The Jack the Ripper Location Photographs: Dutfield's Yard and the Whitby Collection (4 page)

(Courtesy Margaret Whitby-Green)

(Ilford) Three images of the backyard at 29 Hanbury Street. All have Whitby’s handwriting on the reverse, stating ‘1961. 29, Hanbury St, London, (Jack the Ripper)’. However, there is every reason to believe that the last of the three images was taken at a totally different time to the first two. Not only is the handwriting in blue and black inks on the first two images and only in black on the last, but the wooden boards blocking the tops of the archways into the basement have clearly been rearranged in the last photograph. What appears to be drawing on the board at the bottom left is almost certainly trails left by snails and slugs. Lastly, the actual murder spot (between the steps and fence) in the first two images is damp, yet dry in the third. In the first two images it is possible to look into the window right through the building to the street. It is also possible to see that, when Whitby entered the backyard, the front door was closed.

(Courtesy Margaret Whitby-Green)

(Courtesy Margaret Whitby-Green)

(Courtesy Margaret Whitby-Green)

ENVELOPE 4: ‘The Passage at Hanbury St. 4 Views.’

(Kodak Velox) A series of four fascinating images walking from the front door of 29 Hanbury Street towards the backyard. There is a pipe running along the ceiling and an electric light fitting, without a bulb. There is a photographic flaw on the wooden panelling in the first image, which was corrected for publication in
The London of Jack the Ripper Then and Now
but is here retained. The flaw was on the original negative and not the photographic print. In the second image, a loose and cut electrical cable hangs by the original door into the shop occupied by Harriet Hardiman in 1888. The third image was taken from the side of the staircase looking into the backyard. Another pipe, leading into the back room, is visible on the top right. This image makes it clear that the building had fallen into near dereliction by the 1960s, yet for most of the rest of the decade it was still in residential use. Newer cracks in the paving of the backyard, and an accumulation of junk, suggest that this series of images was taken at a different time to those taken in the backyard itself. This means Whitby visited the building, and gained access, on at least three occasions and thus infers that he had a rapport with the residents. The final image was taken looking back down the corridor to the front of the building, with the front door closed. Here, Whitby used a flash which has bleached out the right hand side of the image. It is possible to note the paving on the floor and the door leading into the back room on the left. It also shows it was impossible to walk from the front to the back of the building without turning past the staircase.

(Courtesy Margaret Whitby-Green)

(Courtesy Margaret Whitby-Green)

(Courtesy Margaret Whitby-Green)

(Courtesy Margaret Whitby-Green)

ENVELOPE 5: ‘Mitre Square 4 Views. 2 from where the body was found. The Old houses where the body was found were demolished some time ago.’

(Courtesy Margaret Whitby-Green)

(Kodak Velox) The first of these images was taken on a different day to the others. The differences in the displays in the flower boxes and the car in the corner confirm this. The rest of the group were, however, taken at the same time as is evidenced by the flowers and dustbins. This photograph shows the entrance to Mitre Square from Mitre Street, the irregularities in the uniformity of the pavements all too apparent. These have all changed today.