Exhumation

[AlanG]

Does anybody know the date for MJK's exhumation?

[GUT]

Does anybody know the date for MJK's exhumation?

My guess...... Never.

[MsWeatherwax]

I keep checking, but I've been unable to find any news regarding it after August of last year.

I realise that it's a potentially divisive subject, but I'll be very disappointed if it doesn't happen. I think it's clear now that 'Mary Jane's' back story as we know it isn't true (certainly not as a whole), and it could be the last opportunity to find her origins.

Whoever was responsible for her murder literally wiped her off the face of the planet and completely dehumanised her - it would be lovely to be able to potentially find out enough about where she came from to give her her identity back.

I realise that things like isotope analysis don't come cheaply, but I for one would be happy to chip in if Dr Wynne-Davis was interested in starting a crowd fund for scientific testing of the remains. I think it's highly unlikely that anyone will ever identify The Ripper at this point, so personally I'd rather invest effort, and money if required, into properly memorialising the victims.

[AlanG]

http://www.opposingviews.com/i/society/jack-ripper-identity-finally-revealed

"The British Ministry of Justice announced it will grant an exhumation license for the grave of one of Jack the Ripper’s victims. The great-nephew of Mary Jane Kelly, Dr. Wynne Weston-Davis, provided evidence to the ministry that Kelly’s husband was, in fact, the legendary Victorian-era London serial killer"

[AlanG]

I realise that things like isotope analysis don't come cheaply, but I for one would be happy to chip in if Dr Wynne-Davis was interested in starting a crowd fund for scientific testing of the remains. I think it's highly unlikely that anyone will ever identify The Ripper at this point, so personally I'd rather invest effort, and money if required, into properly memorialising the victims.

Yeah that would be nice.

[Columbo]

But will it be Mary Kelly they dig up? She was buried in a public grave so she may not even be there anymore if that cemetery re-used the graves. I seem to recall in a Timewatch documentary that said her grave had been used a number of times since her death, and some reports say that the marker on the grave may not be marking the correct one to begin with.

Columbo

[jmenges]

The link AlanG posted above is a reprint of the Telegraph article from July 2015.

Not a new development.

I seriously doubt it will happen since WWD said in my interview with him that many, many things stood in the way.

JM

[AlanG]

The link AlanG posted above is a reprint of the Telegraph article from July 2015.

Not a new development.

JM

Sincere apologies, I hadn't read the original.

[miss marple]

Pauper graves can be up to thirty feet deep and can contain up to fifty to a hundred coffins. It would be impossible to indentify an individual coffin. The grave marker is meaningless, it does not indicate the position of a coffin simply that MK is in that mass grave. Pauper graves were not permitted grave markers. The exceptions made in the last few years such as MK in Leytonstone or Adam Worth in Highgate are there simply because of the notoriarty and interest in those occupants.

Miss Marple

[c.d.]

I could be wrong but I seem to recall one of the victims having a brass identification plate on her coffin. Does that ring a bell at all?

c.d.

[jmenges]

Sincere apologies, I hadn't read the original.

Not your fault. It seems like every other month some website or another reprints this as if it was new news.

JM

[hkev]

If many skeletons are in that grave could Mary's be identified by knife marks on the bones ? I don't imagine Jack was very delicate in his work that night.

[c.d.]

The problem then becomes how many bodies are you willing to exhume until you find one with knife marks on the bones?

c.d.

[miss marple]

It a pointless discussion. No one is going to exhume many coffins in order that you might find one that might have a brass plate with a name on it.Thats not how cemeteries work. The legislation does not permit it and the cost would be prohibitive.

Miss Marple

[MsWeatherwax]

I could be wrong but I seem to recall one of the victims having a brass identification plate on her coffin. Does that ring a bell at all?

c.d.

Mary Jane was laid into a polished oak and elm coffin with metal fittings. The following words were engraved on the brass coffin plate: 'Marie Jeanette Kelly, died 9th November 1888, aged 25 years'. Two wreaths of artificial flowers and a cross made up of heart seed were placed on the coffin, and it was put into an open hearse drawn by two horses and followed by two mourning carriages

I wouldn't be particularly hopeful that the coffin had survived, but its possible the nameplate could give indication to Mary's location. Given the extent of her injuries, its also likely that there is damage to the bones that could provide further means of identification.

Its possible that there are no bones, of course. However, I genuinely believe that it's worth a shot. In an ideal world, I'd love to see her reinterred in her own grave, with her real name on it. Whatever she had to hide in her lifetime can't really harm her now...I just think it would be fitting to give this woman her identity back.