In a bid to get to know my new manor a little more intimately I paid a visit to my local London Docklands Museum last week attracted by not only the permanent displays but also the intriguing Jack The Ripper exhibition which has been widely advertised around East London.
I’ve always had a passing interest in the Ripper mystery, an interest kindled by a combination of my general obsession with London’s history and of course this fantastic graphic novel. I think its enduring appeal is due to not only the grisly murders themselves and the emergence of that potent cultural archetype – the serial killer – but the way that these terrible events were reflected in the emergence of the tabloid press at the time, the way that the murders focused world attention on the frankly despicable ghettos and squalor that blighted East London in the late 19th century, the birth of the police procedural and the prevalence of racism in conjunction with immigration concerns (how things change eh?) as for some reason there was some bizarre belief at the time that the killer must be Jewish, the whole almost supernatural dimension to the crimes. All of these elements are admirably represented in the exhibition with same amazing documents from the time including some of the murder case reports written in that curious Victorian calligraphy, maps and newspapers, garments, tools, surgeons instruments and even some spoken word memories from residents of the East End from the era, presumably recorded just before or during the war.
The other obvious reason for its endurance of course is that fact that Jack was never captured which has ensured a cottage industry of speculation on who was responsible with the inevitable conspiracy theories being aired every few years. I also found it interesting that it was in the midst of this carnage that a small tale appeared in ‘The Strand‘ magazine, the debut of a certain bohemian detective. The most chilling exhibit was the infamous ‘Dear Boss‘ letter, written in crimson red, signed by Saucy Jack himself. Well, of course the letters veracity is hotly debated but it gave the whole display a much more tangible impression to me. Here’s the tour podcast.
The permanent exhibition was also excellent with the large focus on the slave trade being particularly well curated and affecting. Maybe it’s my ignorance but for some reason I have always associated the slave trade with America alone, the evil whip wielding plantation owners brutally torturing their servants which rather overlooks the fact of our massive culpability in this historical atrocity. The sheer scale of the operation was also something of a shock to me, the vastness of the operation in London, Liverpool and other UK ports was extraordinary with the accumulation of human misery actually leaving me a little depressed as I wandered home.
Anyway, it was cool to get a deeper feel for my surroundings and unearth some of the fascinating history of the area. Here are the obligatory film clips for Docklands and Jack, I’ve always had something of a soft spot for this unique rendering of the legend. Totally unrelated but here is a challenging movie quiz courtesy of Empire magazine, bet you can’t beat my score of 36….
