The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper

There is some debate among experts on the Jack the Ripper murders about whether or not Polly Nichols, Annie Chapman, Elisabeth Stride, Kate Eddoes, and Mary Jane Kelly were Jack the Ripper’s only victims. Since the majority of historians agree that the five women were Jack the Ripper’s sole victims, they are called the “canonical” victims or the “canonical five.”

Most workhouses had a casual ward, an area where people in need would receive lodging for several nights in exchange for labor. People like Polly Nichols and Kate Eddowes often alternated between living on the streets and staying in a casual ward.

Dolly-wop was a slang term for a woman who was in a romantic or sexual relationship with a soldier in the British army. Since men in the British military were discouraged from marrying, these relationships were usually not sanctioned marriages, which often left women in precarious positions. Annie Chapman’s mother Ruth was one such woman who had a relationship with Annie’s father, George, a soldier. The couple were later allowed to marry.