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[[Image:Albert Victor late 1880s.jpg|right|thumb|200px|[[Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence and Avondale|Prince Albert Victor]], second in line to the British throne, was implicated in the conspiracy theories.]]
'''Jack the Ripper conspiracy theories''' are those [[conspiracy theory|conspiracy theories]]<!---This is the correct form of explanation, even though it is repetitive.---> which seek to explain a series of murders which took place in the [[East End of London]] from August to November 1888, and that were blamed on an unidentified assailant known as "[[Jack the Ripper]]". Since that time, the identity of the killer has been hotly debated. Over one hundred [[Jack the Ripper suspects|suspects]] have been proposed,<ref name=whiteway>Whiteway, Ken (2004). "A Guide to the Literature of Jack the Ripper". ''Canadian Law Library Review'' vol.29 pp.219–229</ref><ref>Eddleston, pp.195–244</ref> including [[Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence and Avondale|Prince Albert Victor]], the eldest son of the [[Edward VII of the United Kingdom|Prince of Wales]] and the grandson of [[Victoria of the United Kingdom|Queen Victoria]].

The theory that Albert Victor was the Ripper was brought to public attention in 1970 when British physician Dr. T. E. A. Stowell, published an article in The Criminologist stating that ''for fifty years he had kept to himself certain evidence as to the identity of the notorious killer Jack the Ripper, which seemed to point to a man of noble family, for fear of involving as witnesses some close friends who were still alive.''<ref name=Obit>[http://karenkpoulin1.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!1D0DB493901F72EF!1013.entry Obituary of Dr. Thomas Stowell]</ref>
The "man of noble family" was widely interpreted as Prince Albert Victor. Stowell later denied implying that Albert Victor was the Ripper. Efforts to investigate his claim were hampered by Stowell's own death at the age of 80 and the subsequent destruction of his papers by his heir.<ref name=Obit/>

Subsequently, [[Conspiracy theory|conspiracy theorists]] have elaborated on the supposed involvement of Albert Victor in the murders. Rather than implicate Albert Victor directly, they claim that he secretly married and had a daughter with a [[Roman Catholic Church|Catholic]] shop assistant, and that Queen Victoria, [[Prime Minister of the United Kingdom|British Prime Minister]] [[Robert Arthur Talbot Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury|Lord Salisbury]], his [[Freemason]] friends, and the [[London Metropolitan Police]] conspired to murder anyone aware of Albert Victor's supposed child. Many facts contradict this theory and its originator, Joseph Gorman (also known as Joseph Sickert), later retracted the story and admitted to the press that it was a hoax.

Variations of the theory involve the physician [[Sir William Gull, 1st Baronet|Sir William Gull]], the artist [[Walter Sickert]], and the poet [[James Kenneth Stephen]] to greater or lesser degrees, and have been fictionalised in novels and films.

==Background==
{{main|Jack the Ripper}}

Between August and November 1888, a series of gruesome murders was committed in the [[Whitechapel]] district of London. Although Whitechapel was an impoverished area and violence there was common, at least five murders showed a distinctive [[modus operandi]]. The murders took place late at night or in the early morning within a few streets of each other, and the victims were all women, possibly prostitutes. Their throats were apparently cut from left to right with a sharp blade, after which their bodies were mutilated, or even [[Disembowelment|eviscerated]].<ref>Evans and Skinner, pp.399–402 and Knight, p.168</ref> The removal of internal organs from three of the victims led to proposals that "considerable anatomical knowledge was displayed by the murderer, which would seem to indicate that his occupation was that of a butcher or a surgeon".<ref>Dr. Winslow, the examining pathologist, quoted in Haggard, Robert F. (1993). [http://etext.virginia.edu/journals/EH/EH35/haggard1.html "Jack the Ripper As the Threat of Outcast London"]. ''Essays in History''. Volume 35. Corcoran Department of History at the [[University of Virginia]]. Accessed 17&nbsp;July 2008</ref> Many anonymous confessional letters were dismissed by the police as hoaxes but one, known as the [[From Hell letter|"From Hell" letter]] after a phrase used by the writer, was treated more seriously; it was sent with a small box containing half of a preserved human kidney. However, it is not clear whether the kidney truly came from one of the victims or was a medical specimen sent as part of a macabre joke.<ref>DiGrazia, Christopher-Michael (March 2000). [http://www.casebook.org/dissertations/dst-cmdlusk.html "Another Look at the Lusk Kidney"]. ''Ripper Notes''. Published online by [[Casebook: Jack the Ripper]]. Accessed 17&nbsp;July 2008.</ref><ref>Wolf, Gunter (2008). [http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/ndt/gfn198 "A kidney from hell? A nephrological view of the Whitechapel murders in 1888"]. ''Nephrology Dialysis Transplantation'' vol.23 pp.3343–3349 (Subscription required)</ref><ref>Knight, p.222</ref> The similarities between the crimes led the police, the media and the public to blame the killings on a single [[serial killer]], who became known as "Jack the Ripper" but who was never conclusively identified.

Suggested culprits range from men mentioned in contemporary police records, such as [[Jack the Ripper suspects#Aaron Kozminski|Aaron Kozminski]],<ref>[[BBC News]] (13&nbsp;July 2006). [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/5173314.stm "Ripper case notes given to museum"]. Accessed 17&nbsp;July 2008.<br />* Tendler, Stewart (14&nbsp;July 2006). [http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/crime/article687489.ece "Official: Jack the Ripper identified"]. ''[[The Times]]''. Accessed 17&nbsp;July 2008.<br />* House, Robert. [http://roberthouse.com/other/ak2/ak3.html "Aaron Kosminski Reconsidered"]. Published online by the author. Accessed 17&nbsp;July 2008.<br />* House, Robert (March 2006). [http://roberthouse.com/other/ak2/ak4.html "The Kozminski File"]. [http://www.adamwood.info/ ''Ripperologist'']. Published online by the author. Accessed 17&nbsp;July 2008.</ref> to those only accused over a hundred years later, including children's author [[Lewis Carroll]] in 1996<ref>Wallace, Richard (1996). ''[[Jack the Ripper, Light-Hearted Friend]]''. Melrose, MA: Gemini Press. ISBN-13: 978-0962719561</ref> and obstetrician [[Sir John Williams, 1st Baronet Williams of the City of London|Sir John Williams]] in 2005.<ref>Williams, Tony; Price, Humphrey (2005). ''Uncle Jack''. London: Orion. ISBN-13: 9780752867083</ref> None of the various theories are entirely persuasive and many can be eliminated from further investigation. For example, the case against Sir John Williams is flawed and documents used to implicate him were altered to suit his accusers' theory.<ref>Pegg, Jennifer (October 2005). "''Uncle Jack'' Under the Microscope". ''Ripper Notes''. Issue #24. Inklings Press. ISBN 0-9759129-5-X.<br />* Pegg, Jennifer (January 2006). "'Shocked and Dismayed' - An Update on the ''Uncle Jack'' Controversy". ''Ripper Notes''. Issue #25, pp.54–61. Inklings Press. ISBN 0-9759129-6-8. ISSN 1559-1522.</ref> Williams was a physician to the Royal Family,<ref>Llewelyn Davies, Sir William. "Williams, Sir John" ''Welsh Biography Online''. [[National Library of Wales]]. Accessed 17&nbsp;July 2008.</ref> but a royal connection to the Jack the Ripper crimes was first suggested about forty years before Williams was actually accused.

In 1962, author [[Philippe Jullian]] published a biography of Prince Albert Victor's father, in which he made a passing reference to rumours that Albert Victor might have been responsible for the murders. Jullian's book appears to be the first published reference naming Albert Victor as a Ripper suspect. Though Jullian did not detail his sources they possibly derived indirectly from Dr. Thomas Eldon Alexander Stowell. Jullian makes no reference as to the date at which the rumour might have started, <ref name="evans">Evans, Stewart P. (October 2002). [http://www.casebook.org/dissertations/dst-evansorigins.html "On the Origins of the Royal Conspiracy Theory"]. ''Ripper Notes''. Published online by Casebook: Jack the Ripper. Accessed 6&nbsp;May 2008.</ref><ref name="cook">Cook, pp.8–9</ref>

==Prince Albert Victor as a suspect==
[[Image:William gull.jpg|thumb|left|upright|[[Sir William Gull, 1st Baronet|Sir William Gull]] was a notable physician who retired through ill health in 1887.]]

Stowell could have served indirectly as Jullian's source, as Stowell shared his theory in 1960 with writer [[Colin Wilson]], who in turn told [[Harold Nicolson]], a biographer loosely credited as a source of "hitherto unpublished anecdotes" in Jullian's book.<ref name="evans"/><ref name="cook"/> In 1970, Stowell published an article that claimed Albert Victor had contracted [[syphilis]] during a visit to the [[West Indies]], that it had driven him insane, and that in this state of mind he had perpetrated the five "canonical" Jack the Ripper murders. Stowell wrote that following a double murder on 30&nbsp;September 1888, Albert Victor was restrained by his own family in an institution in the south of England, but later escaped to commit a final murder on 9&nbsp;November before ultimately dying of syphilis. Stowell said his information came from the private notes of [[Sir William Gull, 1st Baronet|Sir William Gull]], a reputable physician who had treated members of the Royal Family.<ref>Stowell, T. E. A. (November 1970) "Jack the Ripper&nbsp;– A Solution?". ''The Criminologist'' vol.5 pp.40–51 quoted in Rumbelow, pp.209–212</ref> Stowell knew Gull's son-in-law, [[Sir Henry Acland, 1st Baronet#Marriage and children|Theodore Dyke Acland]], and was an executor of Acland's estate.<ref>Begg, pp.288–289 and Knight, pp.202–203</ref>

Stowell's claims were swiftly dismissed. Stowell had claimed that Albert Victor was incarcerated in a mental institution, when he was actually serving in the British army, making regular public appearances, and visiting friends at country houses.<ref>Rumbelow, pp.211–212 and Trow, p.153</ref> Newspaper reports, Queen Victoria's diary, family letters, and official documents prove that Albert Victor was attending functions in public, or meeting foreign royalty, or hundreds of miles from London at the time of each of the five canonical murders.<ref name=marriott>Marriott, p.268</ref> On 31&nbsp;August 1888, when [[Mary Ann Nichols]] was killed in Bucks Row in London, Albert Victor was at Danby Lodge, the home of [[Viscount Downe]] in [[Grosmont, North Yorkshire|Grosmont]], [[North Yorkshire]].<ref>(8&nbsp;September 1888) ''Daily News''</ref> Albert Victor travelled from Danby Lodge to the Cavalry Barracks in [[York]] on 7&nbsp;September, and was still in [[Yorkshire]] on 8&nbsp;September when [[Annie Chapman]] was killed in Hanbury Street, London. On 30&nbsp;September 1888, [[Elizabeth Stride]] and [[Catherine Eddowes]] were killed at 1:00 and 1:45 a.m. respectively, at times when Albert Victor was over 500&nbsp;miles (over 800&nbsp;km) from London. On the 29th, he was shooting in [[Loch Muick|Glen Muick, Scotland]], with [[Prince Henry of Battenberg]] among others, and in the afternoon he attended a recital given by [[Emma Albani]].<ref>(1&nbsp;October 1888) "[[Court Circular]]". ''[[The Times]]'' p.9; Issue 32505; col.G</ref> On the morning of the 30th, he attended a church service at [[Balmoral Castle|Balmoral]], the royal retreat in Scotland, with his grandmother Queen Victoria, other family members, visiting [[German Empire|German royalty]] and the estate staff. Afterwards, Albert Victor had lunch with the Queen.<ref>(2&nbsp;October 1888) "Court Circular". ''The Times'' p.9; Issue 32506; col.G</ref> On 9 November, [[Mary Jane Kelly]] was killed in Miller's Court in London, but Albert Victor was at [[Sandringham House]], the [[Norfolk]] country home of his parents, the Prince and Princess of Wales. That morning, he went shooting with his father and the house guests, including [[Ferdinand James von Rothschild|Baron Rothschild]], [[Henry Petty-Fitzmaurice, 5th Marquess of Lansdowne|Lord Lansdowne]] and other members of the British and foreign nobility. In the afternoon there was a party to celebrate the Prince of Wales's forty-seventh birthday.<ref>(10&nbsp;November 1888) "The Prince of Wales's Birthday". ''Daily News''</ref>

Stowell had claimed that his source concerning Albert Victor's death was Gull, but that was impossible since Gull had died on 29&nbsp;January 1890, two years before Albert Victor.<ref>Rumbelow, p.211</ref> All three doctors who were attending Albert Victor at his death in 1892 concurred that he had died of pneumonia. The first symptoms of madness that arise from syphilitic infection tend to occur about fifteen years from first exposure. Consequently, for Albert Victor to have suffered from syphilitic insanity in 1888, he would have to have been infected at the age of nine in about 1873, six years before he visited the West Indies. While the timescale of disease progression is never absolute, it is highly improbable that Albert Victor had syphilis.<ref>Rumbelow, pp.212–213</ref>

Rather than name Albert Victor in the article directly, Stowell described his suspect in a roundabout way in an attempt to either disguise his identity or create a mystery. On 5&nbsp;November 1970, Stowell wrote to ''The Times'' newspaper denying that he had ever implied Prince Albert Victor was Jack the Ripper. The letter was published on 9&nbsp;November,<ref>Stowell, T. E. A. (9&nbsp;November 1970). "Jack the Ripper". ''The Times'' p.9; Issue 58018; col.F</ref> the day after Stowell's own death from natural causes. The same week, Stowell's son reported that he had burned his father's papers, saying "I read just sufficient to make certain that there was nothing of importance."<ref>PHS (14&nbsp;November 1970). "The Times Diary: Ripper file destroyed". ''The Times'' p.12; Issue 58023; col.E</ref>

===Developments on Stowell's theory===
In a 1972 biography of Albert Victor, [[Michael Harrison (writer)|Michael Harrison]] dismissed the idea that Albert Victor was the Ripper. Instead he suggested that [[James Kenneth Stephen]], one of Albert Victor's tutors from [[Trinity College, Cambridge]], was a more likely suspect. Harrison's suggestion was based on Stephen's misogynistic writings and on similarities between his handwriting and that of the "From Hell" letter.<ref>Harrison, pp.165–170</ref> Harrison supposed that Stephen may have had sexual feelings for Albert Victor, and that Stephen's hatred of women arose from jealousy because Albert Victor preferred female company and did not reciprocate Stephen's feelings.<ref>Harrison, pp.164, 181</ref> However, Harrison's analysis was rebutted by professional document examiners.<ref>Mann, Thomas J. (1975). ''World Association of Document Examiners Journal'' vol.2 no.1, quoted in Rumbelow, p.219</ref> There is no proof that Stephen was ever in love with Albert Victor,<ref>Aronson, p.117</ref> although he did starve himself to death very shortly after hearing of Albert Victor's death.<ref>Aronson, p.105 and Cook, p.281</ref>

In 1978, [[Frank Spiering]] further developed the theory in his book ''Prince Jack'', which depicted Albert Victor as the murderer and Stephen as his lover. The book is widely dismissed as a sensational fiction based on Stowell's and Harrison's previous theories rather than genuine historical research.<ref>Meikle, p.177; Rumbelow, p.244 and Trow, p.153</ref> Spiering claimed to have discovered a copy of Gull's private notes in the library of the [[New York Academy of Medicine]] and that the notes included a confession by Albert Victor under a state of [[hypnosis]]. Spiering further suggested that Albert Victor died due to an overdose of [[morphine]], administered to him on the order of Prime Minister Lord Salisbury and possibly Albert Victor's own father, the Prince of Wales. The New York Academy of Medicine denies possessing the records Spiering mentioned,<ref>Letter from the New York Academy of Medicine, 13&nbsp;January 1986, quoted in Rumbelow, p.244</ref> and when Spiering was offered access to the [[Royal Archives]], he retorted: "I don't want to see any files."<ref>Spiering quoted in Rumbelow, p.244</ref>

==Claims of Joseph Gorman==
In 1973, the [[BBC]] television series ''Jack the Ripper'' investigated the murders using a mixture of documentary and drama; it featured [[Z-Cars|fictional detectives Barlow and Watt]], played by [[Stratford Johns]] and [[Frank Windsor]] respectively, examining real evidence.<ref name="Rumbelow">Rumbelow, p.223</ref> The series was made into a book, ''The Ripper File'', by [[Elwyn Jones (writer)|Elwyn Jones]] and [[John Lloyd (writer)|John Lloyd]] in 1975. The sixth and final programme included a testimony by Joseph Gorman<ref>Also known as Joseph Sickert</ref> (22&nbsp;October 1925&nbsp;– 9&nbsp;January 2003), a London artist who claimed to be the illegitimate son of noted painter [[Walter Sickert]]. Gorman claimed that Sickert had told him a story that implicated not only Prince Albert Victor but the Royal Family and a host of other famous people in the murders.

Gorman said that his Catholic grandmother had secretly married Albert Victor, and that his mother, as the legitimate daughter of Albert Victor, was the rightful heir to the throne. He claimed that their apartment in Cleveland Street was raided on the order of Lord Salisbury, who conspired with fellow freemasons including Gull to hush up any potential scandal. According to Gorman, his grandmother was unjustly certified insane by Gull, who with the assistance of coachman [[John Netley]] and [[Sir Robert Anderson]], Assistant Commissioner of [[Scotland Yard]], murdered all her friends because they knew of her marriage. Gorman accused Netley of twice trying to kill his mother, and claimed that after the second unsuccessful attempt Netley was chased by an angry mob into the [[river Thames]], where he drowned.<ref>Knight, pp.24–39</ref>

Scholars from multiple disciplines reject Gorman's story as a ridiculous fantasy.<ref name=whiteway/><ref>Aronson, p.110; Begg, pp.x–xi; Cook, p.9; Cornwell, pp.133–135; Harrison, pp.142–143; Knight, p.180; Marriott, pp.267–268; Meikle, pp.146–147, 178, 188; Ridley, pp.266–267; Roland, pp.142–147; Rumbelow, pp.209–244 and Trow, pp.152–158</ref> There is no trace of any marriage between Albert Victor and Gorman's grandmother, Annie Elizabeth Crook.<ref>Aronson, p.88 and Knight, pp.103–104</ref> Even if they had married, their marriage would have been invalid under British law due to the [[Royal Marriages Act 1772]], which voids any marriage contracted by a member of the Royal Family without the consent of the Sovereign. Any child of an invalid marriage is deemed illegitimate and excluded from the [[line of succession]].<ref name=rumbelow232and233/> Gorman claimed that his grandmother was Catholic, although records prove this to be untrue.<ref name=rumbelow232and233>Begg, p.293 and Rumbelow, pp.232–233</ref> If she had been Catholic, more weaknesses in the story arise because according to the [[Act of Settlement 1701]] only Protestants who have not married a Catholic can inherit the English Crown. Members of the Royal Family who convert to Catholicism or marry Catholics lose their rights of succession. Consequently, if Albert Victor had legally married a Catholic and had a Catholic daughter, both he and the child would be excluded from inheriting the throne.<ref>Rumbelow, p.233</ref>

Gorman's mother, Alice Margaret Crook, was born on 18&nbsp;April 1885 at 6 Cleveland Street but on her birth certificate the name of her father was left blank.<ref>General Register Office, England and Wales (April–June 1885). Civil Registration Indexes: Births. Marylebone vol.1a, p.537</ref> According to Trevor Marriott, an expert on the Jack the Ripper case, Alice "must have been conceived between 18&nbsp;July and 11&nbsp;August 1884".<ref>Marriott, p.267</ref> Albert Victor was in [[Heidelberg]] from June to August 1884; hence, he was not in London at the time of Alice's conception and could not have been her father.<ref>Aronson, p.88 and Marriott, p.267</ref> When Alice married William Gorman on 14&nbsp;July 1918,<ref>Rumbelow, pp.228 and 231</ref> she listed William Crook as her father. William Crook was also the name of Alice's grandfather. Ripper expert Don Rumbelow has suggested that the name of Alice's father was omitted from her birth certificate either because she was illegitimate or to conceal an incestuous relationship between her mother, Annie, and grandfather, William.<ref name=rum>Rumbelow, pp.227–228</ref>

[[File:Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury - Project Gutenberg eText 13103.jpg|upright|thumb|[[Robert Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury|Lord Salisbury]] was Prime Minister at the time of the murders.]]

According to Gorman, his mother was the mistress of Walter Sickert but there is no firm evidence that Sickert was Gorman's father.<ref name=baron>Baron, Wendy (September 2004). [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/36083 "Sickert, Walter Richard (1860–1942)"]. ''[[Oxford Dictionary of National Biography]]''. Accessed 18&nbsp;June 2008. (Subscription required)</ref> Gorman was one of five children born within the marriage of Alice Margaret Crook and William Gorman.<ref>Scott, Christopher (2004). [http://www.casebook.org/ripper_media/book_reviews/non-fiction/castofthousands.crook.html "Jack the Ripper: A Cast of Thousands"]. ''Casebook: Jack the Ripper''. Accessed 31&nbsp;March 2008.</ref>

Gorman claimed that Annie and Alice were set up in an apartment at 6 Cleveland Street by Albert Victor, and that the apartment was raided on the orders of the British Prime Minister Lord Salisbury in April 1888. However, by that time Nos. 4–14 Cleveland Street had been demolished, and the house in which Annie and Alice had lived no longer existed.<ref>Begg, p.293 and Rumbelow, p.232</ref> They were not supported by a wealthy patron, such as Albert Victor,<ref>Aronson, p.89</ref> but were paupers who occasionally lived in [[workhouse]]s.<ref>Rumbelow, pp.241–242</ref> In January 1889, Annie and Alice were living in the Endell Street Workhouse, after leaving their last known address: 9 Pitt Street (later renamed Scala Street), [[Tottenham Court Road]].<ref name=rum/> Annie was often institutionalised; workhouse and infirmary records show that she was admitted because of recurrent epilepsy, not because she had been certified insane by Gull as claimed by Gorman. Only in the final four days of her life, which ended on 23&nbsp;February 1920, is it noted that she went insane.<ref>Rumbelow, pp.226 and 229–231</ref>

There are further multiple problems with Gorman's version of events. The Ripper victims were not known to be acquainted with each other and reports of their activities and whereabouts during the year of their deaths do not suggest a connection or that they would have known Annie, who lived on the other side of Central London.<ref>Begg, p.293</ref> Even if they had known her or her child, it is unlikely that their tale of royal illegitimacy would be believed, so any attempt by them to reveal the supposed scandal would merely have been dismissed.<ref>Aronson, p.109</ref> Stowell had mentioned rumours that blamed Gull for the murders in his article, but had dismissed them as fallacies.<ref>Begg, p.289</ref> Gull retired from practice in 1887 after suffering a stroke, which left him temporarily partially paralysed and unable to speak.<ref name="Rumbelow"/> Gull did recover, but he suffered further attacks before his death in 1890.<ref>Knight, pp.180–182, 201</ref> Furthermore, Lord Salisbury was not a freemason,<ref>''Freemason'', 29&nbsp;August 1903, quoted in Rumbelow, p.234</ref> and there is no documentary evidence that links Netley to the other characters. Netley did not drown in the Thames, but was actually killed in 1903 after falling under the wheels of his own van.<ref>Knight, p.213</ref> Gorman claimed that the victims' bodies were dissected in a carriage and then moved to where they were discovered, but the forensic evidence indicates that the bodies were not moved and some of the streets where the victims were found were too narrow for a carriage.<ref name=marriott/> Gorman said that Sickert had a studio in Cleveland Street, which was untrue,<ref>Begg, p.293 and Rumbelow, p.231</ref> and that Sickert knew the [[Alexandra of Denmark|Princess of Wales]], of which there is no proof.<ref>Cook, p.292 and Knight, p.80</ref> Gorman accused Anderson of being an accomplice, but he was in Switzerland at the time of the double murder, and so was clearly unable to participate in its perpetration.<ref>Knight, p.247 and [[Nigel Cawthorne|Cawthorne, Nigel]] (2000) "Afterword" in: Knight, p.270</ref>

===Developments on Gorman's claims===
[[Image:Walter Sickert 1884.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Walter Sickert]] was an artist inspired by the seediness of the East End of London. His works include "''Jack the Ripper's Bedroom''".<ref>[http://www.manchestergalleries.org/the-collections/search-the-collection/display.php?EMUSESSID=0dda029b93c619fcb42ba5d6d3b09920&irn=8432 ''Jack the Ripper's Bedroom'']. [[Manchester Art Gallery]]. Accessed 6 October 2008</ref>]]
In the original television series, the story is depicted as the belief of Gorman but not of the detectives. In 1976, writer [[Stephen Knight]] examined Gorman's sensational claims in his book ''[[Jack the Ripper: The Final Solution]]'', and concluded that they were, for the most part, true. Knight appreciated that there were problems with Gorman's claims, and realised that Anderson could not have been an accomplice. Consequently, he considered Walter Sickert a much more likely "third man" than Anderson, and suggested that he was a partner in the crimes.<ref>Knight, pp.246–262</ref> This was not the first accusation made against Sickert. He had been mentioned as a potential suspect in Donald McCormick's 1959 book ''The Identity of Jack the Ripper''.<ref>Knight, p.250</ref> However, Sickert was in France with his mother and brother in the late summer of 1888; it is unlikely that he was even in London at the time of at least four of the murders.<ref name=sturgis>Sturgis, Matthew (3&nbsp;November 2002). "Making a killing from the Ripper". ''[[The Sunday Times]]''</ref> After Knight implicated Sickert, Gorman withdrew his testimony, admitting to ''[[The Sunday Times]]'' newspaper that "it was a hoax&nbsp;... a whopping fib".<ref>''The Sunday Times'', 18&nbsp;June 1978, quoted in Rumbelow, p.237</ref>

Other authors have repeated or made further modifications to either Gorman's or Knight's versions. For example, Melvyn Fairclough's 1991 book ''The Ripper and the Royals'' asserted that [[Lord Randolph Churchill]] was the "third man",<ref>Begg, p.292 and Trow, pp.159–160</ref> although Fairclough later disowned his own book and told reporters that "he no longer believes the theory".<ref>Edge, Simon (15 December 2001). "'My grandfather was the heir to the throne and Jack the Ripper killed to cover it up'". ''[[Daily Express]]</ref> Andy Parlour, Sue Parlour and Kevin O'Donnell, authors of ''The Jack the Ripper Whitechapel Murders'', supposed that [[Mary Jane Kelly]] was pregnant with Albert Victor's child instead of Annie Crook. These, and other books which promote Sickert from a knowing accomplice to being Jack the Ripper himself, such as [[Jean Overton-Fuller]]'s ''Sickert and the Ripper Crimes'' and [[Patricia Cornwell]]'s ''[[Portrait of a Killer]]'', are marketed as non-fiction books, but many scholars dismiss them as derivative fantasies based on little or no evidence.<ref name=whiteway/><ref name=baron/><ref name=sturgis/><ref>Begg, pp.x–xi, 295–296; Meikle, p.197; Roland, pp.132–137 and Rumbelow, p.246</ref>

The Jack the Ripper royal/masonic conspiracy theories are fictionalised in the play ''Force and Hypocrisy'' by Doug Lucie, and four films: ''[[Murder by Decree]]'', a [[Sherlock Holmes]] mystery; ''Jack the Ripper'', first released in 1988; ''The Ripper'', first released in 1997; and the [[Hughes Brothers]]' ''[[From Hell (film)|From Hell]]'', first released in 2001 and based on a [[graphic novel]] of [[From Hell|the same name]] by [[Alan Moore]] and artist [[Eddie Campbell]].<ref>Meikle, pp.224–234</ref> The theories also figure in the final book of [[Philip José Farmer]]'s [[Riverworld]] series, ''[[Gods of Riverworld]]'', and novels that use the conspiracy theories as a base include [[Robin Paige]]'s ''Death at Whitechapel'' (New York: Berkley Publishing Group, 2000) and [[Anne Perry]]'s ''The Whitechapel Conspiracy'' (London: Headline, 2001).<ref name=whiteway/>

==See also==
*[[Jack the Ripper fiction]]
*[[Jack the Ripper suspects]]

==Notes==
{{reflist|2}}

==References==
*[[Theo Aronson|Aronson, Theo]] (1994). ''Prince Eddy and the Homosexual Underworld''. London: John Murray. ISBN 0-7195-5278-8.
*Begg, Paul (2003). ''Jack the Ripper: The Definitive History''. Harlow, Essex: Pearson Education. ISBN 0-582-50631-X.
*Cook, Andrew (2006). ''Prince Eddy: The King Britain Never Had''. Stroud, Gloucestershire: Tempus Publishing Ltd. ISBN 0-7524-3410-1.
*[[Patricia Cornwell|Cornwell, Patricia]] (2003). ''Portrait of a Killer: Jack the Ripper Case Closed''. London: Time Warner Paperbacks. ISBN 0-7515-3359-9.
*Eddleston, John J. (2002). ''Jack the Ripper: An Encyclopedia''. London: Metro Books. ISBN 1-8435-8046-2.
*Evans, Stewart P.; Skinner, Keith (2000). ''The Ultimate Jack the Ripper Companion: An Illustrated Encyclopedia''. New York: Carroll & Graf. ISBN 0-7867-0768-2.
*Fairclough, Melvyn (1991). ''The Ripper and the Royals''. London: Duckworth. ISBN 0-7156-2362-1.
*[[Michael Harrison (writer)|Harrison, Michael]] (1972). ''Clarence: The life of H.R.H. the Duke of Clarence and Avondale (1864–1892)''. London and New York: W. H. Allen. ISBN 0-491-00722-1.
*[[Stephen Knight|Knight, Stephen]] (1976; rev. 1984; repr. 2000). ''Jack the Ripper: The Final Solution''. London: Bounty Books. ISBN 0-75370-369-6.
*Marriott, Trevor (2005). ''Jack the Ripper: The 21st Century Investigation''. London: John Blake. ISBN 1-84454-103-7.
*Meikle, Denis (2002). ''Jack the Ripper: The Murders and the Movies''. Richmond, Surrey: Reynolds and Hearn Ltd. ISBN 1-903111-32-3.
*Ridley, Jasper (2008) [1999]. ''The Brief History of the Freemasons''. London: Robinson. ISBN 978-1-84529-678-0.
*[[Paul Roland|Roland, Paul]] (2006). ''The Crimes of Jack the Ripper''. London: Arcturus Publishing. ISBN 978-0-572-03285-2.
*Rumbelow, Donald (2004). ''The Complete Jack the Ripper: Fully Revised and Updated''. Penguin Books. ISBN 0-140-17395-1.
*[[M. J. Trow|Trow, M. J.]] (1997). ''The Many Faces of Jack the Ripper''. Chichester, West Sussex: Summersdale. ISBN 1-84024-016-4.

==External links==
*[http://casebook.org/suspects/knight.html Casebook: Jack the Ripper&nbsp;– Good Knight: An Examination of ''The Final Solution''] debunks Knight's theory.

{{Jack the Ripper}}

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[[Category:Jack the Ripper]]
[[Category:Conspiracy theories]]

Revision as of 03:50, 21 January 2009

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