29 Hanburry street

[thehood]

Hello there,

Do you have any idea of what kind of shop could be on 29 Hanburry street?
I saw pictures in the gallery but the ones showing the number 29 are from 1930's and I doubt it was the same in 1888...
Thanks,
TheHood

[Fisherman]

Hi thehood!

The ground floor of 29 Hanbury Street housed a catsīmeat shop run by mrs Hardiman back in 1888. One of her sons, James, has been put forward as a Ripper suspect.

The best!
Fisherman

[thehood]

29 Hanbury street

Hello again,

- sorry for the bad spelling "HanbuRy"

Looking through casbook, I found that
"The ground floor of Number 29 was occupied by Mrs. Annie (Harriet) Hardyman and her 16 year old son. Both of them slept in the front room which doubled as a shop where they sold cat meat. The rear room was used as a kitchen."
Can we imagine that the shop was named "Hardiman/Hardyman's Cat Meat"? But did this shop window look like?

Let's play the game by finding the right shop sign! Who bets what?
TheHood

[John Bennett]

In the absence of photography (for newspapers etc) illustrations were used and these are often quite accurate, as it appears that the artist would indeed have to visit the sites personally.

Thi illustration is from The Star of 8th September 1888.


The sign above the SINGLE door is for the Richardson's packing case manufacturing business. The shutters are typical of such early 18th century properties, examples of which can still be seen across the road.

It would appear that No.29 was refronted between 1888 and 1928, when Leonard Matters photographed it - the second door to the front shop was added and it became a hairdressers. The 'N Brill' shopfront we see in all the photos lasted until the house was demolished c.1970, even though it had been disused for years.

[John Bennett]

And here's another contemporary example -

[Mitch Rowe]

Jane Coram adds a sign in the window that Says: "Cats Meat Shop". Ive seen a drawing wich depicts this beautifully but cant find it now. However..The pic just posted by John Bennet shows this very sign in the window. Ive attached a blow up of that. So actually we have two drawings wich depicts the sign in the window. And Janes confirmation through her own rendition.

[Chris Scott]

This illustration shows the wording of the signs

[thehood]

cats meat shop

Guys, you're the best! It's so hard to find the right pictures of JTR places as those street were rebuild short after the crimes...
So if I understand, the door leading to the court was the door were the policeman is standing. The entrance for the cat meat shop should be behind the house.
Any idea of the other shops that were around the place?
Thanks a lot,
TheHood

[George Hutchinson]

So if I understand, the door leading to the court was the door were the policeman is standing. The entrance for the cat meat shop should be behind the house.

Hi TheHood. Not really. The policeman is standing where the door into the HOUSE is. There was no court at #29. The door led into the house with a staircase further down in front of you and a kink in the corridor as it passes round it to the back door and thus the back yard. As you go through the front door, the entrance into the shop was another door in the wall immediately on your right. Another door in that same wall by the back door led into a back room. No one with business with the Hardimans would have any reason to go further than the entrance to the building. The back yard gave access to cellar steps, immediately to the right of the door if you were about to enter the yard, which led down to where the Richardsons ran their packing case business.

PHILIP

[thehood]

Oh thanks. Now everything is clear.

[Julius]

Some of these old jobs and trades confuse me sometimes.

I presume it refers to a shop where you could buy meat to give your cat and not the other kind of cat's meat

[Graham]

Some of these old jobs and trades confuse me sometimes.

I presume it refers to a shop where you could buy meat to give your cat and not the other kind of cat's meat

Julius,

They boiled horse-flesh for Diddles' supper, simple as that.

Graham

[sdreid]

Last night I watched an old Tod Slaughter film entitled The Crimes of Stephen Hawke. At the start of the movie, there's a mock radio broadcast featuring Slaughter as himself as well as a comedy team named Flotsam and Jetsam which was an actual act of the period. There is also a man who's interviewed on the show named Henry Hopkins. He describes himself as a cat's meat man who has been at that occupation for 50 years. The film was made in 1936 so that would put him on the job through the Ripper period. Does anyone know if Mr. Hopkins was an actual person who would have been out selling on the streets of London 1886-1936+? He is not listed in the credits either in the movie or on IMDb.

[Suzi]

Hi Julius-
Re the cat's meat man- Once a familiar sight,he sold wooden skewers of meat trimmings unfit for human consumption and horse meat sometimes from a shop attached to a slaughter yard or commonly from a small two-wheeled barrow complete with slicing board. The meat was sometimes dyed blue-green to prevent it being resold as human food and was sometimes too rotten or foul for cats to eat. Skewer sizes ranged from a ha'penny snack to a threepenny feast. With regular,more well to do cat 'owners', he would post the skewers through the letterbox and be paid weekly*. Owners had to carefully inspect it,dipping it in weak vinegar,or boiling water,and then rubbing it with a cloth to remove flies' eggs and maggots.

*Any self respecting cat would of course suss out cats meat man time and would position him/herself at a strategic point under said letterbox,prior to assuming an innocent air and/or disappearing from the scene come 'pay day'!!

Suz x

[Pippin Joan]

Wonderful pictures!

What's that thing above the picture in Chris Scott's post? It looks like a Monty Python huge person is looking down through a kaleidoscope. Beware of a giant foot! Lovely Wonderful