Dr Crippen's bed.

Tableau wax figures of Dr Crippen, Mrs Crippen and Ethel Le Neve and Dr Crippen's bedstead, which was sold at auction along with other effects to pay his court costs.

Dr Crippen

1909. Dr Crippen and Belle Elmore.

The juvenile Hawley Crippen

I have found an early photograph of the juvenile Hawley Crippen - minus glasses but with a squint. I intended to post it here but I've decided to include it in my book - along with the image of Belle Elmore on stage when she was eighteen. This leaves me with just two pictures, which seems rather meagre. The book either includes a wealth of images or it doesn't.
I'll insert Ethel le Neve's landlady,Mrs Jackson - a photograph sent to me from her ancestor - thank you.
Six is the target, but finding that number of original images will be as much a struggle as writing the book.

Belle Elmore's grave

The remains in the cellar were buried as those of Belle Elmore before the jury found Dr Crippen guilty.

Dr Crippen

A Little Scandal - not published. Undecided about this cover yet. There's an image of Belle Elmore I like ...

An invitation to Belle Elmore

from the Music Hall Ladies' Guild.

Louise Mills

Belle Elmore, Cora Crippen's, half-sister.

Belle Elmore

trod the boards at this, The Bedford theatre.

Advertisements for Belle Elmore and Vulcana

Nellie Belmore, second time that name has appeared on the same billing as Belle Elmore - same person?

Goulston Street graffito wasn’t anti-Semitic

An old Desert Rat who exchanged his leave with his brother – suffering severe trauma – would use words such as oxter and alikific. He was the only person, amongst his family and immediate friends, who used such terms. Each slang word was stolen from the indigenous population. As any Brit is likely to do, if he can say it, has a use for it, he will nick it. Hence the ever-enlarging English vocabulary.

Anyway, alikific - Allah-keefik (God will take care of it) or as he used it, sod it, I don’t care. Oxter : armpit. Why he needed another word for armpit I’ve no idea. But perhaps the Saharan heat and proximity made that particular part of the anatomy noteworthy.

I suggest that ex-army officer, Charles Warren, understood the definition of jewes – of Persian Indian origin and meaning justice. Of course, Warren feared public disorder. He erased the message before it was photographed, and against the advice of the City police. He was the commissioner of the Metropolitan police and his word in that borough held sway. Warren had heard his soldiers swear jewes when given an order they thought unfair, or received an unjust punishment from a senior soldier, and with whom they could not argue. Jewes. Judge, jury and executioner."Bastard jewes."

Charles Warren received criticism for his recruitment of service personnel as constables. The word jewes, understood by other ex-army men, would link the murders to the military, if not the Ripper - a dangerous position for Warren.

Jews is easy enough to spell. Adding a silent E doesn’t simplify the word. It complicates it. Why do that? Because the graffito wasn’t anti-Semitic – but no doubt ‘playful’ - as if the writer enjoyed cryptic games, but sod it, he didn't care ...

On 14th October 1896, eight years after the first letters, Commercial Street Police Station received, through the post, a Jack the Ripper letter.

Dear Boss,

You will be surprised to find that this comes from yours as of old Jack the Ripper.

Ha Ha. If my old friend Mr. Warren is dead you can read it. You might remember me if you try and think a little. Ha Ha . . . 

Much in the same vein followed, liberally sprinkled with words and phrases cribbed from the original communications but not in the same handwriting. The writer explained that he had just come back from abroad and was ready to resume his work, and he concluded with an enigmatic reference to the writing found in Goulston Street.

The Jewes are people that are blamed for nothing. Ha, Ha. Have you heard this before?

Yours truly. Jack the Ripper.

James Munyon 'There is hope badge'.

James Munyon employed Dr Crippen. Conjures up an image of Dr Crippen writing his prescriptions with this 'There is Hope' badge pinned to his lapel - obviously little hope for Belle Elmore.

Belle Elmore's Christmas card.

Belle's Elmore's last Christmas card.

Joseph Mackomacke

Joseph Mackomacke, Cora Crippen's biological father. Listed as a nail-smith in the 1875 Boston directory.

39, Hilldrop Crescent.

Inspector Walter Dew discovered the mutilated body of Belle Elmore under the steps leading to 39, Hilldrop Crescent.

Crippen, Le Neve, Belle Elmore.

Newspaper clipping

Dr Crippen’s salad bowl

Had events worked out a little differently Margate might have been the scene of Dr Hawley Harvey Crippen’s well remembered murder of his wife, for which he was hanged after the first arrest ever made through wireless.
So thought Mrs Sarah Forster in the 1930s, of 27 Addiscombe Road, former proprietress of a Marine Terrace boarding house where Crippen’s wife stayed in the early years of the century.
In the 1930s Mrs Foster donated a cut glass bowl to Margate Museum (bet the people in charge have no idea today and I wonder if it is still there?!). It was used by the notorious doctor to mix a salad for his wife.Crippen’s wife, Cora, was an actress and under her professional name Belle Elmore, came to Margate in October 1904 to play in “East Lynne” at The Hippodrome in Cecil Square, (then known as The Grand Theatre). During the run of the show she stayed at Mrs Fosters boarding house at 28 Marine Terrace (Now Wetherspoons) and was visited at the weekend by her husband.
They went for walks and Dr Crippen bought her some ice cream. Later she was taken ill and Dr Crippen remarked to Mrs Foster that she was always ready to make a fuss over the least little pain. He added that she would have more heart attacks.
Belle Elmore’s condition became worse and during the night, after Dr Crippen had returned to London, Dr Sawyer was summoned. Cora was suffering from poisoning and he thought it must have been from fish. But she had had no fish, so the ice cream may have been to blame.
Dr Crippen was not suspected of any responsibility in the matter.
Dr Crippen visited his wife several times while illness compelled her to remain at Margate. He asked Mrs Foster for a punch bowl in which to mix a special salad, which he always made his wife when she had a heart attack. There was no punch bowl at the house, so he went out to buy one.
But Margate traders had no demand for punch bowls, so a cut glass bowl was purchased.

Mrs Foster saw him produce bottles and watched while he mixed the ingredients of the salad.
Six years later Dr Crippen was accused of killing his wife by poisoning and hid the remains under the cellar floor at Cora’s London residence.
Was he trying to poison her at Margate?

Page from Margate history

Belle Elmore, blackleg.

In 1907 there was a strike of performers, musicians and stage-hands.

Some encouragement was given to popular artistes to break the strike with Marie Dainton, actress and mimic, being offered the carrot of a future engagement at the Holborn Empire and a motor-cab to make her journey easier. She replied ‘I can only be led by the Variety Artistes Federation.’ This performer is often credited with being a leading figure in the strike but in a letter to the London Daily News she writes ‘ I do not wish to be exploited as taking a prominent part in the strike—as statements have been made in one or two papers that make it appear as though I was taking special steps in the matter.‘ A week later the Daily News received another letter from Marie Dainton saying that although she would not accept engagements at the affected halls she was resigning from the Federation. She concludes ‘I have the greatest respect for the artistes of the music hall profession, but I refuse to be identified with the scene-shifters or stage employees.’

Some of the higher earning stars did not support the strike but Marie Lloyd was a enthusiastic spokesperson stating that ‘We can dictate our own terms. We are not fighting for ourselves, but for the poorer members of the profession, earning thirty shillings to three pounds a week. For this they have to do double turns, and now matinées have been added as well. These poor things have been compelled to submit to unfair terms of employment, and I mean to back up the Federation in whatever steps are taken.’ She was a regular on the picket line and when the unfortunate Belle Elmore crossed the line to perform Marie urged her companions not to stop her, saying she was such a bad performer she would empty the hall anyway.


Some performers took advantage of the situation by appearing in the affected halls but it didn’t always turn out well for them. Evelyn Taylor was reported as appearing at eight of the picketed halls each night but found she was unable to find a cab to take her between halls. The drivers refused the job. The London Tram, Bus and Motor Workers Union resolved to support the strike in any way possible. The official artistes association in America, the White Rats, cabled that they were with the strikers ‘heart and soul’ and would do everything possible to help the cause. Financial support came from individuals and provincial branches of the Alliance and from a levy on the salaries of working members of the Alliance. There was a surge of performers calling to be enrolled as members of the Federation with two hundred names being taken before two o’clock on one day. Most of these had refused engagements in the affected halls. The Federation increased it’s membership to around five thousand.

Many London music halls were affected with picket lines, including well-known stars, dissuading the public from entering. Managers reduced prices and put on new and untried acts which played to small audiences who often left part way through. The Daily News reports that the new programme at the Canterbury Music Hall, Lambeth, was abandoned as the trainers couldn’t get a troupe of performing elephants to leave the stage. At other halls such as the Oxford the manager appeared on the stage to explain the situation and for the most part the audience were given their admission money back.
 into the limelight

Belle Elmore

Dr Crippen's wife. I've found her on the stage before she arrived in England. It's a satisfying feeling when hours of research yields a result. And what this tells me about Dr Crippen? He's a liar. Definition of serial killer: Murdering three or people over a period of time.
Dr Crippen is a serial slayer.

Dr Crippen and Belle Elmore

together at a social function.