Why Did MJK Leave the Brothel?

[Jane Welland]

Survival of the Fittest?

Hello All

I would agree that MJK could have made it all up for status - it may not seem very palatable to us, but competition must have been high in her profession - I don't know this for a fact, but putting together the high population and nature of that population in Whitechapel at the time, it seems it must have been the case. I would think anything that gave her that bit of glamour would have been a bonus - If she was clever enough to think up stories, and those stories were considered credible, then all well and good for her, in the context of her life.

Or it could all, or in part be true. How can we know? We can suspect her of being capable of spinning a bit of glamour, imo though.

Jane x

[perrymason]

Hello All

I would agree that MJK could have made it all up for status - it may not seem very palatable to us, but competition must have been high in her profession - I don't know this for a fact, but putting together the high population and nature of that population in Whitechapel at the time, it seems it must have been the case. I would think anything that gave her that bit of glamour would have been a bonus - If she was clever enough to think up stories, and those stories were considered credible, then all well and good for her, in the context of her life.

Or it could all, or in part be true. How can we know? We can suspect her of being capable of spinning a bit of glamour, imo though.

Jane x

Hi Jane,

I think both could be possible, a story that imparts some class and panache to her professional past, or true tales of a life that she will never have again, and by telling them the brief "romantic" notions she may have had about fancy dresses and bathed men as a lifestyle, she can relive them a bit.

Marys projected path based on her situation when she dies is almost as grim as her death is. Her future was likely like many of the other women we read about....I can see a future with a much less marketable middle aged Mary Kelly going out into the rain numerous times to find one client,....just like Mary Ann Cox. She was perhaps 26....and we know that Liz Stride was a registered prostitute at 25 or 26 in Goteborg,(Gothenburg),....and Liz wasn't past some stories to make her past life seem worthy of compassion and sympathy. Did her children really drown? Not according to the ships records.

Maybe Marys stories were based on truth, but enhanced to make them "Glory Days" as compared with the other women in her situation.

Best regards.

[Chava]

So sad and so true. I wonder what happened to Mary Ann Cox? Was she the Mary Ann Cox who died age 35 in Whitechapel in June 1894? Or the Mary Ann Cox who died in March 1904 in Hackney? She was 36. We'll never know, but I bet poor Mary Ann died young. Somehow I don't see her living a long, healthy life. And that would have been Kelly's life if she'd survived. It's unlikely a toff would have come to rescue her out of the sewer, and given her drinking habits, it's unlikely she would have been rescue-able

[Supe]

It may be worth considering, while pondering Mary Jane Kelly's past, that in Ripperologist 71 (September 2005) Andy Aliffe has an article about Sadie Orchard. Sadie was born in Kansas but moved to the Old West to have a long and legendary career as a madame and, later, philanthropist. The important part of her story, though, is that she created her own history in which she had come from London's East End and had been a prostitute there. She was quite successful in this imposture and it wasn't until late in her life, when Sadie's sisters came to visit, that the truth of her life became known.

All this occurred about the same time Mary Jane was living in Whitechapel and i8llustrates how easy it was in an era without bureaucratic claims on one's life for someone with a glib tongue and fertile imagination to assume wholly different identities.

Don.

[perrymason]

It may be worth considering, while pondering Mary Jane Kelly's past, that in Ripperologist 71 (September 2005) Andy Aliffe has an article about Sadie Orchard. Sadie was born in Kansas but moved to the Old West to have a long and legendary career as a madame and, later, philanthropist. The important part of her story, though, is that she created her own history in which she had come from London's East End and had been a prostitute there. She was quite successful in this imposture and it wasn't until late in her life, when Sadie's sisters came to visit, that the truth of her life became known.

All this occurred about the same time Mary Jane was living in Whitechapel and i8llustrates how easy it was in an era without bureaucratic claims on one's life for someone with a glib tongue and fertile imagination to assume wholly different identities.

Don.

I think Don that this age truly offered people an opportunity for re-inventing themselves. There was no standardized documentation universally required when traveling within the country or abroad, my bet is that a name and a good story would get you on a Census form back then. Look how easily Tumblety becomes Frank Townsend for example.

Best regards Don.

[Archaic]

Maybe being able to say "I was in West End brothel" was also Mary's code for "I am highly skilled in my chosen profession"... if you know what I mean.

Regards, Archaic