1888 London Scenes

A poster around Whitechapel in 1888 

As I will be painting Whitechapel, London in to the backgrounds of my pieces I will need many references to get a real feel of how the streets of London looking in 1888 when the Ripper struck. In particular I want to look at building like pubs as the prostitutes The Ripper killed would have worked for the local pubs, I will also be looking as the scary back streets and ally ways.

This is a photo taken in 1902, even though taken 14 years after the time of the murders, the streets would still be roughly the same. The pictures show the cobbled road of Dorset Street in London, this picture shows us an example of how the streets were made up of different size buildings crushed together, almost fighting for their space.

While doing some research I found that The Ten Bells Pub in Whitechapel is tightly connected to the case of Jack The Ripper.

This picture shows how the pub looked back in 1888, The Ten Bells Pub is very closely related to The Ripper and his victims. 

And surprisingly its still there and almost identical to the way it was is 1888!

The sign to the famous Ten Bells pub. 

Berner Street, London. 1888.

Hanbury Street.
I have chosen to look at this street as one in particular as it is the street where Annie Chapman, The Rippers 3rd (arguably 4th) murder victim was found. I am going to keep looking in to the streets where the bodies were found as these will give me the best ideas to draw from, keeping my drawings vaguely correct and keep them to history.
The reason I want my pieces to keep to history, is because I feel that if I didn't it just wouldn't be right, I want to get as close to an idea of The Rippers surrounding as possible as if I didn't I don't feel like I would have completed my work right. If i set the scene right I believe everything else will fall in to place easily and the pieces will work in harmony.

Here is a map of Whitechapel 1882 and the names of the victims and the places that the were found. I am going to look up each address and try to find a picture of each street in the rough time area. 

Buck Row - Where the body of Mary Ann Nichols was found