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Mary Ann "Polly" Nichols (ne้ Walker, August 26, 1845 - August 31,
1888) is widely believed to be the first victim of the notorious unidentified serial killer "Jack the Ripper," who killed
and mutilated prostitutes in the Whitechapel area of London during the late summer and autumn of 1888. As with other Ripper
victims, there is some confusion about her personal details. She was aged forty-three and was destitute at the time of her
death.
Nichols' body was discovered at about 3:40
in the early morning of Friday, August 31, 1888, on the ground in front of a gated stable entrance in Buck's Row (since renamed
Durward Street), a back street in Whitechapel two hundred yards from the London Hospital. Neither the police officers patrolling
nearby streets nor the residents in houses alongside Buck's Row heard or saw anything suspicious; Nichols was probably killed
at about 3:30am.
Nichols was the daughter of Edward Walker, a locksmith and his wife
Caroline (nee Webb). While her death certificate stated she was forty-two at the time of her murder (an apparent error reflected
on her coffin plate and gravestone), birth records indicate she was forty-three, a fact confirmed at her inquest by her father,
who described her as looking "ten years younger" than her age. She was born Mary Ann Walker in Dawes Court, off Shoe Lane
in London on August 26, 1845. On January 16, 1864 she married William Nichols, a printer's machinist, and the couple had five
children - Edward John, Percy George, Alice Esther, Eliza Sarah and Henry Alfred - before their marriage broke up in 1880
for disputed causes.
Polly Nichols was reported by her father and others to be a heavy
drinker. William Nichols in turn was accused by her inquest of leaving her for an affair with a nurse, though he claimed to
have proof that their marriage had continued for at least three years after the date alleged for the affair. He also maintained
that his wife had repeatedly deserted him.
Legally required to support his estranged wife, William Nichols
paid her an allowance of five shillings a week for a year or two but terminated it when he reported hearing she was living
with another man. Nichols spent most of her remaining years in workhouses and boarding houses, often living off her meagre
earnings as a prostitute. Later she lived for a short time with her father but left after a quarrel; her father stated she
subsequently lived with a blacksmith for a while. In May of 1888, the year of her death, she was living in the Lambeth workhouse
but left to take a job as a domestic servant. Dissatisfied with the position, she left her employers a month later, stealing
clothing worth three pounds ten shillings. At the time of her death she was living in a Whitechapel lodging house. Lacking
fourpence for a bed that night, she went out, implying that she would soon earn the money on the street with the help of a
new bonnet she had acquired. She was last seen in the area, drunk, an hour before her death by a friend. Her body was later
identified by clothing from the Lambeth workhouse.
The Coroner at Nichols' inquest was Wynne Edwin Baxter. Inquest
testimony as reported in The Times stated: "Five teeth were missing, and there was a slight laceration of the tongue. There
was a bruise running along the lower part of the jaw on the right side of the face. That might have been caused by a blow
from a fist or pressure from a thumb. There was a circular bruise on the left side of the face which also might have been
inflicted by the pressure of the fingers. On the left side of the neck, about 1 in. below the jaw, there was an incision about
4 inches in length, and ran from a point immediately below the ear. On the same side, but an inch below, and commencing about
1 inches in front of it, was a circular incision, which terminated at a point about 3 in. below the right jaw. That incision
completely severed all the tissues down to the vertebrae. The large vessels of the neck on both sides were severed. The incision
was about 8 inches in length. the cuts must have been caused by a long-bladed knife, moderately sharp, and used with great
violence. No blood was found on the breast, either of the body or the clothes. There were no injuries about the body until
just about the lower part of the abdomen. Two or three inches from the left side was a wound running in a jagged manner. The
wound was a very deep one, and the tissues were cut through. There were several incisions running across the abdomen. There
were three or four similar cuts running downwards, on the right side, all of which had been caused by a knife which had been
used violently and downwards. The injuries were from left to right and might have been done by a left handed person. All the
injuries had been caused by the same instrument."
Funeral
Mary Ann "Polly" Nichols was buried on Thursday, 6th September, 1888. That afternoon, Polly was transported
in a polished elm coffin to Mr Henry Smith, Hanbury Street undertaker. The cortege consisted of the hearse and two mourning
coaches, which carried Edward Walker, William Nichols and Edward John Nichols (her eldest son, who was approximately 22 years
of age.) Polly was buried at City of London Cemetery, Aldersbrook Road, Manor Park, London, E12, (public) grave 210752 (on
the edge of the current Memorial Garden).
The funeral expenses were paid for by Edward Walker (Polly's father), William Nichols (Polly's ex-husband),
and Edward John Nichols (Polly's son).
In late 1996, the cemetery authorities decided to mark Polly's grave with a plaque.
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