Why did the Whitechapel murders attract so much attention in 1888?

Authors Avatar

Claire Watkins            History Coursework

Why did the Whitechapel murders attract so much attention in 1888?

        The Whitechapel murders were the first sexual serial killings in England, perhaps in the world. This made people particularly interested in them, as they were something completely new. The manner of death was also particularly gruesome – the women were brutalised and disembowelled. Their throats were cut from ear to ear, so deeply that it almost seemed the Ripper was trying to behead them. At the last murder scene, that of Mary Kelly, police are said to have been uncertain whether the remains they were dealing with were animal or human, because she had been so horrifically slaughtered. Dr Bond wrote that the arms and face had been “hacked beyond recognition”. Her “heart had been cut out and could not be found”. It was believed by all but one doctor that the murderer had to have some anatomical knowledge into where to find the organs, how to recognise them when found, and how to get to them. The morbid fascination in these killings continued throughout them all.

Join now!

        In the decade before the Whitechapel murders, there had been just 14 newspapers in existence. When the stamp duty on newspapers was listed, this number boomed to168. This meant that there were a huge number of newspapers competing for readership, each trying to dream up the best headlines and show the best images, with interesting text. The Elementary Education Act, in 1870, meant that everybody had to go to primary school to learn the basics of reading and writing. Because of this, many more people could read, so hundreds more were buying and reading the newspapers. This era was also ...

This is a preview of the whole essay