Albert Bachert aka Alfred Charrington

[Gary Barnett]

Bachert makes another interesting statement in the news clip he was denying his identity as Alfred Charrington. The clips says "Mr Backert is quite a young man and a little under the medium stature. " Not big in size, he says himself, but the emphasis he puts upon the "in size" means a lot.

It appears, if Backert actually organized this huge Army that spread across the land, he was a big man. He had to feel a lot of self importance to all his followers. I'm sure he had a lot of enemies (the salvationists) in a lot of areas in England as Gary has pointed out with all the towns they were located in. By 1888 he seemed to have been put in his place. At least that's how I see it. He was less important but always projected an image of greatness. I don't recall him telling anyone he was the General of the Skeleton Army during his Whitechapel escapades. It's like he didn't want anyone to know. In reality, he may have been more powerful than we all know.

By the time of his theft arrest, I believe he was living in Bristol? At least that was the address he gave when arrested in the East End of London. Maybe his enemies were closing in on him? I'm wondering if we can find him under the name of Charrington in his later years, thus the difficulty in finding him under the name of Bachert?

I doubt the SA was a single organisation with some kind of central command. It's far more likely that they were just disparate groups of roughs looking for a bit of aggro in their local town centre, the SA name and imagery being spread by the press. Something like the earlier 'ghost' craze that morphed into Springheeled Jack. From the little I know about Bachert, I think it's likely he may have claimed to have been the originator/head of the movement when in fact he wasn't. If anyone could be called the originator, it was probably the first person to have lobbed a stone at the noisy buggers who were disturbing his afternoon nap.

[Gary Barnett]

In a divorce case in 1897 a Mrs. Charles Charrington (wife of the well known East End brewer) states her husbands nickname to his friends was Toby. [Daily Mail Jan 29, 1897]

In another ripper letter addressed to 13, Newnham Street on 9th October, 1889, Bachert is addresssed as Toby Baskett. He seems to have adopted the name of Charrington and I am wondering if there is a strong connection between Bachert and the brewer.

Here he is:

[Gary Barnett]

Not sure why old Tobe appeared twice. Or am I the only one seeing two?

[Jerry Dunlop]

Not sure why old Tobe appeared twice. Or am I the only one seeing two?

No, I see two, too.

[Howard Brown]

Just in case this helps....

[Jerry Dunlop]

Here is Frederick Charrington, the man I mentioned earlier. He left a million dollar family fortune to rid the east end of vice (see the Damascus part). He was responsible for closing down brothels in 1887/88.

http://www.jack-the-ripper.org/frederick-charrington.htm

[Gary Barnett]

Here is Frederick Charrington, the man I mentioned earlier. He left a million dollar family fortune to rid the east end of vice (see the Damascus part). He was responsible for closing down brothels in 1887/88.

http://www.jack-the-ripper.org/frede...harrington.htm

Hi Jerry,

We've discussed old Fred on here before. I'm not sure that he simply relinquished his share in the family business. I have a copy of a book called A Brewer's Progress by L. A. G. Strong, published in 1957 to mark the bicentenary of Charrington's brewery, in which Strong says that after his conversion to the cause of abstinence Fred sold his interest in the brewery to his younger brother.

By all accounts old Fred was a real pain in the arse to the purveyors of drink and entertainment in the East End. His hat, it seems, was what protected him from their wrath.

Gary

[Howard Brown]

Gary:

Thanks for that about Charrington.....up until now I thought that he had simply handed over any claim to the brewing business. Makes more sense to sell it, considering its value.

[Gary Barnett]

Gary:

Thanks for that about Charrington.....up until now I thought that he had simply handed over any claim to the brewing business. Makes more sense to sell it, considering its value.

How,

There is a short chapter in the book - The Rebel - devoted to Fred. Its final paragraph reads:

One final comment on this extraordinary life cannot in justice be avoided. Frederick Charrington could not have done the work he did without the million pounds which he drew from the brewery. Thus, ironically, it financed his philanthropic work.

[Gary Barnett]

No, I see two, too.

Archbishop Desmond, or a lady in a short frilly skirt?

[Debra Arif]

There's some interesting discussion of Bachert, the vigilance Committes and their links to Spencer and Frederick Charrington in this old 2007 thread here:

https://www.jtrforums.com/showthread.php?t=3597&page=3

It's worth a read. Maybe there's something in the fact that one of the Charringtons helped fund the WVC.

[Debra Arif]

Nice finds, Debs !

Probably not relative, but on the 1881 Census in the house Bachert was residing in, there was a Frederick Charraton (28, pipemaker)
https://kpoulin1.wordpress.com/2009/...lbert-bachert/

He's Russian so probably not, How.
Interestingly, there's also a Dutch Albrecht and an Alberge listed at 13 Newnham St where Bachert lived. Both these names have been suggested in the past as possibly being the actual surname of Lizzie Allbrook and that MJK knew her through her Dutch Morgenstern connections.

[Debra Arif]

I doubt the SA was a single organisation with some kind of central command. It's far more likely that they were just disparate groups of roughs looking for a bit of aggro in their local town centre, the SA name and imagery being spread by the press. Something like the earlier 'ghost' craze that morphed into Springheeled Jack. From the little I know about Bachert, I think it's likely he may have claimed to have been the originator/head of the movement when in fact he wasn't. If anyone could be called the originator, it was probably the first person to have lobbed a stone at the noisy buggers who were disturbing his afternoon nap.

One of the 1882 news clippings I posted also mentions that Albert Charrington was a member of the Salvation Army during the 1882 assault on him and others. Later reports in 1883 then say he's with the Skeleton Army.
Bachert was born in 1862 (he isn't the child on the 1861 census) so if the SA was set up in 1876 as Jerry's clip mentions he'd have only been 16 at the time.

[Robert Linford]

Thanks How.

[Gary Barnett]

One of the 1882 news clippings I posted also mentions that Albert Charrington was a member of the Salvation Army during the 1882 assault on him and others. Later reports in 1883 then say he's with the Skeleton Army.
Bachert was born in 1862 (he isn't the child on the 1861 census) so if the SA was set up in 1876 as Jerry's clip mentions he'd have only been 16 at the time.

There are some reports that speak of the skeletons being funded by the local publicans, which would make sense. I would imagine that the 'sport' probably began with drunken rowdies encouraged by the publicans almost as soon as the Sally Army started marching. As you say, Bachert would have been too young to have been any kind of an organiser then, but by the time the Skeleton Army name appears he's a young adult and an engraver, so perhaps his contribution was the gruesome imagery that in turn spawned the name that caught on across the country.