Mary Jane Kelly

Birthday: 1863 in Limerick, Ireland

Height: 170 cm

Mary Jane Kelly's origins are obscure and undocumented. According to Joseph Barnett, the man she had most recently lived with prior to her murder, Kelly had told him she was born in Limerick, Ire ...Show More

Mary Jane Kelly's origins are obscure and undocumented. According to Joseph Barnett, the man she had most recently lived with prior to her murder, Kelly had told him she was born in Limerick, Ireland, in around 1863 -although whether she referred to the city or the county is not known-and that her family moved to Wales when she was young. Barnett reported that Kelly had told him her father was named John Kelly and that he worked in an iron works in either Caernarfonshire or Carmarthenshire. Barnett also recalled Kelly mentioning having seven brothers and at least one sister. One brother, named Henry, supposedly served in the 2nd Battalion Scots Guards.Around 1879, when she was just 16, Kelly was reportedly married to a coal miner named Davies, who was killed two or three years later in a mine explosion. She claimed to have stayed for eight months in an infirmary in Cardiff, before moving in with a cousin. Although there are no contemporary records of Kelly's presence in Cardiff, it is at this stage in her life that Kelly is considered to have begun her career as a prostitute. It is around this time, ca. 1882/83 that Kelly became ill and spent nearly a year in an infirmary.In 1884, Kelly apparently left Cardiff for London and found work in a brothel in the more affluent West End of London. Reportedly, she was invited by a client to France, but returned to England within two weeks, having disliked her life there. Nonetheless, it is believed to be at this stage in her life that Kelly chose to adopt the French name "Marie Jeanette". Around 1884/86, and gravitating toward the poorer East End of London, she reportedly lived with a man named Morganstone (possibly Morgan Stone) near the Commercial Gas Works in Stepney. She lived with and possibly worked for Mrs Buki, St George's St. She helped Kelly retrieve belongings from a French lady's residence in Knightsbridge. Kelly also resided at Mrs Carthy's, Breezer Hill, Ratcliff Highway. At the end of 1886 Kelly left her and went to live with a mason's plasterer named Joe Flemming near Bethnal Green, but by April of the following year she had left him and moved into either Cooney's or a lodging-house in Thrawl St.Joseph Barnett first met Kelly on Good Friday April 8th 1887. They agreed to live together on their second meeting the following day. First, they lived in George St, then moved to Little Paternoster Row, Dorset St, and then they lived in Brick Lane. In early 1888 they moved into 13 Miller's Court, a furnished single room at the back of 26 Dorset Street, Spitalfields. Barnett worked as a fish porter at Billingsgate Fish Market, but when he fell out of regular employment and tried to earn money as a market porter, Kelly turned to prostitution again. A quarrel ensued over Kelly's sharing of the room with another prostitute whom Barnett knew only as "Julia" and he left on 30 October while continuing to visit Kelly.On the morning of 9 November 1888, the day of the annual Lord Mayor's Day celebrations, Kelly's landlord John McCarthy sent his assistant, ex-soldier Thomas Bowyer, to collect the rent. Kelly was six weeks behind on her payments, owing 29 shillings. Shortly after 10:45 a.m., Bowyer knocked on her door but received no response. He reached through the crack in the window, pushed aside a coat being used as a curtain and peered inside-discovering Kelly's horribly mutilated corpse lying on the bed. She was believed to be the victim of the unidentified serial killer nicknamed Jack The Ripper. Hide