'Johnto'

[Chava]

Has it been established that Stride used the Annie Fitzgerald alias?

If you include a few misspellings, Alice ‘McKenzie’ racked up 17/18 surnames.

I'm sure she did.

[Prosector]

Chava, your theory about EWD telling the real MJK her story and then having it appropriated is not inconceivable but, being a scientist, I always prefer to take the least complicated explanation. And you're dead right about all of these women using a huge variety of names. EWD called herself Elizabeth Weston Jones and Mary Jane Weston as well as (possibly) Marie Jeanette Davies (or Davis) and Mary Jane Kelly. Not surprising if you are trying to evade people such as irate husbands and landlords and madams to whom you owe money.

[MrBarnett]

Chava, your theory about EWD telling the real MJK her story and then having it appropriated is not inconceivable but, being a scientist, I always prefer to take the least complicated explanation. And you're dead right about all of these women using a huge variety of names. EWD called herself Elizabeth Weston Jones and Mary Jane Weston as well as (possibly) Marie Jeanette Davies (or Davis) and Mary Jane Kelly. Not surprising if you are trying to evade people such as irate husbands and landlords and madams to whom you owe money.

Prosector,

Is it really the case that the victims used a huge variety of names? Women living out of wedlock quite often assumed the surnames of their partners, we see that with Eddowes. How many names did the Miller’s Court victim use? Only one it seems while in London. Nicknames like Dark Annie or Fair Emma don’t really count because they were probably just names created by and informally used by others.


I’m not sure whether the alias of Annie Fitzgerald has been confirmed as being used by Stride when she was charged with drunkenness.


Alice McKenzie is a bit of an exception here. But even she seems to have ultimately merely tweaked her married name of Kinsey via McKensey to McKenzie MacKenzie. Prior to that she used a number of other names, but some of those, possibly all of them, were either the names of her partners or names mistakenly given by others.

Gary

[Bridewell]

Hi Debs.

My uncle was called Jack by everybody, yet only when he died in 1977 did I find out his real christian name was William.
His father - my grandfather, was a John Joseph, and the eldest son was William John, his brother - my father was Edward Leo.
Both sons went in the army but because there was another William in my uncle's squad, or company, or whatever they call it, he became known among his buddies as Jack, being the colloquial for John, which he wasn't too struck on.
So I see a close parallel here, my uncle was known as "John too, like his father", except he adopted the colloquial being Jack.
At home (his parents family) he was still William.

Nicknames need have no direct relation to a real name. My grandfather's name was Ranald but everyone, even family, called him Tony. His WWI memoir explains that his parents originally intended to call him Mark; then someone suggested it should be Mark Anthony. The Mark was dropped in favour of Ranald but Tony lingered on as a nickname! In the police all officers named Harris are called Bomber and all Whites are Chalkie so just perhaps Johntoo was named after another (perhaps famous) Johnto who had the same surname as he did. (Sorry that's a bit convoluted but I guess it's another outside possibility).

[Bridewell]

I wonder, too, just in passing, if the brother Henry/Johnto might have been a brother-in-law rather than a brother.

[Bridewell]

Nicknames like Dark Annie or Fair Emma don’t really count because they were probably just names created by and informally used by others.

"Fair Emma" was a nickname given to Emma Hamilton. Perhaps there was a facial resemblance there? All things are possible - if unlikely.