I really think that Billiter Street, Fenchurch Street and Leadenhall Street would be considered “close” to Whitechapel in anyone’s book, Lechmere. Eastcheap is actually further away from Commercial Street than these three.
Geographical considerations aside, though, I’m reminded by Garry of a far more crucial point that ought really to settle the issue. The Lord Mayor’s Show was indeed regarded as a holiday, and no member of the working class poor of the East End was even remotely likely to have misremembered the date of such an occasion. This totally eclipses the issue of whether or not the average Eastender would have been interested in the visual spectacle of the parade.
This from the Daily Telegraph, 15th November 1888:
“Thus the Lord Mayor Elect joins the cry against gratuitous circuses. He has no desire for elephants...(snip)...or even the bewilderingly fascinating "Fourth Dimension of Space," symbolised, perched aloft on a movable temple, and drawn through London, to the innocent delight and possibly instruction of young and old, who come out to make a happy half-holiday in the contemplation of a Lord Mayor in all his glory.”
The New York Herald, 11th November 1888:
“The second, that of Emma Smith, was on Eastern Monday night, that of Martha Turner was on August 7, Bank Holiday night, and this last was on Lord Mayor's Day, city holiday.”
The New York Sun, 25th November 1888:
“For what is called his ninth crime, and what was undoubtedly his fifth one, Jack the Ripper waited until Lord Mayor's Day, an ancient holiday in London.”
Doubtless there were those who went to work anyway, but the very knowledge that the event was considered a holiday by many or most ought to have jogged the memory of anyone engaging in any memorable activity of their own on the same day. You’ll find no argument from me that Hutchinson was likely to have been “hurrying back to see the Lord Mayor’s Parade and therefore he must have been sure of his date” but this shouldn’t encourage anyone to throw in their lot with those who would argue “date-confusion” in Hutchinson’s case, the problems with which extend far beyond the question of the Lord Mayors’ Show’s significance.
Best regards,
Ben
Geographical considerations aside, though, I’m reminded by Garry of a far more crucial point that ought really to settle the issue. The Lord Mayor’s Show was indeed regarded as a holiday, and no member of the working class poor of the East End was even remotely likely to have misremembered the date of such an occasion. This totally eclipses the issue of whether or not the average Eastender would have been interested in the visual spectacle of the parade.
This from the Daily Telegraph, 15th November 1888:
“Thus the Lord Mayor Elect joins the cry against gratuitous circuses. He has no desire for elephants...(snip)...or even the bewilderingly fascinating "Fourth Dimension of Space," symbolised, perched aloft on a movable temple, and drawn through London, to the innocent delight and possibly instruction of young and old, who come out to make a happy half-holiday in the contemplation of a Lord Mayor in all his glory.”
The New York Herald, 11th November 1888:
“The second, that of Emma Smith, was on Eastern Monday night, that of Martha Turner was on August 7, Bank Holiday night, and this last was on Lord Mayor's Day, city holiday.”
The New York Sun, 25th November 1888:
“For what is called his ninth crime, and what was undoubtedly his fifth one, Jack the Ripper waited until Lord Mayor's Day, an ancient holiday in London.”
Doubtless there were those who went to work anyway, but the very knowledge that the event was considered a holiday by many or most ought to have jogged the memory of anyone engaging in any memorable activity of their own on the same day. You’ll find no argument from me that Hutchinson was likely to have been “hurrying back to see the Lord Mayor’s Parade and therefore he must have been sure of his date” but this shouldn’t encourage anyone to throw in their lot with those who would argue “date-confusion” in Hutchinson’s case, the problems with which extend far beyond the question of the Lord Mayors’ Show’s significance.
Best regards,
Ben
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