"Dark" Annie

[curious4]

Hello All,

Given the (possibly) veiled racist remarks on Annie`s appearance, (her "broad nose" and "very fine teeth"), and her nickname of "Dark Annie", could her illness have been sickle cell anemia? I am no expert on this disease, but as far as I can see this can affect the lungs and brain. Previously I have assumed that she was suffering from tuberculosis but there were sanitoriums for those suffering from tb and presumably the risk of passing on the disease was known at the time, so the hospital would have had other options than just releasing her with some pills. It would be interesting to know just what was in her pills. She does appear to have been unsteady on her feet, leading people to think she was drunk, even though there was no alchohol found in her stomach (and presumably no smell of alchohol either) and to have been very tired, both indications perhaps of sickle cell anemia. This was not recognised until the beginning of the twentieth century, so could well have been misdiagnosed.

Best wishes,
C4

P.S. Before anyone mentions her blue eyes - it is quite possible for people of mixed heritage to have blue eyes.

[Cogidubnus]

Hi C4

I'm afraid with the best will in the world, I can't see that the mention of either a broad nose or very fine teeth constitutes in any way a veiled racist comment.

I think the "broad nose" is simply fair description of a facial feature, whilst the "very fine teeth" is merely a slight expression of surprise at how good the condition of her teeth actually was.

To put no too fine a point on it, many (if not most) long-term denizens of Whitechapel/Wapping would've had rotten teeth, largely owing to childhood calcium deficiency, malnutrition and lack of affordablle hygiene. I suspect Annie's teeth were better than most because her background and earlier life were better...

Her subsequent descent had not yet had such an adverse effect on her teeth perhaps, as it had her lungs (Phthysis I'd have thought...and whilst the association of breathing in the infection in crowded quarters might've been known, little could be or was actually done about it as hundreds of thousands of deaths on into the 1930s and beyond demonstrate)...

As regards lack of alcohol in the system it appears that the only test then carried out on these unfortunates was a somewhat superficial sniffing of the stomach contents..presumably if there was a sweet ginny smell, there was alcohol present, but if it was an acidic smell then there was no evidence of alcohol present (even if the bloodstream was saturated) - so the validity, if any, of the test depended on the degree of absorption - or simply how recently the victim had imbibed...

I'm afraid, therefore, I see little grounds to suspect Sickle Cell Anaemia...only my personal view though!

All the best

Dave

[curious4]

Hello Dave,

Just as pleased to have this disproved as proved, although Annie wasn't showing signs of late stage tb/phthisis/consumption.She would have been very thin (wasted away) not just deprived and badly fed, feverish and coughing up blood - not a very pleasant bedfellow for the Pensioner. As for the remarks, I did say possibly, but having met many bigots in my long and varied life it wouldn't surprise me. Still nothing to explain those pills though.

Best wishes,
C4

[Cogidubnus]

Hi C4

Yes knowing what those pills really were would certainly be interesting!

All the best

Dave

[Bridewell]

Given the (possibly) veiled racist remarks on Annie`s appearance

Hi C4,

I don't really see why anyone would have veiled a racist comment in the LVP. If Chapman was of mixed race she would have been referred to quite openly a 'mulatto' or worse, I would have thought.

[Bridewell]

Syphilis

The following quote is from this link (bold script added):

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/secrets/previous_seasons/case_syphilis/clues.html

About one-fourth of untreated syphilis patients progress to the tertiary stage of the disease, in which the bacterium damages the heart, eyes, brain, nervous system, liver, bones, joints -- virtually any part of the body. Tertiary syphilis can cause muscle coordination problems,

I would have thought syphilis as likely as anything, given her life-style.

[curious4]

Hello Bridewell,

Yes, you are of course quite right, no political correctness at the time. However, Annie could have had one black grandparent or great-grandparent. She was, after all fair skinned and blue eyed. I can perhaps accept the teeth remark, by why on earth comment on her nose? I was thinking of someone with the "touch of the tarbrush" mentality/frame of mind - prevelant in colonial times who couldn't resist pointing out traits he interpreted as pointing to african descent. Only possibly though.

As for the syphilis, this was not confined to prostitutes, endemic at the time, one family in ten apparently affected (got this fact from one of those "Who do you think you are" programmes), but the doctor was supposed to be an expert on these things and this period in history. Acording to him, infant mortality due to "failure to thrive" was a euphemism for having been infected with syphilis by its mother, who could apparently recover and go on to have healthy babies. The woman named as an example was apparently infected twice in her life, recovered both times and lived to her nineties. Apparent spontaneous recovery is also mentioned in a book I have called "From aids to the french disease" which mentions a norwegian doctor who treated his patients with nothing more than a good diet and found them still to be showing no signs of syphilis twenty years later. My point is that Annie could well have been infected earlier in her life.

I worked (after school and weekends) in a private asylum/nursing home in Kent where one of the patients (said to have been a former music hall star) had tertiary syphilis. She was bedridden and completely "out of it" (technical term lol), singing and shouting a good deal of the time and impossible to communicate with. I suppose Annie could have been on the road to this and not reached this last stage yet, but wouldn't the hospital have been obliged by law to keep her isolated to prevent the spread of the disease?

Seem to have rambled on a bit here, but hope you get the gist.

Best wishes,
C4

[Cogidubnus]

Hi C4

If there were even the faintest possibility of "a touch of the tarbrush" about Annie, it would've been much more openly mentioned, believe me...

At around that time, (he was promoted Admiral in 1890) and even around 30 years later, there were such rumours very openly expressed about the (eventual) Admiral of the Fleet, Jacky Fisher...so an East-End commoner certainly would not have been exempt...and "veiled comments" wouldn't have been considered...

All the best

Dave

PS and as an aside (off-topic I know) I'd heartily commend "Fisher's Face" by Jan Morris to any student...and her "Pax Britannica" trilogy is a simply awesome progress through British history...

[curious4]

"Dark Annie"

Dear Dave and Bridewell,

Thank you. I shall now drag my little theory back to my cave and growl over it for a while.

Also thanks for the book recommendation - I usually read books written near the time as being closer to the source, but this does sound interesting. Ordering it as I speak.

Best wishes,
Gwyneth/C4

[Cogidubnus]

Fisher's Face

Hi Gwyneth

Nice one - I'm pretty sure you won't be disappointed

Every good wish

Dave

[kensei]

Extreme chronic long-term drunkenness is known to cause enlargement of the nose, isn't it? I've always seen Annie as a very sad character who was rapidly drinking herself to death befor she met the Ripper, and who probably wouldn't have lived much longer anyway.