Kosminski's Profession

[Robert]

Hi Riv

He didn't want to pay his muzzle fine on the sabbath, so he seems to have been religious, at least to a certain extent.

[RivkahChaya]

I'm thinking that we can conclude that Kosminski wasn't an especially observant Jew. Do we know whether he moved to England with his family, or by himself? If he moved by himself, when he was, say, 18, that would have been in 1883, several years before the murders, and possibly before he was exhibiting any odd behaviors.

Knowing whether he traveled by himself from Poland by himself, or with his family is important, because it would tell us how well he was functioning at the time that he moved. If it was something he decided to do on his own, he may have been deliberately leaving religious Judaism behind him, in which case, a profession where men and women apparently mixed, and had physical contact with each other might have been right up his alley. Also, if he grew up in a place where men always covered their heads and wore their hair short, and married women never showed even a lock of hair, working as a hairdresser with real hair might have been a real "in your face" to established Judaism. I remember my brother thinking of himself as a badass little rebel in junior high school when he'd sneak off with friends to eat pepperoni pizza, which is an entirely neutral act for most Americans.

Anyway, is it possible that he wasn't really off his rocker until 1891, and in 1888, still functioning pretty well?

[Paddy]

And......

The forum on Rootschat is called
GERMANY: Immigrants to East End from Germany

Pat

[Paddy]

German Hairdressers?

This book is on Amazon uk and according to Rootschat includes names from Trade directories. One person mentioned was 1902
Not sure if Aaron would have worked for the Germans but it was said he could talk German and had spent some time there. It would be interesting if there is detail of this profession in the book.

German Hairdressers in the UK: their effect upon the British way of life, by Jenny Towey

Pat........................

[Errata]

I know they sold hairdressing manuals so women could copy styles, and those manuals were written for women, not professionals. There's one on Amazon if it interests you. But it implies less of a trade directed at women than say in Paris.

I also found this on a Victorian London website:
"Victorian London - Professions and Trades - Services Industry / General - Hairdressers

TO the VISITORS of LONDON. Amongst the sights of London, there is none more useful and attractive than the BOWER OF CALYPSO. While surrounded by the sunny sky of the east, listening to the murmuring of the waters, you can have your hair cut; while having your hair dressed by the first-rate artists either English, French, or Italian, you can enjoy the Tale of Telemachus, in the Grotto of Calypso, in sight of the inimitable Mentor and his pupil; you can have your head shampooed in the limpid waters of the Adriatic, always using brushes clean from the stream. So great an influence has the fair island, that premature age, with white heads and whiskers, do not leave the Bower without being restored to their natural colour of brown or black, or when the hand of time has destroyed the luxorious tresses of youth, the invisible fibres of Calypso will restore them to their former beauty.
Observe - HEWLETT'S HAIR CUTTING, HAIR DYEING and WIG MANUFACTORY, 6 Burlington-arcade (five doors from Piccadilly.) Fresh hair brushes to every customer. The head shampooed on the Oxford system."

So umm.... okay. But the whiskers bit makes me think that this is a spa for men. But I've also seen several references to wig stylists being called hairdressers. If I were to guess, I would think that he either styled wigs, or cut and treated men's hair. Perhaps even shampooing them "on the Oxford system".

[RivkahChaya]

I had a long post that got wiped out (thanks, cat). Here's the gist: if Kosminski dealt in sheitls (wigs for Jewish women to cover their natural hair), then he'd have skills that would transfer to a gentile wigmaker's shop, where he'd undoubtedly improve his English.

Also, before he totally went off his rocker, he may have been particularly good at shmuesing women, if he dealt with them , and what they wanted done to their wigs on a regular basis. He also would have had good manual dexterity, and probably picked up manual skills easily. And anyone who has darned clothing by hand, or put up your own hair, knows that you get good at doing things by touch.

Kosminski was just 23 in 1888. Maybe he had not had his first serious psychotic break then. We can't judge his degree of illness in 1888 by his behavior in 1891, especially if we can pinpoint something that could have been a trigger in between, and right now viruses and environmental toxins are suspect triggers, both of which would have been different in 1888. In fact, we don't even know that the age of onset might not have tended to be later back then-- assuming, as we all more or less do, that Kosminski was schizophrenic.

[Steve S]

Your absolutely right......It is a bit early in the day for me !

Pat

...Just remembered my Grandad having one...........

[Paddy]

Steve

Your absolutely right......It is a bit early in the day for me !

Pat

[Steve S]

Yep...But most men who owned a razor would have a strop for it.......

[Paddy]

Phil you said....P.S. I am NOT saying "Jack" used a cut-throat razor, only that he might have been more deft as the result of weilding one.

It would also give him access to sharpen his knife on a strop (I think thats what it was called)

Pat

[Phil H]

It may be a trade that has disappeared.

I seem to recall that someone Shakespeare knew (I'll find the book and check) in the 1590s made little hats like "fascinators" which were popular then at court and in high society. Did not one of the Kosminski's make "mantles" or capes, which were fashionable at the time.

Late Victorian women were very much into false hair to allow them to dress their crowing glory in impressive ways - a married Victorian woman with any claim to style, always dressed her hair "up" (i.e. piled on top of the head).

So could a "hairdresser" not have been someone who made or dressed false hair pieces or pads which would then be put in place by a lady's maid? They also used frontages etc - there is a funny passage in the Forsyte saga when Soames aunt's false front (she presumably was going bald or her hairline was receding) is attacked by an animal (a dog I think) when it is lying around!!

On another thought, IF Kosminski helped in shaving men, then he would have been handy with a "cut-throat" razor (no irony intended) - the only means of shaving in 1888. These required careful and dextrous handling, were exceedingly sharp, and would have been ideal training in "technique" for "Jack".

P.S. I am NOT saying "Jack" used a cut-throat razor, only that he might have been more deft as the result of weilding one.

Phil

[The Good Michael]

A hairdresser would have probably taken care of wigs. That would have been traditionally what a British hairdresser would have done. Barbers shaved people and cut hair. Of course a barber was someone who had some medical training as well...a holdover from the barber-surgeon days, and that brings us to feldsher, though we don't want to go there.

Mike

[RivkahChaya]

So, do we have a side-of-the-pond thing? "Hairdresser" in the US would be understood as applying exclusively to women, with the exception of a hairdresser who worked in Hollywood, and did the hairstyles of men appearing in films. In the UK does it apply to anyone who cuts men's hair, even someone who just trims it without styling it?

Also, I realize the pub is just named the "Horse & Groom," and doesn't necessarily have anything to do with horses, unless it's some kind of sports that caters to horse-racing fans, but it made me wonder if someone who grooms horses could have been called a "hairdresser," since horses are usually described as having hair, rather than fur. I can even see a language confusion somehow, if they were doing anything involving horses, since the Yiddish for hair is "hor," and in some dialects it gets pluralized when you are talking about something like styling it, so it it would be "hors," very similar to the way a Yiddish speaker would pronounce "horse."

I don't know where that could go.

If someone was trying to find employment for unemployed men in the Jewish community, that's wonderful, but if it involved touching lots of strange women, particularly gentile women, I think there'd be an objection from the religious section. Or did gentile men get their hair "styled" then?

[Paddy]

Heres the pub

Apologies it was Church Lane !
The pub was run by an Isaac Abrahams in 1891. My eyes lit up, but as far as I can see no relation to Aaron Kosminski.
Now I have to find where I read about the charity

Heres a later picture of the pub

Pat

[Sherlock Holmes]

Providing haircuts and/or shaves to the men would seem like the most logical way he could do what the census said he did but is it at all possible he was rendering his services to women on the sly in some seedy little barber shop in downtown White Chapel?

Mr Holmes