Tweet
Chris Morley in his "Suspects Guide" has this to say of the father of GWB as based on the letter received by Dan Farson:
Father of G.W.B.
A 77 year old Australian, using only the initials G.W.B, wrote to Ripper author Daniel Farson and told him the story that one day in 1889, while playing in the London streets at 9pm, his mother called out to him, 'Come in Georgie, or Jack the Ripper will get you'. The boys father overhearing this patted the boy on the head telling him, 'Don't worry, you would be the last person Jack the Ripper would touch'. Years later after an argument, when the boy challenged his father to stop beating his mother, the boys father confessed to his son that he was in fact Jack the Ripper. During this confession the father explained that at the time he did not know what he was doing, but his ambition was to get drunk and kill every prostitute that accosted him. He also claimed that when he committed the murders he wore two pairs of trousers, the outer bloodstained pair he would dispose of in the pile of manure which he sold from his cart.
The father was born in 1850 which would make him 38 at the time of the murders. He married in 1876 and by all accounts was a violent drunkard, who would come home night after night and beat his wife and children. He had pined for a daughter, but when his only female child was born an imbecile, he took to drink and suffered severe mental problems, which resulted in him killing prostitutes. According to the son, the father told him to change his name because he was going to confess to the murders before he died. The son, who claimed his father died in 1912 constantly scanned the newspapers awaiting the revelation, which never came. Unfortunately, no researcher has found evidence to confirm if the father of G.W.B ever existed.
I had never seen the initials GWB mentioned before in connection with any contemporary Ripper report, but the article below caught my eye. It is possible that the Farson's corespondent whose first name was, presumably, George (he is referred to as Georgie in the letter) and whose first two names were probably George William, was given the same names as his father, especially (though not exclusively so) if he were the eldest son.
Birmingham Daily Post
27 June 1891
JACK THE RIPPER
Mr Backert, chairman of the Whitechapel Vigilance Committee, writes:
"I have received another letter written in the same style and signed in the same way as the letters I received before several of the late murders. The letter is as follows:
George Yard, Whitechapel.
I am going to commence operations again shortly in this neighbourhood, and if you or your infernal gang in the least attempt to trace my whereabouts, so help me God, I'll put a knife in your heart. So beware and take warning, and let me alone. Let the police catch me if they can; it's their duty. But I pity them, as I never intend to be taken alive. I have nearly been caught twice.
Yours truly, Jack the Ripper.
G.W.B. my initials."
Mr Backert has handed the letter to the police.
Father of G.W.B.
A 77 year old Australian, using only the initials G.W.B, wrote to Ripper author Daniel Farson and told him the story that one day in 1889, while playing in the London streets at 9pm, his mother called out to him, 'Come in Georgie, or Jack the Ripper will get you'. The boys father overhearing this patted the boy on the head telling him, 'Don't worry, you would be the last person Jack the Ripper would touch'. Years later after an argument, when the boy challenged his father to stop beating his mother, the boys father confessed to his son that he was in fact Jack the Ripper. During this confession the father explained that at the time he did not know what he was doing, but his ambition was to get drunk and kill every prostitute that accosted him. He also claimed that when he committed the murders he wore two pairs of trousers, the outer bloodstained pair he would dispose of in the pile of manure which he sold from his cart.
The father was born in 1850 which would make him 38 at the time of the murders. He married in 1876 and by all accounts was a violent drunkard, who would come home night after night and beat his wife and children. He had pined for a daughter, but when his only female child was born an imbecile, he took to drink and suffered severe mental problems, which resulted in him killing prostitutes. According to the son, the father told him to change his name because he was going to confess to the murders before he died. The son, who claimed his father died in 1912 constantly scanned the newspapers awaiting the revelation, which never came. Unfortunately, no researcher has found evidence to confirm if the father of G.W.B ever existed.
I had never seen the initials GWB mentioned before in connection with any contemporary Ripper report, but the article below caught my eye. It is possible that the Farson's corespondent whose first name was, presumably, George (he is referred to as Georgie in the letter) and whose first two names were probably George William, was given the same names as his father, especially (though not exclusively so) if he were the eldest son.
Birmingham Daily Post
27 June 1891
JACK THE RIPPER
Mr Backert, chairman of the Whitechapel Vigilance Committee, writes:
"I have received another letter written in the same style and signed in the same way as the letters I received before several of the late murders. The letter is as follows:
George Yard, Whitechapel.
I am going to commence operations again shortly in this neighbourhood, and if you or your infernal gang in the least attempt to trace my whereabouts, so help me God, I'll put a knife in your heart. So beware and take warning, and let me alone. Let the police catch me if they can; it's their duty. But I pity them, as I never intend to be taken alive. I have nearly been caught twice.
Yours truly, Jack the Ripper.
G.W.B. my initials."
Mr Backert has handed the letter to the police.
Comment