Uncle Jack

by Tony; Price Williams

The person identified as the killer of five women in London East End in 1888 has never before been named a suspect in more than a hundred years of intense speculation. The co-author of the book is the great-great-nephew of the killer, who discovered extraordinary evidence while researching his illustrious ancestor. He did not set out to find Jack the Ripper, and did not want to believe that his great-great-uncle could have been responsible. But the evidence is incontrovertible. The killer was a very eminent man in his field, and naming him will cause huge shockwaves in the places where he is still venerated. No one has ever been able to find any evidence linking any of the suspects to the victims. This book puts forward clear evidence connecting the killer to three of the five victims, and circumstantial evidence connecting him to the other two. Patricia Cornwell's international bestseller PORTRAIT OF A KILLER may have established that artist Walter Sickert wrote incriminating letters, but all other authorities (including the police) have always believed that the letters were a hoax and were not written by the killer. The authors prove that their suspect was in Whitechapel at the same time as the crimes were committed, and had the knowledge and skills which the nature of the murders required. For the first time, the book presents a consistent and plausible explanation for every aspect of the case, meeting all the key criteria of method, motive and opportunity. It also explains why the murders stopped as suddenly as they started. The authors have even discovered what they believe to be the murder weapon. Further forensic testing may be able to establish this beyond any reasonable doubt.

Genres: Nonfiction, True Crime, Crime, History, Biography

256 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2005

Reviews

[Marie Theron · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tony Williams wrote this book in the style of an academic thesis, which is somewhat heavier than investigative journalism. On deciding to research his famous and respected grand-uncle, John Williams, Tony chanced upon information that made him believe that this uncle could have been Jack the Ripper.

I learnt from this book that Ripperology is a topic seriously pursued by many investigators. The Ripper had killed 5 female prostitutes and expertly removed some female organs. The murderer was never found.Tony Williams had only 3 clues to start with: His uncle had most probably been in the vicinity at the time of the murders. Secondly, John Williams had been a very ambitious workaholic obstetrician who was keen to make a breakthrough in female health but careful not to risk the life of his patients. And thirdly, Tony found a carefully boxed sharp knife in what was left of his uncle's belongings.

The rest of the book is devoted to small finds, records and theories that would take months and years to reason through in a court of law. For instance, that John Williams had been looking for a solution for his wife's infertility! Hats off to the British for keeping such good records everywhere. I was quite amazed to learn that the Mormons also wrote up man, woman and child and complete family histories throughout the country and as the electronic age dawned, it was converted to data!

This is an interesting book to read, but do expect that for a reader who needs some story line or action, it will sometimes resemble one of those puzzles that goes like this: "If Jane's father-in-law shops at the market, and Sally has a white dog, who lives in the house with the green roof?" I for one, almost lost the plot when I read that the murdered prostitutes “appeared” younger than their age, (according to newspapers of the time) and that that fact could have had something to do with John Williams’s wife (whom he tried to help) being young!

The exaggerated secrecy of the author and his co-investigator was something I could not buy into! They carefully spaced the timing of their trips to libraries and archives. They were extremely aware of the library surveillance cameras and tried not to look excited when going through records! Who in the 1980's could possibly have been watching them?

But to be fair, as a thesis, all the tracks were followed, revealed and explained in length. I wonder what the other Rippologists think? Will this become the prevailing theory to Jack the Ripper’s identity?

[Cindy (BKind2Books) · Rating 3 out of 5]

The latest in the Ripper genre goes in a markedly different direction. The authors include a distant relative of the suspect - Dr John Williams. Williams was a respected ob/gyn in Victorian England. The authors stumble upon some obscure clues and then painstakingly research his life as well as how he could have been Jack the Ripper. They show how he had the means and was in the correct place. As to motive, they speculate about his marriage and how he might have been looking for a cure of his wife's infertility. The evidence is tenuous and extremely speculative, but the authors have done their research and it does seem a well-reasoned hypothesis. However, I saw nothing in this work that made me stand and declare that they had THE solution. It was an intriguing look at the well-to-do and the seamier side of England and Wales in the late 1800's. I found the authors' declaration that, to this era, "poverty was a moral stain; and no unnecessary kindness was to be offered to those who were foolish enough to be afflicted by it" to be no less true today. It is remarkable to me how many think that poverty is a moral failing rather than a product of many things that may be out of the person's control. We have not come very far from this society in the past 130 years.

[Michael John Paul McManus · Rating 3 out of 5]

Uncle Jack by Tony Williams is an interesting read with some good facts about his second great uncle, Dr John (Jack) Williams possibly being the serial killer, Jack the Ripper. The evidence that he found, such as letters and a diary from 1888, with pages torn out in Dr Williams archives, as well as a surgeon's knife and his association with the Whitechapel Infirmary is interesting. But as with all the books I've read about who could have been the serial killer remains inconclusive. Well written and well researched but not conclusive enough for this reader.

[Jo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Speculative at best, with much circumstantial evidence, but this is a well-reasoned argument as to the identity of Jack the Ripper.
Sir John Williams, Welsh Obstetrician, Harley Street doctor, "midwife" to the Queen ... husband of an infertile wife, secretly providing medical services to Whitechapel Workhouse Infirmary. Did he treat four of the victims and then kill them to further his research into diseases which may have "cured" his wife?
Did he have an affair with Mary Kelly, and use her murder as his "atonement sacrifice"?
A lot of thought-provoking narrative, and nothing really beyond the realms of possibility.

[Amy Louise Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting look at a previously unsuspected suspect to the ripper murders. The evidence presented is circumstancial at best, I find it interesting that the author offers up the reason of curing the couples infertility as a motive for the murders.

[Marné Page · Rating 2 out of 5]

Circumstancial evidence, at best. The author is clearly convinced of his claim and wants it to be true. He follows up leads exhaustively but ends up only with speculation and a possible (not probable) explanation.

[A.J. Griffiths-Jones · Rating 2 out of 5]

Such a disappointing read. Sadly the author has twisted circumstances to fit his very flimsy suspect case. The legacy of a great man has been tarnished because of it. There are a few points of interest regarding the research, but this is overshadowed by the finger pointing & presumption.

[Yolande Bird · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF

[Robyn · Rating 2 out of 5]

I mean I read it.
I could see potential for the theory but it feels more like a book written by someone eager to claim this morbid piece of history but also attempting to convince themselves of the validity of their own claim in the process.
Finished it hoping to be convinced too but sadly disappointed.

[James Crawford · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very fascinating book about a man who believes that an ancestor of his, a Dr. John Williams, was, in fact, Jack-the-Ripper. He sets out very methodically checking all the sources of information he possibly can and begins to piece together what might be an explanation of not only who Jack-the-Ripper was, but why he did what he did and why he stopped killing women.


As in any crime, there needs to be a means, a motive, and an opportunity to carry out the crime. The author does a very good job of establishing strong evidence for all three. He goes into detail on what the killings involved (not just were the women killed, but they were 'operated' on) and that whoever had done the killings needed to be a person who knew medicine and could perform an operation very quickly and precisely under trying circumstances.


The killer also had to have an opportunity to do the murders, and the author establishes how Dr. John Williams was in the area of the killings and could very easily have carried them out and gotten back to where he was working without anyone seeing him or questioning him.

As for the motive, a lot of time is spent dealing with William's marriage and how his wife was unable to have children. Dr. John Williams was a specialist in female reproduction, and he wanted to make some kind of break-through discovery that could allow an infertile woman (such as his wife) to be able to become fertile.


The author also establishes a solid reason why the killings suddenly stopped, and shows how Dr. John Williams just be chance reduced the amount of work he did after the killings ended and no longer performed a certain operation on women.

The author does not prove that Dr. John Williams was the killer, and he does have to make some assumptions along the way, but the evidence he does present is solid and he presents it in a way that makes sense.

[Teawench · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm something of an amateur Ripperologist and always pick up new books on the subject whenever I see them. This is less a book about Jack the Ripper and more a biography of John Williams. The author spends at least 3/4 of the book talking about and then reiterating Williams' life and then going over it all again. He harps on about a couple of pieces of evidence as if that's all that's needed to prove that Williams was the Ripper. The rest of the 'proof' is circumstantial, at best. When he can't find any the information he needs he makes a lot of suppositions that may or may not be true. I do realize that's a huge part of the whole Ripper thing and I don't 'really' have a problem with that. My complaint is more that this isn't a Ripper book. It's a biography of John Williams with a little bit of Ripper thrown in at the end.

[Sally Tibbetts · Rating 1 out of 5]

I have not yet finished this book--however, I feel he is really grasping at straws in trying to prove his uncle might have been "Jack the Ripper." To me this seems like a money making book --still , it's interesting and I find John Williams to be a most interesting man. Would I recommend it? Not unless you have nothing else to read or unless you're a real ripper officiado (sp?). Even though Cornwall's book was a stretch also, it was good writing and a fascinating presentation.

Okay--I struggled through to the end--gasp! Really pitiful attempt at proving the unprovable. Anyway, I didn't really care for the book and have since donated it to the library. Wouldn't recommend this one.

[Bill Cissna · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's getting to the point that nearly any adult male who was alive in 1888 in England has been or will be accused of being Jack the Ripper. This extended dissection of a grouping of sometimes unproven but mightily speculated upon factoids chooses to point the blame at Sir John Williams. Could he have been guilty? If all of the findings are true, maybe. But I expect many similar cases could be built against many other men who were handy with a knife and able to take a breath -- not too young, not too old -- in that hazy, scary year in Whitechapel. I remain unconvinced.

[Fishface · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating read about an intriguing Ripper suspect. I think the authors made some tremendous and unlikely leaps in their logic, filling in every gap in the information with "it was this way, and we know it because he's Jack the Ripper," but there are fewer gaps than I would have expected to find in such an ice-cold case. This theory really does deserve attention.

[Carl Sykes · Rating 2 out of 5]

Really good book, enjoyed it ... then found out that it has been proved that the key piece of evidence it uses as a basis for its theory has been falsified ... real shame and ruined what could have been a great Ripper theory!

[Emma · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting. Not sure if John Williams was the Ripper - lots of what if's and conjecture - but he could definitely have been involved in some way - always thought the Ripper was maybe more than one person and that a doctor was definitely among them...

[Natalie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not what I wanted, not a true jack the ripper book!

[Michelle]

The authors have not presented any solid evidence to back up their claim. I would be interested in DNA testing on the materials found.

[Tianne Shaw · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very well written insight into a possible Jack the Ripper culprit

[Gaynor]

not what expected and dont believe his relative is the ripper

[Kathy · Rating 1 out of 5]

Don't waste your time. The author stretches the truth to the breaking point.

[Dai Reading · Rating 3 out of 5]

Compelling read - but is it anything more than circumstantial?