MJK Headstone

[Chris Scott]

I remember that on the old boards there was some disussion of the headstone of Kelly, and someone (I can't remember who!) asked for details of the stone that was erected before the present small memorial.
Here is a pic of the headstone of the 1980s which may be of use
Chris

[John Bennett]

I remember this at the time and my (late) grandmother gave me the original clipping from the East London Advertiser (or similar) with John Morrison by the stone.

Apparently, it was in the wrong place, hence the new one.

JB

[Blackkat]

Hey thanks for posting that up. I have never seen that one!

[George Hutchinson]

There's also a story - and I was told this by staff at St Patrick's once - that Morrison had either smashed up the 'original' stone or it had been vandalised. I understand that St Patrick's themselves paid for the current one. If the stone was in the wrong place, it was still very close to the current location as I remember going there in 1990. It was actually to visit the grave of Tim Evans, but the staff member showed me the MJK one as well.

PHILIP

[Ally]

Fairly tacky in my opinon to have your name on someone else's headstone and not even their date of death, but the date you dedicated it?

Tasteless in the extreme.

[George Hutchinson]

I agree, Ally, but Morrison was an odd sort. Good intentions blighted by general weirdness.

PHILIP

[Glenn Lauritz Andersson]

I also find the sections "The Prima Donna of Spitalfields" and "Do not stop to stand and stare unless to utter fervent prayer (Mary Magdalene Intercede)" wierd to say the least.

The late Mr Morrisson appears indeed to have been an odd character, and although his intentions no doubt were good, his obsession and approach gives and unhealthy, disturbed impression.

All the best

[Magpie]

There's also a story - and I was told this by staff at St Patrick's once - that Morrison had either smashed up the 'original' stone or it had been vandalised. I understand that St Patrick's themselves paid for the current one. If the stone was in the wrong place, it was still very close to the current location as I remember going there in 1990. It was actually to visit the grave of Tim Evans, but the staff member showed me the MJK one as well.

PHILIP

I never heard the story about Morrison smashing the original--I heard it was stolen. Interesting either way.

Wasn't the new tombstone a "recycled" one? I thought they had a blank marker sitting around that someone had inscribed.

I wish that thread were still here

[Ash]

Anyone who has Morrison's pamphlet "Jimmy Kelly's Year of Ripper Murders" would probably agree that "weird", "unhealthy" and "obsessed" doesn't even begin to cover it.

This self-published oddity is so amateurishly put together it looks like a ten year-old child's what I did last summer school project. The booklet is supposed to be building a case against James Kelly for the murders, and he is to be congratulated on finding him even if he does get almost every fact about him wrong.

But more than half of the booklet is actually about Morrison himself, and consists of self-publicising clippings from local newspapers about him erecting the gravestone and about his campaign to have the word "prostitute" removed from Mary Kelly's death certificate. During the course of these newspaper interviews he comes across as slightly hysterical, and at several points proclaims that he is "in love with" Mary.

[Suzi]

Hi all-
I've been many times to the 'new' one.......but have only seen that last nasty in pictures..

Hmmmmmmmmm Morrisson and his inscriptions are seriously worrying.......Thank Gawd they're gone......
..It's the little grave we have now,next to the cricketing boy- surrounded with all sorts of toot (and I hope that cat's still there) ..that ............well if it's not quite on the spot.........it sort of feels right and (is it me) you can just sit and spend a moment.........although I always feel I don't get anything back.............with Mary

Suzi

[George Hutchinson]

Hi Suzi - at the risk of being pedantic (risk? I take JOY in it!), the nearby figure is the likeness of a 14-year-old footballer who died in the early 60s. Cricket? You're thinking of MJD!

I did indeed make a thread about Morrison's book when I first obtained a copy a couple of years ago. It's rare, but rare does not equal desirable (anything by de Locksley being a perfect illustration of an item nobody would want except as a curio). The piece I found most irritating was his attempts to have the word 'prostitute' removed from MJK's death certificate. That's what she was and historical revisionism does no one any favours. Well, it did Stalin some, I suppose.

PHILIP

[HollyDolly]

MJK Headstone

The head stone is indeed strange.
Now the Mary Magdelene Intercede part comes from the fact that mary Magdelene was supposedly a fallen woman and was the one who poured
spickinard on the feet of Jesus and washed His feet with her tears and dried them with her hair.
She has for i don't know how long been the patron saint of loose women
and prostitutes. Hence the remark.
I had heard it was stolen,the original one that is,but I could be wrong.

[WARSPITE]

Yes Suzi,the cats still there,and the canadian teddy!
I also heard the tale about Morrison smashing the headstone,after getting embroilled in arguments with the cemetery staff.I met him only once,in the early 90s.Eccentric with a liking for booze.
I hear the present headstone is recycled?

[Nurse Sarah]

I saw the canadian teddy....and a religious plate...wonder if my plastic white rose is still there....

[kensei]

Warspite,

I don't suppose you saw a small printout of one of artist Jane Coram's reproductions of what Mary Jane looked like, laminated to protect it from rain? I left it at the grave last September. I'm assuming it's probably long since blown away in the wind.