| Date | 28 January 2011 |
|---|---|
| Source | Slough Observer |
| Reference | VP-0121 |
| Volume | Views of the Past |
| Collection | Press Clippings |
Transcript
Windsor connected to Jack the Ripper
Woman was victim of killer
RECENT research on the Jack the Ripper murders has drawn attention to the Windsor connections of one of the unfortunate victims, Annie Chapman.
It would appear that part of her earlier working life was spent on the St Leonards Hill Estate in Clewer, at a time when Windsor MP Sir Francis Tress Barry owned the property. Barry had purchased the estate in 1872 and almost totally rebuilt and refurbished the original house.
Annie Chapman – originally born Annie Eliza Smith – was the daughter of a soldier, George Smith, who was a member of the 2nd Life Guards Regiment. During the early 1860s, Smith lived at rented lodgings at 7 Keppel Terrace, Windsor.
Annie would have been resident there during part of her childhood, and Keppel Terrace was on the site of the old police and fire station, a short distance away from the cavalry barracks.
In the late 1860s, Annie lived at 29 Montpelier Place in Knightsbridge with her mother, Ruth. On May 1, 1869, she married John Chapman, a coachman at All Saints Church in Knightsbridge. Over the next ten years, they lived in London at various locations and had three children.
In 1880, Annie, John and family moved to Clewer, where John Chapman had managed to gain the post of coachman at Sir Francis Tress Barry’s St Leonards Hill estate. The 1881 census shows that John Chapman was living above the stables at St Leonards Hill. The coachman’s accommodation at the stables was impressive, and the family occupied a suite of three rooms. However, it is rumoured that during Annie Chapman’s stay at St Leonards Hill she was found to be frequently drunk, both around the estate and in central Windsor. Things got so bad that apparently Annie was asked to leave the estate.
Annie then moved to Whitechapel, London. She later separated from her husband and started a relationship with a man who made wire sieves, which got her the name of Annie Sievey. Her estranged husband later died, after which she became very depressed, and her life went downhill.
By 1888, Annie had moved into the common lodging houses in Whitechapel where she made a meagre living by needlework and selling flowers, supplemented by prostitution.
On Saturday, September 8th, 1888 – the fateful day of her murder – Annie was last seen alive at 1.35 am. By 6 am, her badly mutilated body had been found. Jack the Ripper was never caught, and his identity remains a mystery to this day.
■ TOGETHER: John and Annie Chapman shortly after their wedding in 1869
■ WINDSOR HOME: The Stables, St Leonards Hill estate, where John and Annie Chapman lived in the early 1880s
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