Dorset Street (Spitalfields): Difference between revisions
mNo edit summary |
mNo edit summary |
||
| Line 4: | Line 4: | ||
'''Dorset Street''' was situated at the heart of the [[Spitalfields]] [[rookery]] in the [[East End]] of [[London]]. No. 13, Miller's Court in Dorset Street was the scene of the murder of [[Mary Jane Kelly]] by [[Jack the Ripper]] on [[November 9]], [[1888]]. |
'''Dorset Street''' was situated at the heart of the [[Spitalfields]] [[rookery]] in the [[East End]] of [[London]]. No. 13, Miller's Court in Dorset Street was the scene of the murder of [[Mary Jane Kelly]] by [[Jack the Ripper]] on [[November 9]], [[1888]]. |
||
Dorset Street ran parallel with Brushfield Street and White’s Row and could be entered from either Crispin Street, Little Paternoster Row or [[Commercial Street]]. On one of its corners with Commercial Street stood The Britannia public house. Known as the ‘Ringers’, after the landlord’s surname, a frequent customer was Mary Jane Kelly. Situated opposite Miller’s Court was Crossingham’s common [[lodging house]], with another at the corner of Little Paternoster Row, 35 Dorset Street. It was from this common lodging house |
Dorset Street ran parallel with Brushfield Street and White’s Row and could be entered from either Crispin Street, Little Paternoster Row or [[Commercial Street]]. On one of its corners with Commercial Street stood The Britannia public house. Known as the ‘Ringers’, after the landlord’s surname, a frequent customer was Mary Jane Kelly. Situated opposite Miller’s Court was Crossingham’s common [[lodging house]], with another at the corner of Little Paternoster Row, 35 Dorset Street. It was from this common lodging house that Ripper victim [[Annie Chapman]] was last seen walking up Little Paternoster Row, before turning right into Brushfield Street and heading towards [[Christ Church, Spitalfields]]. |
||
In [[1901]] the [[Daily Mail]] said of Dorset Street that it "... has recently sprung into undesired notoriety. Here we have a place which boasts of an attempt at murder on an average once a month, of a murder in every house, and one house at least, a murder in every room. Policemen go down it as rule in pairs. Hunger walks prowling in its alleyways, and the criminals of to-morrow are being bred there to-day... The lodging-houses of Dorset Street and of the district around are the head centres of the shifting criminal population of London. Of course, the aristocrats of crime - the forger, the counterfeiter, and the like do not come here. In Dorset Street we find more largely the common thief, the pickpocket, the area meak, the man who robs with violence, and the unconvicted murderer. The police have a theory, it seems, that it is better to let these people congregate together in one mass where they can be easily be found than to scatter them abroad. And Dorset Street certainly serves the purpose of a police trap. "[http://www.jacktherippershop.com/london's_worst_street.htm] |
In [[1901]] the [[Daily Mail]] said of Dorset Street that it "... has recently sprung into undesired notoriety. Here we have a place which boasts of an attempt at murder on an average once a month, of a murder in every house, and one house at least, a murder in every room. Policemen go down it as rule in pairs. Hunger walks prowling in its alleyways, and the criminals of to-morrow are being bred there to-day... The lodging-houses of Dorset Street and of the district around are the head centres of the shifting criminal population of London. Of course, the aristocrats of crime - the forger, the counterfeiter, and the like do not come here. In Dorset Street we find more largely the common thief, the pickpocket, the area meak, the man who robs with violence, and the unconvicted murderer. The police have a theory, it seems, that it is better to let these people congregate together in one mass where they can be easily be found than to scatter them abroad. And Dorset Street certainly serves the purpose of a police trap. "[http://www.jacktherippershop.com/london's_worst_street.htm] |
||
Revision as of 21:57, 30 March 2008
 | This article or section is in a state of significant expansion or restructuring. You are welcome to assist in its construction by editing it as well. If this article or section has not been edited in several days, please remove this template. If you are the editor who added this template and you are actively editing, please be sure to replace this template with {{in use}} during the active editing session. Click on the link for template parameters to use.
This article was last edited by Jack1956 (talk | contribs) 16 years ago. (Update timer) |
Dorset Street was situated at the heart of the Spitalfields rookery in the East End of London. No. 13, Miller's Court in Dorset Street was the scene of the murder of Mary Jane Kelly by Jack the Ripper on November 9, 1888.
Dorset Street ran parallel with Brushfield Street and White’s Row and could be entered from either Crispin Street, Little Paternoster Row or Commercial Street. On one of its corners with Commercial Street stood The Britannia public house. Known as the ‘Ringers’, after the landlord’s surname, a frequent customer was Mary Jane Kelly. Situated opposite Miller’s Court was Crossingham’s common lodging house, with another at the corner of Little Paternoster Row, 35 Dorset Street. It was from this common lodging house that Ripper victim Annie Chapman was last seen walking up Little Paternoster Row, before turning right into Brushfield Street and heading towards Christ Church, Spitalfields.
In 1901 the Daily Mail said of Dorset Street that it "... has recently sprung into undesired notoriety. Here we have a place which boasts of an attempt at murder on an average once a month, of a murder in every house, and one house at least, a murder in every room. Policemen go down it as rule in pairs. Hunger walks prowling in its alleyways, and the criminals of to-morrow are being bred there to-day... The lodging-houses of Dorset Street and of the district around are the head centres of the shifting criminal population of London. Of course, the aristocrats of crime - the forger, the counterfeiter, and the like do not come here. In Dorset Street we find more largely the common thief, the pickpocket, the area meak, the man who robs with violence, and the unconvicted murderer. The police have a theory, it seems, that it is better to let these people congregate together in one mass where they can be easily be found than to scatter them abroad. And Dorset Street certainly serves the purpose of a police trap. "[1]
Dorset Street remained a notorious slum following the murder of Mary Jane Kelly. As well as the 1960 shootings of a Soho club manager and a former middleweight boxer[1], there had been other murders there. In 1901 Mary Ann Austin was murdered with ten wounds to her abdomen at Annie Chapman's former home, Crossingham's Lodging House, at 35 Dorset Street.[2] Later, in 1909 there was a Ripper-like killing in No. 20 Miller's Court, the room directly above no. 13 (which had been occupied by Elizabeth Prater in 1888), when a young woman named Kitty Ronan was found with her throat cut.[3] It was believed that Ronan was a prostitute, and, similarly to the killing of Mary Jane Kelly, her murderer was never found. As in 1888, the landlord of Miller's Court in 1909 was still John McCarthy.
Dorset Street was renamed Duval Street on 28th June, 1904. In 1920 the Corporation of London purchased Spitalfields Market, and planned major rebuilding, which included the demolition of the whole of the north side of Duval Street, including Miller's Court. The new fruit market opened in 1928. Another new market development in the 1960s resulted in Duval Street becoming an anonymous road which acted as a parking place for market lorries. The buildings on the south side of Dorset Street were covered with a multi-storey car park; those on the north side by a large building which has been used as a market building, a sports hall and a storage warehouse for an import-export company.
References
- ^ Cullen Tom 'When London Walked in Terror'. Pub. Houghton Mifflin (1968)