the victims werent prostitutes

[Bridewell]

Yes, there was. There was also a young widow named Emma Davies in there at the same time - from memory. She was a lamplighter's widow (gas explosion? I asked myself) and had been born on a ship from Canada (I think).

If you want the ingredients for a romantic background, it's pretty much all there.

Your recollection is spot on!

I've been looking through the other names only this evening. Emma Davis was 31 in 1881 and was indeed a lamplighter's widow born "during a journey from Canada".

[Michael W Richards]

[Coroner] Have you had conversation with deceased about her parents ? - Yes, frequently...There were six brothers living in London..

Since the news of the murder was "big" and none of them "claimed" Kelly's body her name was not Mary Kelly most likely.I think it's not unusual for "unfortunates to change their names.

I think that's a reasonable conclusion. But who came up with the name that was applied to her....the authorities? as Simon suggests, or did she assume an alias she knew had some actual grounds in fact?

IF its not a Mary Kelly in that bed...and she is renting the room in her name for some time as Mary Kelly, then what Barnett tells the authorities could well be what he learned from her during that period, and if its not true, then she, not the authorities, likely concocted the story. But my thinking is that they knew the real name of the woman who lived there despite her living under an assumed name. Which raises the possibility again that they provided it.

I believe that the key to the womans real identity lies in the details of her alleged trip to Paris as an escort. She may have been used by the police or some self rule agencies which scared her into hiding. Perhaps with the help of the authorities.

Could they admit to creating a fake identity for a woman they used as a spy? When this murder occurs could they suddenly some out with a story that takes the light off a mad miscreant and sheds it on the intelligence work of HM's finest? Maybe better to stick with the story that Barnett knows.

[Joshua Rogan]

Barnett:
[Coroner] Have you had conversation with deceased about her parents ? - Yes, frequently...There were six brothers living in London..

The Telegraph report is an anomaly on this point, being the only paper to say her brothers lived in London. All the others have Barnett saying they lived "at home", which was presumably in Wales.

[MrBarnett]

Hi Mr Barnett,

Please try to locate the article you referenced.

Regards,

Simon

I think this is it. From the Walsall Advertiser 14/1/1899: