On Wednesday 9th March 2011, I had the honour of being the guest speaker at the meeting of the Metropolitan Police History Society at New Scotland Yard. The focus of my talk was the Trial of Florence Maybrick in 1889 rather than the alleged Ripper connection to the Maybrick story. The trial has come to be seen as one of the landmark cases that eventually led to the establishment of the Court of Appeal in Britain. The picture below shows me with Donald Rumbelow and Keith Skinner, two extremely well known Ripperologists, at New Scotland Yard. On the night I had a long chat with Donald, not about the Maybrick case, but about the Zulu War of 1879! Donald is somewhat of an expert on the Zulu campaign and he has visited both Rorke's Drift and Isandlwana, both places that I am going to visit in the summer.

Keith, complete with his new smart hair style, pointed out during my talk that the actual bottle of Valentine's meat juice that was the key piece of evidence in Florence's trial, is actually housed in the New Scotland Yard Museum. On Saturday 3rd April 1889, during the fourth day of the trial, Nurse Gore told the court how she had witnessed Florence taking an opened bottle of meat juice into the dressing room that was next to the bed in which James was lying ill. She returned about two minutes later and placed the bottle on a round table standing near the window of the bedroom. Nurse Gore said that she had become suspicious because of the way in which Florence had moved the bottle. This was the bottle later found to contain arsenic and this action by Florence was probably the most damaging part of the prosecution's case against her. Sadly, the New Scotland Yard museum is not normally open to the public; however, as a guest speaker, I get the wonderful opportunity to visit it this year!   

In April, I spent a wonderful week in Chicago, Illinois, in a part-holiday, part-Florence-research trip. I spent one day in Highland Park, which is an affluent suburb just to the north of Chicago. Florence Maybrick lived for 5 years, between 1910 and 1915, in the prestigious Moraine Hotel in Highland Park, built on the banks of Lake Michigan. In the archives this month I have added an extract from a local newspaper that provides a description of Highland Park in 1910. The North Shore News-Letter states: 'In the beauty of our natural surroundings, and in the growth of her incomparable conveniences and institutions, our city has no peer among Chicago's suburbs. Our city is a mirror in which is reflected Chicago's wealth of resources and prosperity. The city has justly become noted as a suburb of elegant homes, broad acres and charming society, an unequalled place of residence, where educational and religious privileges await all to whom more material pleasure of environment does not alone appeal…The people of the Park are to a great extent permanent residences, nearly all own their homes, many of which are truly palatial. As a place of summer residence, our city is widely noted, and many Chicago people own and occupy luxurious summer houses.'

I spent the morning of my visit to the area in the Highland Park Library looking through contemporary local newspapers. I owe special thanks to Julia Johnas, a senior librarian and author of Highland Park: Settlement to the 1920s (Archadia Publishing). She was extremely kind and helpful to me and helped provide a clear and vivid picture of what life was like in Highland Park during the time of Florence's stay in the community. Her book clearly documents how the Highland Park was transformed from forest and farmland into a fashionable, wealthy and desirable community on Chicago's North Shore.

I spent the afternoon in the nearby Highland Park Museum (shown below). The building houses some interesting artefacts and documents that help tell the story of the local community. I owe a special thanks to Nancy Webster and Steve at the museum. They were extremely helpful and provided me with information about both Highland Park and the Moraine Hotel. 

The museum holds a variety of items from the Moraine Hotel. The items include the building, hotel paperwork and documents, post cards and pictures and even some original hotel room keys. For me, the real jewel in the collection is the Guest Register for 1909. I did not expect to see Florence's name in the register as most sources tell us that she did not visit the hotel until 1910. So therefore imagine my delight when I found her name in the register, written in her own hand, for several occasions in 1909. The picture below shows one example from August 1909. I also found that her mother, Baroness von Roques, also stayed in the hotel in October of 1909.

One small but crucial lesson I learnt from my visit of Highland Park was the importance of original research. In my book I wrote that 'Florence first booked into the hotel in the summer of 1910 intending to stay only a short while. However, she loved the tranquil setting so much that she decided to make the hotel her base as she continued to travel the country on her lecture tour.' My sources for the date, 1910, were a variety of books, including the excellent Etched in Arson by Trevor Christie. My research at Highland Park clearly shows that the date in my book is wrong. Although one might argue that the fact that the date is only one year out is hardly significant, it does make me wonder what other so-called 'facts' might be wrong. Indeed, there are many controversial questions that are widely debated by people who rely solely on secondary data. Therefore, if some of the 'facts' contained in these books are inaccurate then they will inevitably adversely affect the quality and validity of the debate.    

At this point I need to mention an excellent new (and thoroughly researched) book that will be appearing later this year. The Whitechapel Society has been commissioned by The History Press to produce a new book on Jack the Ripper. The book will be entitled Jack the Ripper – The Suspects: 10 Cutting Edge Theories. The book will include ten chapters with each chapter being on one of the leading Ripper suspects. I was delighted to be asked to write the chapter on James Maybrick. The book will be published to coincide with the Whitechapel Society’s London Conference in October 2011. I will provide further details about the book in the next Latest News. If you wish to know more about the conference, then you need to check the website of the Whitechapel Society. I, for one, certainly intend to be at the conference.

Once again this month I have placed a range of interesting items and articles in the archives section. One of these is the evidence of Mary Cadwallader who was a witness for the prosecution at Florence Maybrick’s trial. She was the Maybricks’ waitress at Battlecrease. Nicknamed, ‘Gentle Mary’, she grew up on a large farm in Shropshire and was the eldest of 14 children. She shared the Maybricks’ love of horses. At Florence’s trial, Mary Cadwallader told the court that up to the time that James attended the Wirral Races, he appeared, as far as she could tell, to ‘enjoy good health.’ She said that on Friday morning, 26th April, a bottle of medicine had arrived from London in the post for James Maybrick. On the morning of 28th April, Florence sent her to fetch Dr Humphreys as James was ill. Mary Cadwallader said: ‘Mr Maybrick said to me that he had had an overdose of medicine from London…Mr Maybrick said he felt very dizzy.’ She said that on Tuesday 30th April the cook had prepared food for James to take to his office with him. She said that the cook gave it to her and she in turn gave it to Florence. Florence then wrapped the food in paper and string and gave it to James. Mary Cadwallader said that two or three times James’ lunch was prepared this way. Mary Cadwallader was questioned quite extensively over the question of the flypapers. She said that she remembered ‘some flypapers being brought to the house by the chemist’s boy, but up to the time the master died no flypapers had been used. I did not notice the flies to be troublesome.’ She said that after the flypapers arrived she put them on the table. She said that James had seen them and had even picked them up. She said that around about the time that James had died, she had burnt the flypapers. Sir Charles Russell asked her whether Florence was “very attentive” to James during his final illness, to which she answered “yes”. He then asked her did she think there was “anything suspicious about what was done or not done” by Florence at that time, to which she answered “No, I did not.”

Other new interesting archive items include newspaper reports about Florence Maybrick. One from November 1895 tells of the activities of the Women's Maybrick Association that was formed not just to campaign for the release of Florence, but also to "accomplish reform in criminal procedure both in England and America." The fact that the Association was named after Florence tells you how important and prominent her case was in the two countries. President of the Association in England was Dr Helen Densmore, a woman who wrote a passionate book about the Florence Maybrick case.

In June 2010, I was the guest speaker at the meeting of the Whitechapel Society 1888. The Society promotes the study of the Whitechapel murders and the social impact that this event had on the East End of London. The Society also promotes the study of Victorian/Edwardian life and culture in the East End of London. The Society has its own website (www.whitechapelsociety.com) and it holds six meetings every year. The Society publishes an excellent journal (free to its members) to coincide with its meeting. Its annual membership is only £9, which is amazing value and I would thoroughly recommend joining the Society. Two videos of my talk were placed on the Whitechapel Society’s section of the You Tube Channel. You can see them by clicking on the links below:

Video 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wOyF0b8gzUg

Video 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWpzERk0r3U

I have still kept the link provided for us by Professor David Canter as it is still attracting a lot attention and positive comment. Click on the following link to view the video:
http://www.youtube.com/v/QCdskRH-B6s

I would again like to thank all those people who have ordered my book, ‘The Maybrick A to Z.’ As the title suggests, the book provides a comprehensive encyclopaedia-style guide to James and Florence Maybrick. There are also three introductory chapters that cover their life, Florence’s trial and the alleged connection between James and the Jack the Ripper murders. In total, the book has more than 300 pages, more than 100 pictures and photographs and in excess of 600 references. Most of the pictures in the book have never appeared in previous books on the Maybrick. I obviously rather like the book (bit biased, possibly); however, I have included a recent review of the book so that you can have an unbiased opinion of its merit. The book has a retail price in the shops of £14-95. However, books ordered through this website are available for sale at the reduced price of £12 (plus packing and postage). Please e-mail us at our contact address if you would like to order a signed copy of the book.

Maybrick A to Z - Book Review
By Chris George and published in Ripperologist 98, December 2008

No doubt a number of you are tired of hearing about the Maybricks because you don’t believe the alleged Diary of James Maybrick, in which the Liverpool cottonbroker ‘confesses’ to being the Whitechapel murderer, is the real McCoy. However even those of you who don’t think Maybrick was ‘Jack’ may be interested in this book by Liverpool history teacher Chris Jones. It is packed full of new information about the 1889 Maybrick case that will fascinate you, whether or not the Liverpool businessman was the Ripper. Here is everything you might want to know, or should that be more that you might ever wish to know, about James and Florence Maybrick. The author has been exhaustive in researching the lives of the Maybricks including the events and locales connected to the sordid demise of Mr Maybrick in May 1889 at Battlecrease House in Aigburth, Liverpool, and the subsequent trial and traumas of his widow, Alabama-born Florence Maybrick, accused of murdering her husband by arsenic poisoning.

Mr Jones is of course the man who arranged the controversial ‘Trial of James Maybrick’ at the Liverpool Cricket Club in May 2007. However, in this book, as on the Maybrick website (www.jamesmaybrick.org) that he recently began, Mr Jones takes a non-partisan view of Maybrick’s candidacy for the bloody mantle of the Ripper.

In his research, Mr Jones has discovered many nuggets of information about the Maybrick case, including information on lesser known individuals in the case, such as Fletcher Rodgers (1823–1891), foreman of the coroner’s jury that ruled against Mrs Maybrick, some think because of her evident adultery with cotton merchant Albert Brierley. Under Samuel Brighouse, coroner for Southwest Lancashire, Rogers and his fellow jurymen returned ‘a verdict of wilful murder’ against Mrs Maybrick. Mr Rogers, who, Jones notes, ‘played a relatively active role’ in the proceedings, was himself a cotton merchant and must have known the dead man well. Thus he was hardly an unbiased observer. Surely today such a far from disinterested person could not be appointed to a jury. Perhaps even more intriguing is the fact that after Florence Maybrick’s trial and conviction, he and his family moved into Battlecrease House, Rogers having taken up the remainder of the lease to the property. He died in December 1891 at the age of sixty-eight, having been married twice and fathering seventeen children. Some might think it suspicious that he went to live in the same house where the Maybricks lived, although as a local man and given the size of his family, the need for spacious quarters probably factored into his decision to take the lease.

The book begins with a rundown of the Maybrick and Ripper cases, with three chapters, respectively, on ‘James and Florence Maybrick’, ‘Trial of Florence Maybrick’, and ‘The Ripper Connection’. These are followed by chapter 4, the largest section, pages 55 to 300, which comprises the actual ‘Maybrick A to Z’ of the book’s title, followed by a useful chronology and bibliography. The book is full of rare illustrations, over 150 of them, a number of them contemporary newspaper illustrations and other graphics previously unpublished in any modern book. Also included are new photographs by Mr Jones, including a sad colour shot of Florence Maybrick’s lichen-festooned gravestone in Connecticut. It was in a shack on the grounds of South Kent School that Florie lived her final days after her release from prison in 1904. She died in 1941 in that house, accompanied by pet cats, an old soul by now unkempt and forgotten by a world which once considered her case a cause célèbre.

Finally, if you have any items that you would like to send me about James and Florence Maybrick or anything related to the alleged Ripper connection, I would be happy to receive it.

Chris Jones (Co-ordinator of jamesmaybrick.org)

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