Had The Ripper A Beard ?!

[The Baron]

If the Ripper hadn't had a beard, based on the most relevant testimonies, we can eliminate some of the suspects, if their known photos were the same during the murders:

James Kelly
William Bury
Michael Ostrog
Hyam Hyams
Francis Thompson
Frederick Deeming
James Sadler

To name just a few



The Baron

[Lewis C]

Ostrog was in jail at the time, so we can eliminate him anyway. I'd be cautious with this, since a person can have a beard at one time but not at another. Deeming and Thompson both have pictures in which they had beards and ones where they didn't. In the well-known picture of Kelly when he was young, I'm not sure if that's a beard or a shadow on his neck. And of course they all might have not had a beard at times, but weren't photographed at that time.

[Herlock Sholmes]

A description of James Kelly when he escaped from Broadmoor on January 23rd 1888 -

“age 27, 5’7”, spare build, complexion dark olive, thin pale face, hair black, moustache and eyes dark.”

Years later, another description was given of him at that time -

”5’7”, complexion dark (olive), hair black (heavy moustache) eyes dark, spare build, face pale and thin.”

In 1895 his friend John Motler described him as -

“..slight build, small nose, dark hair, dark eyes and about 35.”

We have two photographs of Kelly. One taken when he was in Broadmoor before his escape which shows him with no beard. And another taken on his return in 1927 also showing him with no beard.

[The Baron]

A picture is worth a thousand words

James Kelly



The Baron

[Herlock Sholmes]

A picture is worth a thousand words

James Kelly



The Baron

Ive seen the pictures Baron. I only re-read the book a couple of weeks ago.

And in neither does he have a beard. That’s very clearly a shadow in the first picture. The description of him not having a beard came from the Broadmoor itself. They didn’t just make it up. They saw him. He had no beard when he escaped.

The second picture couldn’t be described as a much of a beard. He was simply unshaven as he’d been walking to Broadmoor and living rough. And he was 67 when that photograph was taken. 39 years after the murders.

Do you have to try and score points every time?

[The Baron]

I am not the one who is claiming that the beard in the first picture is [very clearly a shadow]



The Baron

[Herlock Sholmes]

Because anyone can see that it is. The photograph was taken at Broadmoor my the staff there. The staff who described him WHEN HE ESCAPED as - “age 27, 5’7”, spare build, complexion dark olive, thin pale face, hair black, moustache and eyes dark.

You clearly must think that either they didn’t have the ability to spot a beard or that they deliberately gave the police a false description of him so that they would have more trouble finding him.

His friend also described him as not having a beard.

Therefore we have absolutely no reason for even suspecting that Kelly had a beard at the time of the murders. If you say that we have then I simply reply that you’re making it up.

So…no beard in 1888….no beard in 1895….and no beard in 1927. We have a phantom beard apparently.

[The Baron]

To each his own, I now will remove Kelly and Bury from my list.



The Baron

[Herlock Sholmes]

Just following the known facts. There’s nothing wrong with suggesting that anyone known to have a beard at the time of the murders was unlikely to have been the killer but we don’t have a description of Kelly from that time. Only from the time of his escape (no beard) and from 7 years after the murders (no beard).

I can’t think of any other bearded suspects but that doesn’t mean that there might not be others.

[The Baron]

Since I believe Mckenzie was a ripper victim, Bury is automatically eliminated, now his Beard is a second good enough reason for me too.

Deeming is a very good suspect, but there is no way to say if he had a beard during the autumn of terror or not.


The Baron

[Herlock Sholmes]

The only issue is that after looking on the Bury site I can’t see any detailed description of him apart from his height. There’s certainly a drawing of him with a beard but that would have been drawn after his arrest so it could be suggested (but I don’t think proven) that he might have only grown that after he’d left for Scotland.

[The Baron]

Bury's beard looks quite heavy to me.



The Baron

[The Baron]

Charles Lechmere Photo in Wikipedia shows him with a beard, although he was older.

I will eliminate him too, once bearded ... always bearded





The Baron

[The Baron]

John Pizer




Eliminated.


The Baron

[The Baron]

John Netley

His known picture shows him with a beard, result: Eliminated

After all he was just the driver.




The Baron