A couple of questions about Monty

[mpriestnall]

Does anyone else perceive an unexpected silence by the relatives of MJD?

I find this hard to understand if he really was JTR. Not so much if he was suicided

[Kattrup]

Does anyone else perceive an unexpected silence by the relatives of MJD?

Of course not.

[Al Bundy's Eyes]

Does anyone else perceive an unexpected silence by the relatives of MJD?

I find this hard to understand if he really was JTR. Not so much if he was suicided

I doubt any of them know anything more about him than we do. By the time he was getting mentioned publicly, any relatives that had a memory of him were dead. And if he was JtR, again how would they know? Unless he left a secret signed confession they'd be as unsure as ourselves. Any 'in the family' knowledge is long lost to the passage of time. It's been 134 years Martyn.

[mpriestnall]

I doubt any of them know anything more about him than we do. By the time he was getting mentioned publicly, any relatives that had a memory of him were dead. And if he was JtR, again how would they know? Unless he left a secret signed confession they'd be as unsure as ourselves. Any 'in the family' knowledge is long lost to the passage of time. It's been 134 years Martyn.

I appreciate family knowledge would dissipate over the years but I have personal experience of how information can passed down the generations.

A family story verbally passed down to me of a huguenot female relative who had burnt down the family silk factory in Bethnal Green.

Many years later a relative researching this family confirmed this story by discovering a contemporary press report. The fire happened in the early 1900's.

Sadly 3 people lost their lives and the lady in question was committed to an asylum. This family story survived for around 75 years until it was passed down to me.

Tragic though this was, the Whitechapel Murders was a lot larger than this and I would expect MJD's story to last longer in the Druitt or extended family than my family story.

That said, I can see how the MJD story would have just have faded away over the generations.

[Ms Diddles]

I appreciate family knowledge would dissipate over the years but I have personal experience of how information can passed down the generations.

A family story verbally passed down to me of a huguenot female relative who had burnt down the family silk factory in Bethnal Green.

Many years later a relative researching this family confirmed this story by discovering a contemporary press report. The fire happened in the early 1900's.

Sadly 3 people lost their lives and the lady in question was committed to an asylum. This family story survived for around 75 years until it was passed down to me.

Tragic though this was, the Whitechapel Murders was a lot larger than this and I would expect MJD's story to last longer in the Druitt or extended family than my family story.

That said, I can see how the MJD story would have just have faded away over the generations.

Hi Martyn,

Also, some people just aren't terribly interested in their family history (or the past in general).

All it would take is a generation or two of people who were like that and the family stories from previously would likely be lost to the mists of time.

[mpriestnall]

Of course not.

OK, fair enough.

[mpriestnall]

Hi Martyn,

Also, some people just aren't terribly interested in their family history (or the past in general).

All it would take is a generation or two of people who were like that and the family stories from previously would likely be lost to the mists of time.

Hi Ms Diddles,

That's a fair point.

[GUT]

I doubt any of them know anything more about him than we do. By the time he was getting mentioned publicly, any relatives that had a memory of him were dead. And if he was JtR, again how would they know? Unless he left a secret signed confession they'd be as unsure as ourselves. Any 'in the family' knowledge is long lost to the passage of time. It's been 134 years Martyn.

Possibly less than we know. Did any stories about his being JtR pass further than the generation alive in 1888, or were they keen to let that “dirty little secret” be forgotten.