Mary Ann Nichols

Mary Ann Walker was born on August 26, 1845 in Dawes Court, Shoe Lane, off Fleet Street (London, England) to blacksmith (former locksmith) Edward Walker and his wife Caroline. She was christened in or some years before 1851. She had a brother. Caroline died in 1852 aged 32 and was buried on 5th December at St Andrew Holborn. Polly married William Nichols on January 16, 1864. She would have been about 22 years old. The couple had three children: Edward John, born on 4th of July 1866; Percy George, 1868 and Alice Esther, 1870. In 1877 they had their second daughter, Eliza Sarah, and their marital problems began. In 1879 their son Henry Alfred was born. Around 1880/81 William and Polly separated. William retained custody of the children. William paid Polly an allowance of 5/- (25p) a week. After the separation, Polly began a sad litany of moving from workhouse to workhouse (a place where those unable to support themselves were offered accommodation and employment). In 1882, William found out that his wife was living as a prostitute and discontinued support payments to her. She went to the Lambeth Workhouse and stayed from 21st May to 2nd June 1883. From that day and until the 26th October 1887 she had been living with a man named Thomas Stuart Dew, a blacksmith. On 12th May 1888 she left Lambeth to take a position as a domestic servant in the home of Samuel and Sarah Cowdry. This was common practice at the time for Workhouses to find domestic employment for female inmates. She worked for two months and then left while stealing clothing worth three pounds, ten shillings. She was found murdered on August 31st 1888. Her murderer was not identified nor caught, and later was nicknamed as the serial killer "Jack the Ripper". She was believed to be his first victim according to many historians, although some other poor women and prostitutes were murdered in a similar way before.