John Netley

[JTRSickert]

Since our favorite coachman, John Netley, hasn't been given his own forum just yet, I figured why not create one for him now. Despite the fact that the Royal Conspiracy theory is a bunch of hogwash, a lot of amateur researchers may not realize that the people written about it were, in fact, real people, Netley included. So, I figured this might be a good place to discuss this "sinister" coachman. For example,:

What do you we factually know about him? We do know he was, in fact, a coachman and that he died under the wheels of his own coach. But, did he in fact work as a coachman for the Palace and/or for Parliament?

Any information on his family, if any?

Of all the onscreen depictions of Netley, which one do you enjoy the most? (Jack the Ripper (1988), Murder By Decree, or From Hell

[John Savage]

Hi JTR Sickert,

Perhaps what interests me most about John Netley is his name; in particular his surname. It is quite uncommon and when I checked modern London telephone directories there were no more than half a dozen entries for Netley.
It is often assumed that Joseph Gorman Sickert invented his tale of the Royal Conspiracy, if so it would have been easy to come up with the name of Sir William Gull but far less easy to find the name of a real but obscure coachman. Again when linking Mary Kelly to Cleveland Street he chooses the name of the Bellord Domestic Agency, said to be run by Edmund Bellord a solicitor who really existed and was also chairman of the committee at the Providence Row Refuge.
The only other known source being Dr. Thomas Stowell, whose theory, (which according to his son he had held for many years) was made public prior to Joe’s revelation in the 1970’s TV programme featuring Detectives Barlow and Watt. This leads me to believe that Joe was either a hoaxer of great genius, or the story was handed down to him orally, but if so by whom?

Well, I have a theory, but that is all I have after years of reading and research.

By the way, this does not mean that I believe in the Royal Conspiracy, I don’t, but I do believe that its origins are probably much older than we realise.

Rgds
John

[Paul]

When I spoke to Ellen May Lackner,the cousin of Joseph Gorman Sickert, she indicated that parts of Joseph’s tale concerning his mother’s illegitimate parentage were circulating in the family while he was still a child. I think it possible that it was said that Walter Sickert was proposed as Alice Margaret's father, the Ripper being introduced to deter investigation.

[Stephen Thomas]

Netley is the fly in the Royal Conspiracy as Nonsense ointment.

How on earth did Gorman and Knight even know of his existence?

I suspect some skulduggery by them but one never knows does one.

Why should an obscure coachman's name appear 70 years after he died?

[John Savage]

Hi Paul,

That is a very interesting peice of information, thanks for posting.

Rgds
John