Mapping Mary Kelly's face

A map of Mary Kelly's face drawn in an attempt to understand what I saw and assist in reconstructing her features. The central portion (red) follows the contours of the blue cavity. The flesh of her nose rests on her cheek.

Ripper (Thieves')

Strange, how today we are convinced there were five "Ripper" deaths. This belies the behaviour of most serial killers who hone their killing technique.
Our predecessors weren't so certain.
Ripper (Thieves'). Daring murderer of women. Very common noun devised from rip, the ripper making his wound with a knife in the human body. In 1888-91 a number (ten) of murders of women were perpetrated, presumably by the same man, as the ripping treatment of the victims was common to all or almost all the cases. Ware, James Redding.

Passing English of the Victorian era 1909.

This 'fashionably dressed' Henry Kelly

While I was looking for something else, I found this:

It's a report from 18th September 1880. Bangor (the town where the crime was perpetrated) was historically in Caernarfonshire - now under Gwynedd's administration. Mary Kelly, Barnett claimed, lived in either Caernarfonshire or Carmarthenshire. This 'fashionably dressed' Henry Kelly lived in Dublin with his family, which would explain why, if he was related to Mary Kelly, isn't present in the Welsh census. An intriguing information nugget but any conclusions are unfortunately speculative.

What strange prostitutes these brothel girls are

Gustave Mace (Head of the Paris Judicial Police) : What strange prostitutes these brothel girls are. Pretty, ugly, stupid, spiritual, all of them have their moments of folly and of despair, they can go instantly from laughs to tears, from threats to caresses. If you overhear their confidences, they name fate as the cause of their first abandonment, and in order better to inspire the pity of the clients; they renew that eternal and ancient story of young girls who were seduced. Not one of them was born for this line of work and it is only out of need that they exercise this repugnant work. Their moral corruption is rarely complete, for in their own rooms, bare, dilapidated, are found objects of piety, dried flowers, souvenirs of their birthplaces and honestly written books. . . . Most of these girls are excessively superstitious.

Mary Kelly facial reconstruction

I’ve never looked at the images of Mary Kelly post-mortem. I’ve seen them, of course, but never studied her face with an artist’s eye. I’ve finished my book (first draft) based on Mary, and used a portion of that time, allotted to writing, to fiddle with Photoshop. My curiosity over her appearance has grown with my research. She was a woman of striking appearance – Walter Dew (Metropolitan Police officer) recognised her amongst the thousands of women selling themselves on Whitechapel’s streets. Whether we would find her a beauty, is questionable. Fashion and perceived attractiveness change through history. A clue to her features, and what the Victorians found pleasing, is to look at the actresses of the period.

In my imagination, I formed an impression of her features. I wondered whether it was possible to reconstruct Mary Kelly’s face without using a substitute head and without distorting and displacing the original remains. I tried to understand what I was looking at and in that awareness I realised the horror of the wounds inflicted on her face. Those peculiar vertical marks (resting on her right cheek) are her nostrils and septum – the flesh of her nose. 

Who have no certain roof but the coffin-lid

"When such as me, who have no certain roof but the coffin-lid, and no friend in sickness or death but the hospital nurse, set our rotten hearts on any man, and let him fill the place that parents, home, and friends filled once, or that has been a blank through all our wretched lives, who can hope to cure us?"
Nancy. Oliver twist.

"I am chained to my old life. I loathe and hate it now, but I cannot leave it. I must have gone too far to turn back ..."
Nancy. Oliver twist.

 “Nancy,” a pencil study by Charles Pears for Oliver Twist (1912).

The evocative drawing of Nancy complete with wanted poster declaring a one-hundred pound reward, a shadowy, murderous male, and a degraded young woman.

'The most curious item in the entire surroundings is a large placard posted on the walls of the next house to one where the murder (Mary Kelly) was committed, offering in the name of the ILLUSTRATED POLICE NEWS, a reward of £100  for the discovery of the diabolical assassin.' Illustrated Police News 17 November, 1888

Nope, no better.

Oh joy! Sometimes it's best to stop digging. I now have two equally eligible candidates for the role of Bridget Kelly and she's merely a sub-plot. One lived in Newcastle (Senior) the other London (Davies). Both were born in Ballinasloe, County Galway, and within months of each other. Bridget Kelly married one of two people (Edward Davies or Edwin Senior) in Wrexham 2nd qtr, 1878. Now I either pursue the wife through the genealogy files and compare her against a husband, or I just scream.
ARRGH
Nope, no better.
...and there's the Morgestern/Morganstone hitch ... I have acquired three brothers, not two, and cannot determine which was Mary Kelly's lover. One of the brothers was married. I'll rule him out ... for now.

Mary Jane Kelly

An interesting entry in the genealogical files. Parsonstown Union workhouse was erected on a seven-acre site half a mile to the east of Parsonstown.
Mary Jane Kelly claimed she had a relationship/marriage with a John Davies. Did she name her son after the father? The date of the son's birth fits the story, a tenuous but intriguing link.

Mary Jane Kelly
mentioned in the record of John Kelly
Name     Mary Jane Kelly
Gender    Female
Son     John Kelly
Name     John Kelly
Gender     Male
Birth Date     12 Mar 1881
Birthplace     Parsonstown, Kings, Ireland
Mother's Name     Mary Jane Kelly.

	The grim Parsonstown Union workhouse.

Welcome to Whitechapel

Cwmavon, Carmarthen, Caernarvon

Joe Barnett stated, Mary Kelly lived at Carmarthen or Caernarvon. The following place names sound very similar, at least to my English ear.
Cwmavon, Torfaen, a small village in Monmouthshire, South Wales
Cwmavon, Neath Port Talbot, a large village in Neath Port Talbot, South Wales
Carnarvon and Caernarvon are older forms of the name of the town in North Wales currently known as Caernarfon.
 Carmarthen, South Wales and the largest county.
Barnet didn't know whether Mary Kelly came from South or North Wales. I doubt, therefore, he was aware of the villages named Cwmavon.

Ratcliff Highway

Ratcliff Highway by Gustave Dore