The Jack the Ripper Location Photographs: Dutfield's Yard and the Whitby Collection

Author:Hutchinson, Philip [Hutchinson, Philip]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: Amberley Publishing
Published: 2012-06-05T23:00:00+00:00

Fairclough Street, with the warehouse roof highlighted, 7 April 1909 (Courtesy Robert Clack)

Comparison of the warehouse roof from the 1909 and 1900 photographs

On the 1894 Ordnance Survey map, the staircase is indeed placed on the right of the building, as it is shown in some illustrations but not on the Goad’s map or the 1900 photograph. It is, of course, perfectly possible that the stairs were not firmly fixed and could be moved at will.

However, the clincher came as the result of some remarkable work by Robert Clack. In the middle distance of the background, some way off, can be seen two matching gables of a building. The gable on the right has a circular window near its apex, and the gables are separated by what appears to be an irrelevant course of bricks or stone between them. When the photograph was taken of Berner Street in 1909, the photographer also took (from the same position) a lesser-known image of Fairclough Street simply by turning the camera to his left.

The building visible in the background is the Commercial Road Goods Depot and Warehouses belonging to the London, Tilbury and Southend Railway Goods Station. The side facing the photographer was on Gowers Walk. It matches perfectly, in every way, with the building visible in the distance on the 1900 shot. There could now be no doubt whatsoever that the image was indeed of Dutfield’s Yard.

The Album Contents

Most of the photographs in the album were well-composed and covered a huge part of Europe. The owner had written some interesting anecdotes relating to the events around the time the pictures were taken. The first image in the album was badly damaged and almost faded beyond recognition. It was titled ‘Dewey Arch, New York’. This was yet further confirmation on dating the album. The Dewey Arch stood at Madison Square as a triumphal arch built for a parade celebrating the return of Admiral George Dewey, following a military victory at the Battle of Manila Bay in 1898. It was designed by the architect Charles R Lamb and quickly constructed in the summer of 1899, the parade being held on 30 September that year (by coincidence, the anniversary of the murder of Elizabeth Stride). After the parade, the arch quickly deteriorated and was thus demolished in 1901.

The following two images were taken in Stratford-on-Avon. The seven after these were all taken in London, with a further Stratford-on-Avon picture in the middle. The very first of the London images was that of Dutfield’s Yard. This was followed by ones of St James’ Park and Tower Bridge. The next is of the Statue of Peace in Smithfield, which the owner has notated as being the ‘scene of burning of Christian Martyrs’ which, according to the historian Martin Fido, makes it likely the photographer was a Protestant because of the phrasing used. The statue was part of a drinking fountain erected by the Metropolitan Drinking Fountain Society in 1870 and still exists to this day.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.