James Maybrick

File:Mr and Mrs James Maybrick.jpg

Mr and Mrs Maybrick

James Maybrick (October 25, 1838–May 11, 1889) was a Liverpool cotton merchant. After his death, his wife, Florence Maybrick, was convicted of his murder by poisoning in a sensational trial. The "Aigburth Poisoning" case was widely reported in the press on both sides of the Atlantic. More than a century after his death, Maybrick was named as a suspect in the notorious Jack the Ripper murders, but critics countered that such claims were hoaxed.

Life

Maybrick was born in Liverpool, the son of William Maybrick, an engineer, and his wife, Susanna. He was christened on November 12, 1838 at St Peter's Church in the city. He was named after a brother who had died the year before and was the Maybrick's third of seven sons.

Maybrick's cotton trading business required him to travel regularly to the United States and in 1871 he settled in Norfolk, Virginia to establish a branch office of his company. While there in 1874 he contracted malaria, which was then treated with a medication containing arsenic and the result was that he became addicted to the drug for the rest of his life.

In 1880, Maybrick returned to the company's offices in England. Sailing from New York on March 12, 1880 he arrived in Liverpool six days later. During the journey he was introduced to Florence (Florie) Elizabeth Chandler, the daughter of a banker from Mobile, Alabama and their relationship quickly blossomed. Despite the difference in their ages - he was 42 to her 18 - they began to plan their wedding immediately.

The wedding was delayed until July 27, 1881 when it took place at St James Church, Piccadilly, London. The couple moved to Liverpool to live at the family home "Battlecrease House" in Aigburth, a suburb in the south of the city.

They had two children: a son, James Chandler ("Bobo"), born in 1882 and a daughter, Gladys Evelyn (correctly spelt Evlyn), born in 1886.

Maybrick continued to divide his time between the American and the English offices of his company and this may have caused difficulties within his marriage. He also resumed his relationships with his many mistresses, whilst his wife conducted an affair with an Alfred Brierley, a cotton broker. It is possible Florence embarked upon this on learning of her husband's infidelity.

In Maybrick's case a common-law wife, Sarah Ann Robertson, was identified. Sarah Ann is mentioned in her stepfather's will as "Sarah Ann Maybrick, wife of James".

Death

Maybrick's health deteriorated suddenly on April 27, 1889 and he died fifteen days later. The circumstances of his death were deemed suspicious by his brothers and an inquest, held in a local hotel, came to the verdict that arsenical poisoning was the most likely cause, administered by persons unknown.

Suspicion immediately fell on Florence and she was arrested some days later. She stood trial at Liverpool Crown Court and, after a lengthy hearing, the fairness of which was the subject of some debate at the time, she was convicted of murder and sentenced to death. The way in which the judge conducted her trial was questioned and this was probably the reason her sentence was commuted to life imprisonment, some of which she served in a prison in Woking, Surrey and then at the "House of Detention" at Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire.

A re-examination of her case resulted in her release in 1904. She supported herself through various occupations until her death on October 23, 1941.

Family

James Maybrick Jr. and Gladys Evelyn were taken in by a Dr. Charles Chinner Fuller and his wife Gertrude after their father died and their mother was convicted.

James Jr. changed his name to Fuller before he died in Canada in 1911, by accidentally drinking cyanide. He was 29. Gladys eventually lived in Ryde, Isle of Wight, with her uncle and aunt Michael and Laura (nee Withers) Maybrick before marrying in London in 1912.

James Maybrick's brother, Michael Maybrick, was a composer who published many pieces and songs under the name "Stephen Adams". "Good Company" is one such example, but by far his best known work was the hymn "The Holy City".

Jack the Ripper Diary

In 1992, a document presented as James Maybrick's diary surfaced, which claimed that he was Jack the Ripper. The diary's author does not mention his own name, but offers enough hints and references consistent with Maybrick's established life and habits that it is obvious readers are expected to believe it is him. The author of the document details alleged actions and crimes over a period of several months, taking credit for slaying the five victims most commonly credited to Jack the Ripper as well as two other murders which have to date not been historically identified.

The 'diary' was first introduced to the world by Michael Barrett, an unemployed former Liverpool scrap metal dealer, who claimed at the time that it had been given to him by a friend, Tony Devereux, in a pub. It was published as The Diary of Jack the Ripper in 1993 to great controversy. Few experts gave it any credence from the outset, and most immediately dismissed it as a hoax, though some were open to the possibility it might be genuine. Debate was often heated, and one writer notes that the "saga of the Maybrick diary is confusing, complicated and inescapably tortuous."

Generally, the current consensus is that the diary is a hoax. This conclusion was reached after various investigators noted that the diary contains mistaken notions about the Ripper crimes that were only introduced in the 20th century, as well as some textual anomalies that seem to refer to modern Liverpool landmarks not present (or not known by the name given in the text) in Maybrick's time. Also cited are tests conducted on the diary's ink, suggesting the diary was written recently, and in only a few sittings, not over the several months indicated in the diary's entries. Among the investigators was document expert Kenneth W. Rendell. In his analysis, he was struck that the handwriting style seemed more 20th century than Victorian. He also noted factual contradictions and handwriting inconsistencies. Written in a genuine Victorian scrapbook, but with 20 pages at the front end torn out, he also found this suspect as there was no logical explanation for the purported author to use such a book.

In January 1995, Michael Barrett swore in two separate affidavits that he was in fact "the author of the Manuscript written by my wife Anne Barrett at my dictation which is known as The Jack the Ripper Diary." Adding to the confusion, however, was Barrett's solicitor's subsequent repudiation of his affidavit, then Barrett's withdrawal of the repudiation.

Also presented shortly after the 'discovery' of the 'diary' was a pocket watch, with the initials "J.M." scratched on the inside cover, along with the words "I am Jack" as well as the initials of the five so-called canonical Ripper victims. Tests performed on the watch suggest that these markings are old, though these results have been disputed.

A minority of persons, including Robert Smith, the present owner of the diary and original publisher of the associated book by Shirley Harrison, insist it may be genuine. They argue that scientific dating methods have established that the book and ink used to write in it are from the nineteenth century; that the symptoms of arsenic addiction, claimed to be described accurately in the book, are known to very few persons; that some details of the murders provided in it were known only to police and the Ripper himself before the book's publication; and that one of the original crime scene photographs shows the initials "F. M." written on a wall behind the victim's body in what appears to be blood. These, they claim, refer to Florence Maybrick, James's wife, whose possible infidelities were the purported motivation for the murders. These claims are dismissed by the majority of experts.