Charles Lechmere: Prototypical Life of a Serial Killer

[Patrick S]

Charles Allen Lechmere married Elizabeth Bostock on 3/7/1870 at Christ Church on Watney Street. He was a few months shy of his 21st birthday. Elizabeth was 19.

Less than two years later they had their first child. And the kids kept coming for nearly twenty years:

Charles Allen - 1872 (named for Dad; died at 3 yrs of age in 1875)
Elizabeth Emily – 1873 (named for Mom)
Mary Jane – 1875
Thomas Allen – 1877 (named for Mom's brother Thomas Bostock)
George William - 1878 (named for Mom's brother George Bostock)
James Alfred – 1880 (named for Mom's brother James)
Louisa Annie – 1882 (named for Dad's mother Louisa Roulson)
Charles Allen – 1884 (named for Dad and his brother who died in 1875)
Albert Edward – 1885
Harriet Emma – 1888 (Died in 1891)
Harriet Emma – 1891 (named for her sister who died earlier that same year)

All tolled, Charles and Elizabeth had 11 children. A few years after they'd stopped having children of their own, the grandchildren started coming. This is likely only a partial list:

Thomas Henry Charles - 1900
Alfred F - 1900
Dorothy Rossiter Victoria - 1901
Charles - 1903 (Named for Grandpa)
Ethel Louisa - 1906 (Named for Grandma)
Florence Harriet - 190

In 1920, after fifty years of marriage the couple was living in Roundton Rd., Poplar. Charles died December 23, 1920 at 71. He left £262 to Elizabeth.

In 1921 Elizabeth was still living in Roundton Rd., Poplar. 1922 saw her move to Ealing where she died in 1940.

[Pcdunn]

He doesn't seem to have had "a great hatred of women", our boy Lechmere, as was supposedly said of whoever Jack was by one of the police types.

[Patrick S]

He doesn't seem to have had "a great hatred of women", our boy Lechmere, as was supposedly said of whoever Jack was by one of the police types.

Well. I wonder where he found the time. I know there are exceptions that prove every rule. And nothing in Lechmere's life can - on it's face - prove he was not a serial killer. But, I'm willing to bet he was likely the most well adjusted, successful, prolific procreator in the annals of serial killing.

Let's put aside all the mental gymnastics we have to go through in order to buy Lechmere as Jack the Ripper. I still contend that Christer discovered that 'Charles Cross' was, in fact, 'Charles Lechmere' and invented a highly improbable scenario by which he becomes JtR as a result. All fine and good. Further, let's not consider his behavior around the time of the Nichols killing. He behaved with no consciousness of guilt in Buck's Row. He came forward on his own...all that. But....let's just look at these factors:

Married at 21.
Married to the same woman for 50 years.
Had 11 children.
Maintained stable employment (at Pickfords) for more than 20 years.
Started as business ('General Shop') in his 60s.
Left his family roughly $5,000 in todays US dollars at a time and in a place where poverty was pervasive.
Had no criminal record that we know of.
Died at 71 of natural causes.
His children that survived to adulthood had families of their own and decent jobs (Railroad Clerk, etc.)

Anyone who has studied serial killers know that this is compulsion that consumes the serial killer. They live for it. It preoccupies them. It - to a great extent - rules their lives. Look at the list above one more time. Was that Charles Lechmere. The more I study the man. The more I find out about him and his life ,the more disgusted I am by what Christer and Edward and have done here. EVERYTHING you find tells you that this was a good man who strived to live a good life and do the right things for his family.

I guess its good that Edward conned the Lechmere family at outset of this little farce of theirs. Having a repectable, hard working, family oriented, ancestor isn't nearly as noteworthy as having Jack the Ripper in the family. It's disgusting. Did I mention I'd love to debate Christer on the subject?

[Fisherman]

He doesn't seem to have had "a great hatred of women", our boy Lechmere, as was supposedly said of whoever Jack was by one of the police types.

Then again, who ever said that he had a "great hatred of women"..? That is a wording from the MacNaghten memoranda, and it does not have anything at all to do with Lechmere.

If you think that serial killers of women are disinterested in women, you are very, very wrong. Gary Ridgway had a voracious appetite for sex, and apart from having sex with his wife a number of times per day, he also engaged in sex with numerous prostitutes.
A good number of them, he killed.

Surely, you are just having a dig at me? You are not that that ignorant about how serialists are often sexually extremely interested and active, are you?

Either way, I fond it less and less appealing to answer posts like these.

[Patrick S]

Then again, who ever said that he had a "great hatred of women"..? That is a wording from the MacNaghten memoranda, and it does not have anything at all to do with Lechmere.

If you think that serial killers of women are disinterested in women, you are very, very wrong. Gary Ridgway had a voracious appetite for sex, and apart from having sex with his wife a number of times per day, he also engaged in sex with numerous prostitutes.
A good number of them, he killed.

Surely, you are just having a dig at me? You are not that that ignorant about how serialists are often sexually extremely interested and active, are you?

Either way, I fond it less and less appealing to answer posts like these.

I would too, Christer. You've done a lot of work, posted 10,000+ times here alone.....and it's all bunk. And no one is buying it. FACTS matter. FACT - he had 11 kids in 19 years. FACT - he had stable employment throughout his life. FACT - he raised productive members of society. FACT - there is no evidence he was arrested...EVER! FOR ANYTHING! FACT - He was MARRIED for FIFTY years! FACT - YOUR THEORTY LIES IN TATTERS!

[Jon Guy]

The problem with your theory, Patrick, is that we would not be aware of any serial killers whose crimes remained undiscovered.

I guess that all the serial killer info you are referring to is with regard to serial killers who were caught

History could be lined with hundreds of old, happily married ex- serial killers.

[Patrick S]

The problem with your theory, Patrick, is that we would not be aware of any serial killers whose crimes remained undiscovered.

I guess that all the serial killer info you are referring to is with regard to serial killers who were caught

History could be lined with hundreds of old, happily married ex- serial killers.

There very well could be. We can only attempt comparisons to what we know. Unlike Christer's Lechmere in Buck's Row, I have no crystal ball, or knowledge of the unknowable.

I have no theory. Only informaton. Christer shares his. I'll share what I find and make inferences, as Christer has done. Although, mine are more rooted in reality, I'd suggest.

I would suggest, also, that it's appropriate to counter the conjecture presented by Christer with conjecture supporting an opposing view - the more common sense view that Charles Lechmere was NOT Jack the Ripper.

I have an idea! A debate on the subject!

[John G]

The problem with your theory, Patrick, is that we would not be aware of any serial killers whose crimes remained undiscovered.

I guess that all the serial killer info you are referring to is with regard to serial killers who were caught

History could be lined with hundreds of old, happily married ex- serial killers.

Hello Jon,

Whilst your post is obviously correct, isn't it also the case that, in respect of serial killers who have been caught, evidence indicates that they don't tend to stop their activities for lengthy periods? And doesn't this imply that for serial killers murder is something of a compulsion?

Of course, Dennis Rader is often cited as a rare example of a serial killer who managed to control his compulsion to kill for a long period, however, I believe even he said that he was planning to resume his activities.

[Jon Guy]

Hello Jon,

Whilst your post is obviously correct, isn't it also the case that, in respect of serial killers who have been caught, evidence indicates that they don't tend to stop their activities for lengthy periods? And doesn't this imply that for serial killers murder is something of a compulsion?

Of course, Dennis Rader is often cited as a rare example of a serial killer who managed to control his compulsion to kill for a long period, however, I believe even he said that he was planning to resume his activities.

Hello John

Perhaps it shows that compulsive serial killers are more prone to be caught, for obvious reasons ?

[John G]

Hello John

Perhaps it shows that compulsive serial killers are more prone to be caught, for obvious reasons ?

Hello Jon,

Very perceptive, Jon. However, I would have thought that some of the more non-compulsive types, assuming there are many/any, would get caught eventually. However, we don't really have much evidence of this type of serial killer, I.e one that goes long periods without the urge to kill, or at least is able to demonstrate self restraint.

And, of course, JtR did take tremendous risks, which suggests to me that he had a particular problem in restraining his murderous/mutilating urges.

[caz]

And, of course, JtR did take tremendous risks, which suggests to me that he had a particular problem in restraining his murderous/mutilating urges.

I agree, John, at least during the intense period from August to November 1888. If he enjoyed his Miller's Court experience he certainly never repeated it - anywhere or at any time - which could suggest he became ill afterwards, or had an accident, or died, or was given a long prison sentence for some other offence.

If Lechmere had killed Nichols, he'd have been pretty compulsive to do it again with great hairy knobs on the very next weekend in nearby Hanbury Street, after needlessly sticking his psychopathic bonce above the parapet in the wake of Buck's Row. Yet he would also need to have lost this urgent compulsion after November 9, and calmed right down again, only occasionally taking some knife exercise over subsequent years until old age or arthritis set in.

It just doesn't seem likely to me.

Love,

Caz
X

[Pierre]

Then again, who ever said that he had a "great hatred of women"..? That is a wording from the MacNaghten memoranda, and it does not have anything at all to do with Lechmere.

If you think that serial killers of women are disinterested in women, you are very, very wrong. Gary Ridgway had a voracious appetite for sex, and apart from having sex with his wife a number of times per day, he also engaged in sex with numerous prostitutes.
A good number of them, he killed.

Surely, you are just having a dig at me? You are not that that ignorant about how serialists are often sexually extremely interested and active, are you?

Either way, I fond it less and less appealing to answer posts like these.

But this one isn‘t in it for sex.

Pierre

[CertainSum1]

Well. I wonder where he found the time. I know there are exceptions that prove every rule. And nothing in Lechmere's life can - on it's face - prove he was not a serial killer. But, I'm willing to bet he was likely the most well adjusted, successful, prolific procreator in the annals of serial killing.

Let's put aside all the mental gymnastics we have to go through in order to buy Lechmere as Jack the Ripper. I still contend that Christer discovered that 'Charles Cross' was, in fact, 'Charles Lechmere' and invented a highly improbable scenario by which he becomes JtR as a result. All fine and good. Further, let's not consider his behavior around the time of the Nichols killing. He behaved with no consciousness of guilt in Buck's Row. He came forward on his own...all that. But....let's just look at these factors:

Married at 21.
Married to the same woman for 50 years.
Had 11 children.
Maintained stable employment (at Pickfords) for more than 20 years.
Started as business ('General Shop') in his 60s.
Left his family roughly $5,000 in todays US dollars at a time and in a place where poverty was pervasive.
Had no criminal record that we know of.
Died at 71 of natural causes.
His children that survived to adulthood had families of their own and decent jobs (Railroad Clerk, etc.)

Anyone who has studied serial killers know that this is compulsion that consumes the serial killer. They live for it. It preoccupies them. It - to a great extent - rules their lives. Look at the list above one more time. Was that Charles Lechmere. The more I study the man. The more I find out about him and his life ,the more disgusted I am by what Christer and Edward and have done here. EVERYTHING you find tells you that this was a good man who strived to live a good life and do the right things for his family.

I guess its good that Edward conned the Lechmere family at outset of this little farce of theirs. Having a repectable, hard working, family oriented, ancestor isn't nearly as noteworthy as having Jack the Ripper in the family. It's disgusting. Did I mention I'd love to debate Christer on the subject?

These very traits are held by many serial killers. Many of the real sickos fool their co-workers, friends, and even wives (and families) for years. I've seen nothing yet that says Lechemere isn't the killer.

[GUT]

These very traits are held by many serial killers. Many of the real sickos fool their co-workers, friends, and even wives (and families) for years. I've seen nothing yet that says Lechemere isn't the killer.

And most have seen nothing yet to say he is.

[Damaso Marte]

I've said this a million times, I don't understand why 95% of Casebook is so mean to Lechmere and Fisherman.

Yes, Crossmere was probably not Jack the Ripper. No, Lechmere isn't the worst suspect ever produced or seriously defended on this forum: at least he can be placed in Whitechapel near the murders at the time of the crime spree, something we can't say for say Druitt or Maybrick, both of whom have defenders here.