people believe the kidney was a practical joke. I'm undecided although again the mock "accent" in the Lusk and Openshaw letters might lead one to believe the whole package, the "From Hell" letter plus half a kidney was a joke and not by the killer.

Chris

[Jon Guy]

Where did Barnett come from?

Hello Gordon

Joseph Barnett was born and bred Whitechapel. I think it was Osborn St where he was born.

[Debra A]

Hi Jon,
Barnett was born in Hairbrain court, but I think he did live on Osborn St at some point.
Hairbrain Court was heavily populated with Irish immigrants.

[ChrisGeorge]

See this from Mister Google on the Stage Irishman

[Sam Flynn]

Interestingly, Barnett is also a common Jewish name.

... an adopted English form of "Baruch", I believe.

[Crystal]

I wanted to know, was Barnett married? When did he die? Does anyone know, and if so, can you please point me in the right direction?

[Jane Coram]

Hi,

To my knowledge the following is reasonably accurate. Please be gentle with me........Lol.

It's almost certain that Joe's parents, John and Catherine Barnett came over from Cork on the cheap 5 shilling tickets, some time before 1849. According to Paley, the family was in Chalk until the early 1850's, (not sure if there is anything to confirm that) but, as Debs says Joe was born at 4 Hairbrain Court, in Whitechapel on the 25th May 1858. (Birth certificate)

He appears to have been living in Osborn Street sometime in 1878, but he doesn't seem to have lived there for long as he has Henage Street and North East Passage as his address in the same year. (porter's license) As he was working it probably wasn't because he didn't pay the rent - but more probably because he didn't like the lodgings.

He did marry by the looks of it at some time in his later years, as wife 'Louisa' is cited on the electoral roll and his death certificate, when he was living in Shadwell. He died in 1926, but I haven't got an exact date.

I reckon that Chris G is right about the cockney accent, although a lot of children of Irish Immigrants seem reluctant to give up the lovely Irish lilt and still speak with it, even though they've grown up in this country. I guess we'll never know.

Hugs

Jane

xxxxx

[miss marple]

Hi Crystal,
We know a lot about Barnett's family,his parents, his siblings, his addresses, his census records up to 1881, his porters lisense, newspaper reports,if you check the other Barnett threads you will find the information.
There are lost years after 1888, but he resurfaces again in 1906.
There is no evidence for a 'marriage' to Louisa, if they lived together it was common law, or that Paley's post 1906 identification is correct
They were a very Irish family brought up in a very Irish area around the docks[dockworkers were primarily irish, they had the physical strength, before the famine, they were better nourished than poor eastenders, more milk{. His parents would still sound irish, but as first generation born in England, Joe and his siblings were probably cockney with an irish lilt, they were surrounded by Irish voices.
In the 1881 census Joe was living at 1 Horatio ST and was being visited by his brother John.
Miss Marple

[Crystal]

Thank you for the info, Jane and Miss Marple, its interesting.

[Heinrich]

Lusk himself did not take this letter to be genuine.
The reference to the kidney was old news as the murder of Catherine Eddows occurred a fortnight before and medical opinion at the time suggested that it was a hoax as a kidney could have been easily acquired by medical undergraduates having a joke.
Given that there were scores of such letters purporting to come from the murderer at the time, there is no compelling reason to give credence to the From hell one.