Catherine Eddowes (14 April 1842 – 30 September 1888) was the fourth of the canonical five victims of the unidentified serial killer known as Jack the Ripper, who is believed to have killed and mutilated at least five women in the Whitechapel and Spitalfields districts of London from late August to early November 1888.Evans and Rumbelow, pp. 96–113
Eddowes was murdered in the early hours of Sunday 30 September within the City of London. She was the second woman killed within an hour, the night having already seen the murder of Elizabeth Stride within the jurisdiction of the Metropolitan Police. These two murders are commonly referred to as the "double event",Evans and Rumbelow, pp. 114–140 a term originating from the content of the "Saucy Jacky" postcard received at the Central News Agency on 1 October.
A part of a left human kidney, accompanied by a letter addressed From Hell and postmarked 15 October, was later sent to the chairman of the Whitechapel Vigilance Committee, George Lusk. The author of this letter claimed the section of kidney was from Eddowes, whose left kidney had been removed, and that he had fried and eaten the other half. Most experts, however, do not believe this kidney originated from Eddowes's body.Honeycombe, The Murders of the Black Museum: 1870-1970, p. 60
Early life Catherine Eddowes was born on 14 April 1842 in Graiseley Green, Wolverhampton, the sixthBegg, Jack the Ripper: The Facts, p. 462 of twelve children of tinplate worker George Eddowes and his wife, Catherine (née Evans), who worked as a cook at the Peacock Hotel.
The family moved to London a year after her birth, where her father obtained employment with Perkins and Sharpus in Bell Court in the City of London. They first lived at 4 Baden Place, Bermondsey, before relocating to 35 West Street. Eddowes was educated at St. John's Charity School in Potter's Field. By 1851, the family was living at 35 West Street.Eddleston, Jack the Ripper: An Encyclopedia, p. 52 Her mother bore eleven other children, although only ten of the twelve survived. She died of tuberculosis on 17 November 1855 at the age of 42.Begg, Jack the Ripper: The Facts, p. 165
By 1857, both of Eddowes's parents had died,Begg, Jack the Ripper: The Definitive History, p. 211 leaving Eddowes, then aged 15, and three siblings to be admitted as orphans to a workhouse.Begg, Jack the Ripper: The Definitive History, p. 235 All four attended a local industrial school intended to teach them a trade. Through this scheme, one of her older sisters, Emma, and an aunt secured employment for her as a tinplate stamper at the Old Hall Works in Wolverhampton. She moved to Wolverhampton, lived with her aunt in Bilston Street, worked at the Old Hall Works, and continued her education at Dowgate Charity School.Lynch; Davies, Jack the Ripper: The Whitechapel Murderer, p. 64
Within months, Eddowes was dismissed from her job, possibly after being caught stealing. The loss of employment is believed to have caused tensions with her aunt. She soon left Wolverhampton for Birmingham, where she briefly lived with an uncle, Thomas Eddowes, a shoemaker. She found work as a tray polisher at a firm in Legge Street, although after about four months she returned to Wolverhampton to live with her grandfather, who found her work as a tinplate stamper. Nine months later, she again moved to Birmingham.Begg, Jack the Ripper: The Facts p. 165
Eddowes was tall, slim, with dark, wavy auburn hair and hazel eyes.Inquest testimony of lodging-house deputy Frederick William Wilkinson, quoted in Evans and Skinner, p. 218 and Marriott, p. 136 Friends later described her as "a very jolly woman, always singing" and an "intelligent and scholarly [individual], but possessed of a fierce temper."
Relationships Thomas Conway While residing in Birmingham, Eddowes began a relationship with former soldier Thomas Conway, who had served in the 18th Royal Irish Regiment and received a small regimental pension. The couple had two children: Catherine Ann () and Thomas Lawrence (), and initially supported themselves by occasional labouring work when his health permitted. No evidence exists to support the two having married following their initial acquaintance in 1861 or 1862, although shortly after they began a relationship, Eddowes referred to herself as "Kate Conway". She later had Conway's initials ("TC") crudely tattooed in blue ink on her left forearm.Casebook: Jack The Ripper
Relocation to London In 1868, Eddowes and Conway moved to London, taking lodgings in Westminster. Their third child and second son was born in 1873. While living in London, Eddowes took to drinking, which caused rifts within her immediate family.Edwards, Naming Jack the Ripper: New Crime Scene Evidence, A Stunning Forensic Breakthrough p. 60 According to later inquest testimony from her daughter, Catherine "Annie" Phillips, her parents began living on "bad terms" largely because of her mother's drinking, which increased throughout the 1870s and which her fathera teetotalerfound intolerable. By the late 1870s, quarrels between the two are believed to have become violent, with Eddowes occasionally being seen with black eyes and bruising about her face.Begg, Jack the Ripper: The Facts, p. 166
By 1880, Eddowes and Conway lived in a room at 71 Lower George Street, Chelsea, with their two youngest children (their oldest child had left the household by this date).Begg, Jack the Ripper: The Facts, p. 166 Sometime the same year, Eddowes left Conway.
John Kelly The precise reason why Eddowes chose to relocate from Chelsea to the East End of London is unknown, although by 1881 she was living with a new partner, John Kelly, a fruit salesman whom she had met when they both lodged at Cooney's common lodging-house at 55 Flower and Dean Street, Spitalfields, at the centre of London's most notorious criminal rookery. Thereafter, she became known to acquaintances as "Kate Kelly".
The deputy of this lodging-house, Frederick William Wilkinson, later stated Eddowes seldom drank to excess, although contemporary records indicate she was brought before Thames Magistrates' Court on a charge of being drunk and disorderly in September 1881. She was discharged without being fined.Begg, Jack the Ripper: The Facts p. 167
Initially, while living in and around Spitalfields, Eddowes most often earned money by performing domestic work such as cleaning and sewing for the Jewish community in nearby Brick Lane, although she is believed to have also occasionally taken to casual prostitution to pay her daily rent.Begg (2006), pp. 166–167; White, pp. 323–349 By the mid 1880s, she and Kelly also earned money by performing seasonal hop-picking work in Kent each summer.
When Eddowes could not afford a bed in a common lodging-house, she typically attempted to borrow money from her sisters or her daughter. She primarily attempted to borrow from her older sister, Elizabeth Fisher, who lived in Greenwich and whom she also visited socially on occasion.Eddleston, Jack the Ripper: An Encyclopedia p. 53 If unsuccessful in her efforts to borrow money from relatives, she is believed to have slept rough in the front room of 26 Dorset Street, known locally as "the shed".Begg, Jack the Ripper: The Facts, p. 275
September 1888 In September 1888, Eddowes and Kelly followed their annual practice of taking casual work hop-picking in the village of Hunton, Kent. En route to Hunton, Eddowes purchased a jacket from a pawnshop and Kelly a pair of boots from a shop in Maidstone. While partaking in this work, the two became acquainted with a woman named Emily Birrell and her common-law husband; the four slept in the same barn.
At harvest's end, Eddowes and Kelly returned to London on foot with Birrell and her partner, although they parted company midway as Birrell and her partner intended to travel to Cheltenham rather than London. Before parting, Birrell handed Eddowes a pawn ticket for a flannel shirt, saying: "I have got a pawn ticket for a flannel shirt. I wish you'd take it since you're going [to London]. It is only for 9d, and it may fit your old man." Eddowes placed the ticket inside a small mustard tin she carried.
The two reached London on 27 September, spending the night in the casual ward at Shoe Lane in the City of London. They slept in separate lodging-houses the following evening: Kelly at 52 Flower and Dean Street; Eddowes at the Mile End Casual Ward.The Times 4 October 1888, quoted in Begg and Skinner, s. E Upon her arrival at the casual ward, the superintendent asked Eddowes, who had frequently slept at the premises, where she had recently been. She replied she had been hop‑picking and added she intended to claim the reward offered for the arrest of the Whitechapel murderer, saying, "I think I know him."
By the following day, the two had spent almost all their earnings.Eddleston, Jack the Ripper: An Encyclopedia p. 184 At 8 am on 29 September, Eddowes and Kelly met at Cooney's common lodging-house on Flower and Dean Street, where they ate breakfast before purchasing some tea and sugar.Eddleston, p. 53 They agreed to split their last sixpence between them; he took fourpence to pay for a bed in the lodging-house, and she took twopence, enough for her to stay another night at Mile End Casual Ward.Fido, p. 68
29 September In the early afternoon of 29 September, Eddowes informed Kelly she intended to travel to Bermondsey to attempt to borrow money from her daughter, who by 1888 had been married to a gun-maker in Southwark for three years.Evans and Rumbelow, p. 114 The two parted company in Houndsditch at about 2 pm,Begg, Jack the Ripper: The Facts, p. 168 with Eddowes stating she expected to return by 4 p.m.Evans and Skinner, p. 197; Fido, p. 67 With money from pawning his boots, a barefoot Kelly took a bed at the lodging-house just after 8 pm, and according to the deputy keeper, he remained there all night.Evans and Rumbelow, pp. 114–115
At 8:30 pm on Saturday, 29 September, PC Louis Frederick Robinson observed a small group of people gathered outside 29 Aldgate High Street. Approaching the crowd, he saw Eddowes lying drunk on the pavement. Robinson assisted her to her feet and leaned her against the shutters of the house, although she quickly slumped back to the pavement. Summoning the assistance of PC George Simmons, the two took her into custody at Bishopsgate Police Station to be detained until she was sober enough to leave. Upon arrival, Eddowes gave her name as "Nothing", and within twenty minutes she had fallen asleep in a cell.Bell, Capturing Jack the Ripper: In the Boots of a Bobby in Victorian England, p. 104
Shortly after 12:30 am on 30 September, Eddowes asked PC George Hutt when she could be released. Hutt replied: "When you are capable of taking care of yourself." Thirty minutes later, at 1:00 am, Eddowes was deemed sober enough to be released, stating to Hutt as he escorted her to the entrance of Bishopsgate Police Station, "All right. Good night, old cock."Evans and Rumbelow, p. 115; Evans and Skinner, pp. 209–210; Fido, p. 43
Before her release, Eddowes gave her name and address to Hutt as "Mary Ann Kelly of 6 Fashion Street".Evans and Rumbelow, p. 116; Evans and Skinner, pp. 195, 210
30 September Upon leaving the station, instead of turning right to take the shortest route to her Flower and Dean Street lodging-house, Eddowes turned left in the general direction of Aldgate.Evans and Skinner, p. 195; Fido, p. 43 She was last seen alive in a narrow walkway named Church Passage at 1:35 ame.g. testimony of Frederick Gordon Brown, quoted in Marriott, p. 145 by three witnesses: Joseph Lawende, Joseph Hyam Levy, and Harry Harris, who had just left the Imperial Club in Duke's Place on Duke Street.Begg, Jack the Ripper: The Facts p. 171