The infamous area of Whitechapel in London, England is today almost synonymous with the gruesome and unsolved crimes of Jack the Ripper. In the late 1880s, Whitechapel was a district plagued by poverty, overcrowding, and crime. The Ripper murders of 1888, which claimed the lives of at least five women, had left an indelible mark on the area. By mid-1889, the police were still grappling with the failure to apprehend the killer, and the public remained on edge, fearing his return. In the early hours of July 17th, 1889, their fears seemed to have been realized.
Alice McKenzie, also known as Alice Pitts or “Clay Pipe Alice” due to her habit of smoking a clay pipe, was a woman in her early 40s living in Whitechapel’s lodging houses. Born around 1845, little is known of her early life, but by 1889, she was a widow or separated from her husband, Joseph Kinsey, who had died or left her years earlier. McKenzie supported herself through casual labor, such as cleaning or hawking, and likely through prostitution, a common means of survival for impoverished women in Whitechapel. She was described as a heavy drinker, often seen in local pubs, and lived a transient life, moving between doss-houses in the East End.
On the night of July 16th, 1889, Alice McKenzie was last seen alive around eleven-thirty p.m. in the vicinity of Whitechapel’s Flower and Dean Street, a notorious area known for its lodging houses and criminal activity. She was reportedly drinking at a pub and was seen with a man, though no clear description of this individual emerged. At approximately twelve-fifty a.m. on July 17th, Police Constable Walter Andrews discovered her body in Castle Alley, a narrow passage off Whitechapel High Street.
McKenzie’s body bore the hallmarks of a violent attack. Her throat had been slashed twice, with the wounds described as deep but not as severe as those seen in the canonical Ripper victims. Her abdomen showed superficial cuts and abrasions, suggesting an attempt at mutilation that was less extensive than in prior cases. The scene was grim: blood pooled around her body, and her clothing was disheveled, indicating a struggle or rapid assault. The coroner later estimated her time of death to be around twelve-thirty a.m., leaving a narrow window for the killer to escape unnoticed.
The discovery of McKenzie’s body prompted an immediate response from the Metropolitan Police, who were all too familiar with the pattern of violent murders in Whitechapel. Dr. Thomas Bond, a police surgeon, conducted the post-mortem examination and noted that while the throat wounds resembled those of the Ripper’s victims, the abdominal injuries were less precise and lacked the surgical skill attributed to the earlier killings. This led to divided opinions among investigators and medical experts.
Some, including Inspector Frederick Abberline, who led the Ripper investigation, believed McKenzie’s murder could be linked to the elusive killer due to the location, the nature of the attack, and the targeting of a vulnerable woman. Others, such as Dr. George Bagster Phillips, argued that the differences in the wounds suggested a different perpetrator, possibly a copycat or a common murderer exploiting the Ripper’s infamy.
The police canvassed the area, interviewing residents and lodging house keepers, but no reliable witnesses came forward. Castle Alley was poorly lit and rarely patrolled, making it an ideal spot for a quick attack. Despite efforts to identify the man seen with McKenzie earlier, no suspects were arrested, and the trail quickly went cold.
The question of whether Alice McKenzie was a victim of Jack the Ripper remains a subject of debate among historians and criminologists. Those who argue for the Ripper’s involvement point to the fact that Castle Alley was within the same small radius as the canonical Ripper murders; that Alice McKenzie fit the profile of the Ripper’s victims—middle-aged, impoverished women involved in prostitution; and that the throat slashing and attempted abdominal mutilation bore similarities to the Ripper’s modus operandi.
However, skeptics highlight key differences. The cuts on McKenzie’s body, for example, were less skilled and methodical than those of the canonical five. Further, nearly a year had passed since the last confirmed Ripper murder (Mary Jane Kelly in November 1888), leading some to believe the killer had either stopped or left the area.
Alice McKenzie’s murder deepened the sense of unease in Whitechapel. The press, quick to capitalize on the public’s fascination with the Ripper, sensationalized the case, with headlines speculating about the killer’s return. The police faced renewed criticism for their inability to solve the Whitechapel murders, and patrols in the area were intensified, though to little effect.
The murder of Alice McKenzie in July 1889 remains one of the many unresolved tragedies of Whitechapel’s dark history. Whether she was a victim of Jack the Ripper or another killer, her death serves as a stark reminder of the violence that haunted London’s poorest districts. The lack of closure in her case, like so many others, continues to fuel speculation and study, keeping the mystery of Whitechapel’s murders alive in the public imagination.
Crime Immemorial 