Jack the Wannabe

[Magpie]

Has it occurred to anyone that perhaps Jack wanted to be a doctor, but was unable to for educational/class reasons. Maybe he hung around lectures and dissection theatres, or even got a job as a mortuary attendent.

It's not unusual for people who are refused the chance do work in certain fields to form an obsessive love/hate attitude toward that profession: wannabe police officers become security guards, wannabe soldiers join militias, etc, etc, all the time dreaming of the chance to show those who turned them down that they made a big mistake

Perhaps the murders were Jack the Wannabe Doctor's attempts to show the medical field that he could cut it (no pun intended) as a doctor.

[How Brown]

Magpie:

The wannabe concept is certainly a good one, in my book.

It might explain the proficiency in the extraction of the Eddowes kidney and the the routine/methodology of the throat slitting ( all nearly the same way).....but not without some difficulty from case to case.

Any other thoughts folks?

[admin]

Interesting premise, but it seems to me to be more likely that under this premise, Jack was wanting to become part of a criminal gang and so was intent on showing everyone concerned that he was indeed qualified. Somehow it seems incongruous that he would commit butchery of that magnitude from being frustrated at wanting to become a doctor.

In the current Rex Morgan, M.D. comic strip, there is featured a doctor that has been practicing for years but has just now been exposed as a fake - he never obtained a medical degree despite his current skills. It seems to me that Jack could have done much the same thing - surely a fake diploma would not have been difficult to come by, and if you take Conan Doyle's writing at face value, there were doctors scattered all over England in little pockets of the rural countryside. Of course, these were MRCS's rather than real physicians, but Jack probably could have earned while he learned. Just my opinion, of course.

I do feel the concept of Jack as a mortuary attendant is a solid one, and is very close to what I had once surmised in one of my old Ripper Notes articles from 4 years ago, where I postulated that maybe he was a 'post-mortem' room attendant at London Hospital. In either case, there would have been ample opportunity to practice carving out human kidneys efficiently.

Going back to Magpie's premise, though, would there be any lists of medical students who had failed to make the grade in 1880's London?

[Magpie]

Interesting premise, but it seems to me to be more likely that under this premise, Jack was wanting to become part of a criminal gang and so was intent on showing everyone concerned that he was indeed qualified. Somehow it seems incongruous that he would commit butchery of that magnitude from being frustrated at wanting to become a doctor.


Funny you should mention that. How and I had a discussion a few weeks back about the possibility that Jack stopped because the criminal underworld, realizing what a threat he was to their continuing existence, found and "dealt with" him.

If Jack was trying to make his bones, it backfired enormously, and I doubt any criminal gang would touch him with a ten foot pole, unless it was to impale him on said pole.




I do feel the concept of Jack as a mortuary attendant is a solid one, and is very close to what I had once surmised in one of my old Ripper Notes articles from 4 years ago, where I postulated that maybe he was a 'post-mortem' room attendant at London Hospital. In either case, there would have been ample opportunity to practice carving out human kidneys efficiently.


I'm thinking more the level of the guys at the workhouse mortuaries who undressed the bodies, cleaned up, maybe fetched and carried. Not who actively participated in any way, but were on hand during the process.



Going back to Magpie's premise, though, would there be any lists of medical students who had failed to make the grade in 1880's London?

We know that there were at least three that the police were looking for, including the infamous John Sanderson.

I'm sure there were more. That would be an excellent angle to check out--and not only failed the grade, but perhaps were kicked out of school for any reason, and may have had some training and a grudge.

[How Brown]

Not to forget that on several occasions,Stephenson has been described as and self-describing as a doctor,when in fact he was not.

It would be nice to find a list for cross reference....with any names we know.

[Stephen Leece]

In the Michael Caine/ David Wickes centenary production that was how Gull roped Netley into helping him with the mutilations. (Netley wanted to be a doctor but was not born on the 'right side of the blanket').

Regards

Stephen