The ALLEGED photograph of Mary Jane Kelly

[Bridewell]

How did Mr Cohen "manufacture" ostrich feathers? Isn't that something ostriches are supposed to do?

Regards, Bridewell.

[Carol]

Hi Carol, thanks for posting this. I knew I had read something similar somewhere but couldn't find it again! I also read that sailors used to bring the huge 'prized' feathers from abroad for prostitutes in the area.

Hi Debra,
Glad to be of help!
Carol

[niko]

Ostrich - feather's

Hi everyone, I found this ostrich - feather manufacturer in Hatrfields commercial directory - JEWS OF THE UNITED KINGDOM, 5654 - 1894.

I wonder if back in 1888 you could an ostrich feather at Leman street at a cheap price or even find a not too damaged one in the rubbish generated by this manufacturer.

This is just a hypothesis, did East End woman get their ostrich feather's from this local ostrich - feather manufacturer and more important was this manufacturer around in 1888.

I also found this entry which really does not have nothing to do with this thread but I found interesting.
Kosminski, M, 48 Berner Street, wholesale furriers.
I supose the majority of you already knew this. Some of the trades entered in this book were established as far back as 1851 and further back. All the best, agur.

niko

[Debra A]

I've just started reading Bruce Paley's 'Jack the Ripper: The Simple Truth' and came across this reference to hats on page 37.

"In the wake of Kelly's death, a reporter from the Observer went walkabout through Dorset Street and its environs, recording his impressions. 'The passersby are comparatively few, and of the lowest order,' he observed, as he neared Dorset Street, 'navvies, dock labourers, and the heterogeneous class living in the common lodging houses which in this quarter abound. There was one other class in evidence, and this was unquestionably prominent. A large number of ragged and degraded women, women in draggle-tailed skirts and huge hats and feathers, women in gaudy dresses and hatless, women in every stage of drunkenness - these patrolled the street by the dozens, singing their loudest and jostling one another in their degradation.'

Carol

Hi Carol, thanks for posting this. I knew I had read something similar somewhere but couldn't find it again! I also read that sailors used to bring the huge 'prized' feathers from abroad for prostitutes in the area.

[Cogidubnus]

Cat with the hat

I am confident that we can't absolutely date the hat to a specific year

That is a definitely verifiable fact...I think...

Dave

[Steven Russell]

Hello, SE.
Definitely not a Panama, I would say (see pic). If it is a man's hat, he must have been in the Three Musketeers.

Best wishes,
Steve.

[Semper_Eadem]

[ATTACH]13568[/ATTACH]

Ostrich Feather Hat worn by The Unsinkable Margaret "Molly" Brown (of Titanic Fame), which seems to be of a not dissimilar style.

Regards, Bridewell.

Howdy Bridwell, that photo of Margaret Brown is definitely Edwardian. I still think the subject in the photo rebutted to be Mary Kelly is wearing a man's panama hat with a feather stuck on it. I would be very interested if somebody could post a picture of a man's panama hat for us to look at. The only one I have ever seen in the one on (Clark Gable)Rhett Butler's head in GWTW.

I remember reading somewhere in this topic that it was quite common for women to adapt men's hats for themselves and I could see that happening, after all a hat is a hat unless the fashion police went around in white chapel snagging men's hats off of women's heads. Fashion wasn't set in stone, especially for the lower classes.

Just me blabbing away, trying to make a point. I think even if this isn't Mary Kelly the photo is still worth something fashion wise given what it tells us about what some people were wearing.

Regards,
SE

[ChrisGeorge]

I am confident that we can't absolutely date the hat to a specific year, and so I am basing my opinion on just the photos and family knowledge. I can safely say that I haven't a clue.

Mike

Hi Mike

I can safely say you are not the only one.

Cheers

Chris

[The Good Michael]

I am confident that we can't absolutely date the hat to a specific year, and so I am basing my opinion on just the photos and family knowledge. I can safely say that I haven't a clue.

Mike

[Carol]

I've just started reading Bruce Paley's 'Jack the Ripper: The Simple Truth' and came across this reference to hats on page 37.

"In the wake of Kelly's death, a reporter from the Observer went walkabout through Dorset Street and its environs, recording his impressions. 'The passersby are comparatively few, and of the lowest order,' he observed, as he neared Dorset Street, 'navvies, dock labourers, and the heterogeneous class living in the common lodging houses which in this quarter abound. There was one other class in evidence, and this was unquestionably prominent. A large number of ragged and degraded women, women in draggle-tailed skirts and huge hats and feathers, women in gaudy dresses and hatless, women in every stage of drunkenness - these patrolled the street by the dozens, singing their loudest and jostling one another in their degradation.'

Carol

[Bridewell]

The Hat



Ostrich Feather Hat worn by The Unsinkable Margaret "Molly" Brown (of Titanic Fame), which seems to be of a not dissimilar style.

Regards, Bridewell.

[SGHILLUSTRATION]

The hat looks more 1890s to me

[KatBradshaw]

Ok peeps, now that we have seen the the Kelly family photo, what are your opinions on this picture. Has it altered anything for you?

For me I am now of the opinion that there is probably no link to our Mary Kelly and these pictures. I think the Kelly family one is too early and this one is too late.

What do you think?

[Semper_Eadem]

Hey Dave,

That is what I thought too, Barnett probably got rushed.

Howdy Chris et all,

That would make so much sense if an older family member didn't want the pictures published and they weren't yet with this older member of the family gone the younger members would want to share.

Not that there was anything wrong with the older member not wanting to share the photos. I could understand and feel that lot of empathy with the decison that older member made to keep quit about the photos given their tragic history.

If I had something grizzily like what happened to mary happen to one of my family members I would have a hard time opening up about it as well.

Geo~

[KatBradshaw]

VERY interesting picture, and thank you very much for sharing it with us. I am looking at it trying to see if I can see any ethnic Irish traces in the face, she certainly seems to have the colouring.
I have always been bemused that there were no clear descriptions of her hair colour given that it was one thing that Barnett said that he recognised for from.
I would so like this to be 'our' Mary so that this is the image we think of when we think of her and not that awful caricature of a human being that Jack left us.