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Hi all,
As a public house that is almost as famous as the ‘Ringers’ in the Jack the Ripper saga, I thought I would find out more about this establishment. I have to admit, that to start off with, I thought that the Three Nuns was a typical East End dive, how wrong can you be?
I suspect that for most people, their first contact with the Three Nuns is via the infamous Albert (man of a thousand surnames) Bachert and his ‘I met Jack the Ripper’ story in early October 1888. This story also raised the controversy of whether it was the Three Nuns or the Three Tuns in which the incident took place, as news reports named both establishments – about a 50/50 split! I think that there is enough evidence to favour the Three Nuns as the place where the incident took place. The only question for me is, considering Bachert’s propensity for self publicity, did the meeting actually take place? But I suspect that that question is for another thread.
The Three Nuns has a long history. The first mention that I found is in ‘Medieval Widows 1300-1500’ by Caroline M Barron and Anne F Sutton. In it, they discuss a Johanna Hill, widow of a well known bell founder, who “…may have been acting independently as a brewer, for she appears to have been left brewing utensils in her husbands will, and the Three Nuns was certainly a brewery by 1418.”
Authors who have written about the Three Nuns say that it the oldest pub in the City and that it is mentioned briefly in Daniel Defoe’s novel ‘A Journal of the Plague Year’. For further info on the novel, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Journ...he_Plague_Year
Over its history, it developed into a famous coaching inn, being the starting and dropping off point for coaches going to and from East Anglia and Essex, and enjoyed an enviable reputation for the quality of its punch. There are several adverts for these services in the early 19th century newspapers.
Amongst other things, the Three Nuns has acted as a market for horses and ponies (on at least one occasion not legally) and local inquests were held on its premises. It has hosted two Masonic lodges and has been the venue of choice for AGM’s, political meetings and business and social organisations dinners. One of the businesses that regularly used the Three Nuns for its bi-annual board meetings was the Metropolitan Railway Company, which, ironically was also nearly the cause of its demise, the railways having almost killed off the coach trade.
Just how serious the effect of the railways was on the existing business can be seen in the Morning Chronicle of 26 April, 1850, when Jonathan Lucas, the proprietor, appeared at a bankruptcy hearing. The magistrate said the house had been mainly supported by coaches and had been destroyed by the railways. The pub, however survived. In May of 1856, it was reported that a puppy with eight legs, three bodies and one head was on display at the premises. (Berrow’s Worcester Journal, 3rd May, 1856).
The Three Nuns was also the only public house that held a music, singing and dancing licence in the city of London, from 1854 up to 1875. This was because many Jewish wedding celebrations were held on the premises and dancing was an essential part of the proceedings. In 1876, however, the licence was not renewed, as great changes were taking place in Aldgate as a result of the building of Aldgate station. This included the demolition of the old Three Nuns and the construction of a new building. Even though reconstruction was not complete, on 28th October, 1877, The Era reported that Samuel East, the proprietor, applied for a renewal of the music, singing and dancing licence. It was refused, or rather postponed until building works were completed and the licensing board had inspected the premises. These licences could only be granted at the Michaelmas Quarter Sessions, so in the following year, Mr East reapplied and with no objection from the police, the licence was renewed.
Three pictures of the old Three Nuns coaching house can be found at http://collage.cityoflondon.gov.uk/c...=161&sp=X&sp=2
The 1891census gives an idea of the size of this popular venue:
1891/Orbell Musk/Manager/35/Kennington, London/Census ****
1891/Eleanor Musk/Wife, Manageress/31/Suffolk/Census
1891/Henry Ed R Musk/Son/2/City, London/Census
1891/Mary V R Musk/Daughter/1/City, London/Census
1891/Eva Cook/Book Keeper/30/Suffolk/Census
1891/Mary Silcock/Barmaid/18/London/Census
1891/William Golding/Cellerman/21/Norfolk/Census
1891/Frederick Oakley/Barman/17/Scotland/Census
1891/Henry Newman/Barman/18/London/Census
1891/Maud Welch/Barmaid/21/Plumstead/Census
1891/Alice Wilson/Barmaid/21/London/Census
1891/Lucy Scott/Barmaid/23/Grimsby/Census
1891/Rose Woodward/Barmaid/21/London/Census
1891/George Higgins/Hall Porter/30/London/Census
1891/Margaret Anderson/Chamber Maid/21/London/Census
1891/Lizzie Stamp/Chamber Maid/18/London/Census
1891/Kate Whitehead/Chamber Maid/20/London/Census
1891/Emma Spinks/Kitchen Maid/36/London/Census
1891/Caroline Green/Kitchen Maid/35/London/Census
The new building soon became popular with businesses, charities and political groups as a venue, regularly used in conjunction with ward elections for Portsoken. It is also at around this time that groups such as the Workingmen’s National Executive Committee for the Abolition of Foreign Sugar Bounties, the British Seamen’s Society, and the Seamen’s Protection Society started using the Three Nuns. It was at meetings such as these that names also started appearing in press reports, that would have a peripheral connection to the Whitechapel murders, a few years later. Amongst them were Lt Col Cowan, who Backert canvassed for in the 1885 elections, Peters, Kelly and Lemon, who raised the finances for the vigilance committee that would be based at the Three Nuns, John Chandler and William Lind, proprietor of the Trafalgar Temperance Hotel, in nearby Leman Street.
The Three Nuns has an American connection. The Birmingham Daily Post of 9th June, 1890 carried (as did many others) this story. Richard Eugene McKenzie, aged 48, of Portage, Wisconsin, along with his wife had taken up residence at the Three Nuns Hotel. After eating ‘a hearty meal of fresh mackerel’, he afterwards complained of cramp in his inside and took a white powder. Two hours later he took another, shortly after he collapsed. After a doctor was called, he was taken to hospital, where he died the following morning. The inquest was held by our old friend, Wynne Baxter at the London Hospital. The death was due to accidental morphia poisoning.
Scott Nelson wrote an interesting dissertation on the Three Nuns at http://ripperwriters.aforumfree.com/...berline-h1.htm. This was the hotel in which local tradesmen held a retirement dinner for Fred Abberline on his retirement. Yet another link to the Ripper!
There is one more, if tenuous, link between Jack the Ripper and the Three Nuns Hotel. In June 1892, the manager of the Three Nuns, Henry Robert Boynes, gave evidence in the Lambeth poisoning case that the prisoner had made enquiries as to joining one of the Masonic lodges that met at the Three Nuns, and that he had paid three guineas to Boynes, to call a lodge of emergency.
The prisoner was Dr Thomas Neill, better known to us as Neil Cream, who was supposed to have said he was Jack the …..as the trap dropped!
Unfortunately, this magnificent building no longer exists – a victim of East End redevelopment, but it has left behind a fascinating history. I’m just surprised that no pub historian has written a definitive story of the Three Nuns, at 11 Aldgate High Street.
As a public house that is almost as famous as the ‘Ringers’ in the Jack the Ripper saga, I thought I would find out more about this establishment. I have to admit, that to start off with, I thought that the Three Nuns was a typical East End dive, how wrong can you be?
I suspect that for most people, their first contact with the Three Nuns is via the infamous Albert (man of a thousand surnames) Bachert and his ‘I met Jack the Ripper’ story in early October 1888. This story also raised the controversy of whether it was the Three Nuns or the Three Tuns in which the incident took place, as news reports named both establishments – about a 50/50 split! I think that there is enough evidence to favour the Three Nuns as the place where the incident took place. The only question for me is, considering Bachert’s propensity for self publicity, did the meeting actually take place? But I suspect that that question is for another thread.
The Three Nuns has a long history. The first mention that I found is in ‘Medieval Widows 1300-1500’ by Caroline M Barron and Anne F Sutton. In it, they discuss a Johanna Hill, widow of a well known bell founder, who “…may have been acting independently as a brewer, for she appears to have been left brewing utensils in her husbands will, and the Three Nuns was certainly a brewery by 1418.”
Authors who have written about the Three Nuns say that it the oldest pub in the City and that it is mentioned briefly in Daniel Defoe’s novel ‘A Journal of the Plague Year’. For further info on the novel, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Journ...he_Plague_Year
Over its history, it developed into a famous coaching inn, being the starting and dropping off point for coaches going to and from East Anglia and Essex, and enjoyed an enviable reputation for the quality of its punch. There are several adverts for these services in the early 19th century newspapers.
Amongst other things, the Three Nuns has acted as a market for horses and ponies (on at least one occasion not legally) and local inquests were held on its premises. It has hosted two Masonic lodges and has been the venue of choice for AGM’s, political meetings and business and social organisations dinners. One of the businesses that regularly used the Three Nuns for its bi-annual board meetings was the Metropolitan Railway Company, which, ironically was also nearly the cause of its demise, the railways having almost killed off the coach trade.
Just how serious the effect of the railways was on the existing business can be seen in the Morning Chronicle of 26 April, 1850, when Jonathan Lucas, the proprietor, appeared at a bankruptcy hearing. The magistrate said the house had been mainly supported by coaches and had been destroyed by the railways. The pub, however survived. In May of 1856, it was reported that a puppy with eight legs, three bodies and one head was on display at the premises. (Berrow’s Worcester Journal, 3rd May, 1856).
The Three Nuns was also the only public house that held a music, singing and dancing licence in the city of London, from 1854 up to 1875. This was because many Jewish wedding celebrations were held on the premises and dancing was an essential part of the proceedings. In 1876, however, the licence was not renewed, as great changes were taking place in Aldgate as a result of the building of Aldgate station. This included the demolition of the old Three Nuns and the construction of a new building. Even though reconstruction was not complete, on 28th October, 1877, The Era reported that Samuel East, the proprietor, applied for a renewal of the music, singing and dancing licence. It was refused, or rather postponed until building works were completed and the licensing board had inspected the premises. These licences could only be granted at the Michaelmas Quarter Sessions, so in the following year, Mr East reapplied and with no objection from the police, the licence was renewed.
Three pictures of the old Three Nuns coaching house can be found at http://collage.cityoflondon.gov.uk/c...=161&sp=X&sp=2
The 1891census gives an idea of the size of this popular venue:
1891/Orbell Musk/Manager/35/Kennington, London/Census ****
1891/Eleanor Musk/Wife, Manageress/31/Suffolk/Census
1891/Henry Ed R Musk/Son/2/City, London/Census
1891/Mary V R Musk/Daughter/1/City, London/Census
1891/Eva Cook/Book Keeper/30/Suffolk/Census
1891/Mary Silcock/Barmaid/18/London/Census
1891/William Golding/Cellerman/21/Norfolk/Census
1891/Frederick Oakley/Barman/17/Scotland/Census
1891/Henry Newman/Barman/18/London/Census
1891/Maud Welch/Barmaid/21/Plumstead/Census
1891/Alice Wilson/Barmaid/21/London/Census
1891/Lucy Scott/Barmaid/23/Grimsby/Census
1891/Rose Woodward/Barmaid/21/London/Census
1891/George Higgins/Hall Porter/30/London/Census
1891/Margaret Anderson/Chamber Maid/21/London/Census
1891/Lizzie Stamp/Chamber Maid/18/London/Census
1891/Kate Whitehead/Chamber Maid/20/London/Census
1891/Emma Spinks/Kitchen Maid/36/London/Census
1891/Caroline Green/Kitchen Maid/35/London/Census
The new building soon became popular with businesses, charities and political groups as a venue, regularly used in conjunction with ward elections for Portsoken. It is also at around this time that groups such as the Workingmen’s National Executive Committee for the Abolition of Foreign Sugar Bounties, the British Seamen’s Society, and the Seamen’s Protection Society started using the Three Nuns. It was at meetings such as these that names also started appearing in press reports, that would have a peripheral connection to the Whitechapel murders, a few years later. Amongst them were Lt Col Cowan, who Backert canvassed for in the 1885 elections, Peters, Kelly and Lemon, who raised the finances for the vigilance committee that would be based at the Three Nuns, John Chandler and William Lind, proprietor of the Trafalgar Temperance Hotel, in nearby Leman Street.
The Three Nuns has an American connection. The Birmingham Daily Post of 9th June, 1890 carried (as did many others) this story. Richard Eugene McKenzie, aged 48, of Portage, Wisconsin, along with his wife had taken up residence at the Three Nuns Hotel. After eating ‘a hearty meal of fresh mackerel’, he afterwards complained of cramp in his inside and took a white powder. Two hours later he took another, shortly after he collapsed. After a doctor was called, he was taken to hospital, where he died the following morning. The inquest was held by our old friend, Wynne Baxter at the London Hospital. The death was due to accidental morphia poisoning.
Scott Nelson wrote an interesting dissertation on the Three Nuns at http://ripperwriters.aforumfree.com/...berline-h1.htm. This was the hotel in which local tradesmen held a retirement dinner for Fred Abberline on his retirement. Yet another link to the Ripper!
There is one more, if tenuous, link between Jack the Ripper and the Three Nuns Hotel. In June 1892, the manager of the Three Nuns, Henry Robert Boynes, gave evidence in the Lambeth poisoning case that the prisoner had made enquiries as to joining one of the Masonic lodges that met at the Three Nuns, and that he had paid three guineas to Boynes, to call a lodge of emergency.
The prisoner was Dr Thomas Neill, better known to us as Neil Cream, who was supposed to have said he was Jack the …..as the trap dropped!
Unfortunately, this magnificent building no longer exists – a victim of East End redevelopment, but it has left behind a fascinating history. I’m just surprised that no pub historian has written a definitive story of the Three Nuns, at 11 Aldgate High Street.
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