Wellcome to Hell: Was Sir Henry Wellcome Jack the Ripper?

by Joseph Busa

Many books have been written about the identity of ‘Jack the Ripper’, the World’s most infamous serial killer. One name is conspicuous by its absence, Sir Henry Wellcome, co-founder of the pharmaceutical company Borroughs Wellcome and Company, founder of the Wellcome Trust, Freemason and latter-day Pillar of the Establishment. The reason for this is unclear, as upon brief inspection of his life it is apparent that he should be included as one of the suspects for the series of shocking murders committed in the autumn of 1888. My aim in this book is to explain how I reached this conclusion, drawing a parallel between the upbringing and attributes of Sir Henry Wellcome and those of a serial killer.

Genres: True Crime, Nonfiction

212 pages, Kindle Edition

Published January 4, 2014

About the author

Joseph Busa is a British author who has written two books on Jack the Ripper. In his first book he made the claim that Sir Henry Wellcome may have been the infamous Ripper; his second is a fictional novel loosely based on the real life Ripper Hunter, Detective Inspector Edmund Reid.

He has released six other books on Amazon. The first, a fantasy fiction novel called 'The Key to the Pit: Resurrection' describes a secret plan to bring about a global apocalypse. The second, a short fantasy fiction novella called 'Grendel and the Masters of the Universe' is a modern take on the Anglo-Saxon epic poem 'Beowulf'. In the third, a murder mystery novella called 'Data Harvester' a husband and wife team of private investigators take on assumed identities in an effort to discover whether a newly wedded widow was complicit in the deaths of her previous husbands. The fourth, a novelette 'Business Secrets of the Pharaohs: Exodus to Brexodus' is a satirical account of the Exodus as related to the British vote to leave the European Union. The fifth, 'Summo Imperio' is a novella inspired by an era of American political incivility. African American families in the city of Jackson, Tennessee, are being murdered. Could there be a link between their deaths and the end of the American empire?

His latest work, a crime fiction novella, 'A Place Beyond the Seas' has National Crime Agency investigator Benjamin Rowden sent to France to investigate the events leading to the deaths of a migrant woman and three children washed up on the English coastline.

Reviews

[Terri · Rating 3 out of 5]

A totally new Ripper suspect - Sir Henry Wellcome. The author is the first to say this is his theory and more research should be done. It is an interesting theory relying on multiple assumptions (like most are) like that the ripper letters are in fact, real; That the Chalk message was in fact, written by the Ripper; and the one that bothered me most - that Wellcome had a fascination with committing 'surgery' on the victims due to childhood trauma -- that the killer had medical knowledge (which most evidence tends to lean against rather than for). The surgery comment I put in quotes, because it doesn't make sense to me. the killings really seem much more frenzied and brutal than 'an obsession with surgery' would indicate. Wellcome certainly did love collecting curios and historical medical implements but so did others of the time (including suspect Tumblety if I remember correctly). But he also collected so many other things, it does not seem as relevant as the author suggests. That said - it certainly is an interesting book and well worth reading for those interested in Jack. Of course, we'll likely every know and that is a major part of the fascination.

[Jessica Powell · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked it up for the Ripper angle, but this was actually a really interesting biography of a man I previously knew nothing but the barest bones about.

[K.A. Krisko · Rating 3 out of 5]

The author has an interesting idea, here, and I wish I could rate this book a bit higher, but I'm afraid the non-stop grammatical errors, typos, punctuation errors, incomplete sentences, and incorrectly-used words really dampened my enthusiasm. The author notes that he couldn't afford an editor, but this reads like he didn't even re-read what he'd written. A full read-through, out loud, word-for-word, to oneself does wonders, as does giving it to a relative or friend who can point out obvious errors. If you can get past the mistakes, though, the writing itself is not bad - the story progresses pretty logically and he's obviously done his research. While I wasn't completely convinced, since there's no direct evidence at all, I admit that Wellcome is an interesting suspect, and he did indeed have opportunity. I cross my fingers that the author will get this manuscript to someone to proof at the very least; it could be so much more.