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31st August 1888: Discovery of the first victim of Jack the Ripper

1,341 views · Published 30 August 2015 · 2:32 · Indexed 12 November 2026

Channel: HistoryPod · 2015 · Education

Not only had her throat been cut, but her body had been mutilated. Her corpse was left next to a gate in Buck's Row, which is now known as Durward Street, and was discovered by a cart driver. It was three weeks before the inquest was concluded, by which time a second murder with a similar modus operandi had been committed. On studying the body of Annie Chapman, the coroner noted that "The similarity of the injuries in the two cases is considerable."

Nichols was 43 years old when she was murdered, having found herself forced to live in boarding houses and workhouses after her alcoholism led her husband to leave her. She turned to prostitution as a way to earn money and, in the early hours of the night she was murdered, had gone out to make enough money to pay for her bed in a boarding house at 18 Thrawl Street.

An hour before her murder, her friend and roommate Nelly Holland spoke to her as she walked the streets. Nichols had already spent her night’s earnings on drink, and so continued to search for customers. Holland was the last person to see her alive before her body was found by Charles Cross at 3.40am.

Nichols’ killer was never found, and debate continues to rage about the identity of the Whitechapel murderer who was given the nickname ‘Jack the Ripper’.

31st August 1888: Discovery of the first victim of Jack the Ripper

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