Jack and Old Jewry, Ripper book: Inspiration behind

Jack and Old Jewry book: The inspiration behind

It has been a few years now since my book Jack and Old Jewry: The City of London Policemen who Hunted the Ripper was published by Mango Books in 2017 and I have received a number of messages of support over these years, which I thank heartily for each and everyone, however I have also received quite a few questions about this book too.

In truth, although I have tried my best to answer as many of these questions as I can, I have still struggled in telling this book’s own story as this could very well be seen as advertising oneself and this naturally does not come easy for me to do. However, the questions have become more frequent of late, as I presume more of you have found this book and kindly have read it, so I thought it is only polite of me to answer the more popular questions and in this blog form, it may well be easier to do and to read…

So here goes! (Hopefully I will answer one of your questions within this)

Question 1

Why did you write Jack and Old Jewry?

I have this writing bucket list, of which has names of people throughout history that I find interesting enough that I want to research further. This research turns into books. The basis of Jack and Old Jewry at the very start was a combination of ticking off three people’s names from that list. Three people that I have wanted to use my research to write books about, because at the start, the plan was to write three separate books on each of these people.

These people were Catherine Eddowes, PC Edward Watkins and PC Harvey.

Out of these three people Catherine came first into my life at a very, very young age and she has never left me. I knew I would write a book on Catherine before I knew I wanted to be an author, strange as that may sound. For the young girl that I was, I had an image of Catherine in my head, an image that may not have been factually correct, for it was an image of her personality and how can we be truly sure of someone’s personality from so long ago? Yes, if we are lucky, we can have dates in which this person did something in their lives but how can we know how they were feeling?

Still, as a young girl I gain this image without fully understanding why. If you have read any of my fictional but factional books on the Jack the Ripper case, Catherine, my version of Catherine, is always the mother of the group. I don’t just mean that she had children, of which we know she did, I mean she was motherly. She looked after people, she took them under her wing, she would move heaven and earth to help anyone, especially if they were younger than her, so they did not have to deal with the same problems she had, had within her life. This came naturally, she didn’t even take knowledge that she was doing it and for others, being in her company, they felt like they were home and safe.

Now, I am not saying the real Catherine was like this, as how could I possibly know with so many years between us, but similarly, how do I know if she was not like this within in moments of her life. She may well have had some if not all of these traits within her, in truth we will probably never know, however that was the image the young me had and I never understood why I had that of her…until…

I met a descendent of Catherine.

There, in flesh and blood was the motherly image I had of Catherine in her family relation. The caring, would move heaven and earth to help anyone, take you under their wing, traits I envisaged all those years ago are very much alive and kicking in Catherine’s family now and I feel extremely lucky to know, meet and call some my friends.

So when does PC Watkins and Harvey come in? Well, when studying the Jack the Ripper case naturally police history comes to the front of what you learn and with the sad death of Catherine, a student will come across PC Watkins and Harvey. However, I always wished to know more of them, passed this one…horrid…night’s duty and so research took me down this root too.

It wasn’t until I worked for the City of London Police Museum that I truly thought that I could actually put pen to paper and gather all my research together to write my first factual book within the Jack the Ripper case. However, before I met the publisher of Jack and Old Jewry, the book in my mind was a very different concept. Yes, I wished to write of every policemen, doctor etc lives involved in the murder case of Catherine but I wanted her life to be the central voice with all other lives circling around hers. For a example of this idea, please look towards my other book, Martha, a book on mainly the life and times of Martha Tabram another suggested victim of ‘Jack the Ripper’ but also researches into the lives of many people involved in her murder case.

Link to Martha

However, through editing, this changed for Jack and Old Jewry, perhaps becoming more of a ‘Police book’ than a book about Catherine and much of my research of her was not used, mainly due to lack of space as I did have a lot of research to cover. This I have always felt a little sad over but for me, Catherine is very much at the heart of Jack and Old Jewry for she was ultimately the reason for it.

Question 2

Why is it titled Jack and Old Jewry?

It wasn’t originally. I had planned it to be titled using the last words Catherine was reported to have said to PC Hutt at Bishopsgate Police Station because the book was originally meant to be about Catherine, however when this idea changed it was suggested that the title should change also. Although the original title the publisher wished to use for it, I felt wasn’t quite right because it had the words ‘Whitechapel Murderer’ within it and Catherine’s life did not end in ‘Whitechapel’, we settled on Jack and Old Jewry. ‘Old Jewry’ being the street in which the headquarters of the City of London Police operated at, at the time.

Question 3

Was Jack and Old Jewry planned to be a ‘one off’ book?

Actually, the idea of it of what it became, is not a ‘one off’ book. Martha as already mentioned, Inspector Reid: The Real Ripper Street and The Cutbush Connections: In Flowers, In Blood and In the Ripper case, can be all classed as books that work on their own but also together with Jack and Old Jewry.

Question 4

Was you inspired to write about the victims of Jack the Ripper because of another book, called The Five?

No. However, I can understand how someone could ask that question as I do not have a huge media presence or huge market team behind me. As mentioned at the beginning of this, I too feel somewhat uncomfortable to advertise my work, of which perhaps I am at fault as this can also mean my work can become unnoticed. But, my work and research on the lives has been around for a fair few years now, before that book was published.

Question 5

Is there more in your series of books on the Jack the Ripper investigation?

I am tempted to just say, ‘there’s always more’, however if go back to the answer to the first question, my writing bucket list has names on it still not ticked off…

Link to Jack and Old Jewry: The City of London Policemen who Hunted the Ripper.