The Jack the Ripper Location Photographs: Dutfield's Yard and the Whitby Collection (6 page)

(Courtesy Margaret Whitby-Green)

(Kodak Velox) Again, a street with only the most tenuous of connections to the Whitechapel Murders and an unusual choice for Whitby’s attention. The near part of the street has remained unaltered, though greater redevelopment has occurred further to the east. The difference in the pictures is marked by the greater human presence and the ubiquitous road works. Even today, you will see very little traffic moving on this part of Heneage Street. Note the child’s tricycle by the street lamp on the right.

(Courtesy Margaret Whitby-Green)

(Kodak Velox) From the other end of Heneage Street, looking west. This photograph was almost definitely taken on a different day to the preceding one. The Kodak backstamp on the paper is far fainter, the image is 3mm shorter in width and the toning of the paper is different. Besides this, everything in the street has changed. Cars have moved and there is very little rubbish on the road. This second image was taken in the later afternoon. Most of the buildings in the foreground have gone but the spot is still determinable because of the vehicle entrance into the building on the left.

(Courtesy Margaret Whitby-Green)

(Kodak Velox) Incorrect juxtaposition of the past and present street name aside, this is a most unusual pair of photographs because Whitby does not appear to have taken an image of the actual murder spot but has instead opted to take photographs looking west and east whilst standing on it. It would not have been difficult for him to find the spot of the murder of Mary Ann Nichols on 31 August 1888 as both Leonard Matters and William Stewart had clearly marked them in photographic reproductions in their books from 1928 and 1938. It is possible that Whitby did, in fact, photograph the relevant gateway but the image has been lost. This picture shows the tall wall over the railway line on the left, still extant, and part of the old Board School beyond. The warehouses seen here on the northern side have long gone, making Durward Street a more open place. Small flaws on the negative indicate this may be a slightly later reprint.

(Courtesy Margaret Whitby-Green)

(Totally blank, but probably Kodak Velox) Looking east from the murder spot. The warehouses of Brown & Eagle Ltd occupy most of the northern side. This image has slightly different toning to the preceding one, so it may have been taken at a different time or the first image is, as stated, a reprint. Most interesting here is the fencing on the right. This dates the image to the interim between the destruction of New Cottage in World War Two and the construction of a garage on this spot. In the 1950s, a motor repair business lay behind. This may well be the only image known to exist from that period.

(Courtesy Margaret Whitby-Green)

(Kodak Velox) A fascinating image, looking east from the junction with Brick Lane and Osborn Street. Yet again, it is unknown why Whitby chose to photograph this spot when, if he had turned around, he could have taken a picture of the site of the fatal attack upon Emma Smith on 3 April 1888. Whitby erroneously missed the ‘e’ off the end of ‘Montague’. The Whitechapel Mortuary had lain a short distance off the far point of this image. Research on old maps suggested the correct location of this picture, which was confirmed by the presence of the squat brick building on the right – the only thing visible here that survives today. In the 1990s, the street was entirely ripped down and widened considerably. The location of the buildings on the left is now in the middle of the road.

(Courtesy Margaret Whitby-Green)

(Kodak Velox) Both these images were almost certainly taken on the same day as the corridor in Hanbury Street and those of Spital Square; all the locations are close together and all these are the only 3.5” square photographs in the collection. It is not surprising that Whitby titled these envelopes as ‘Dorset Street’ (the site of the infamous murder of Mary Jane Kelly on 9 November 1888), although it was renamed Duval Street in 1904. The buildings on the right, belonging to the London Fruit Exchange, were constructed in 1929 following the demolition of the original buildings. The buildings on the left came down two years after this photograph was taken. The second building down the street had been the location of a fatal gangland shooting the previous year. The cars on the left are close to the spot where the alley of Miller’s Court once ran.