The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper

Catherine “Kate” Eddowes was a baby when her family migrated from Wolverhampton in the West Midlands of England to London. Her father George Eddowes was a tinsmith. Tensions between traditional tinsmiths and factory owners led to George Eddowes and his union, the Tin Man’s Society, to illegally go on strike from a factory owned by Edward Perry. The conflict even broke out in violence as George and others attacked Richard Fenton, one of Edward’s representatives. George was then put on trial for holding illegal union meetings and was sentenced to two months of hard labor.

After his sentence, George relocated with his family to London. His union likely got him a job at a tin and copper manufacturer, Perkins and Sharpus. George’s income was relatively high, but he would have been held back by the fact he had six children, including a son, Alfred, who had epilepsy and was mentally disabled.

Kate’s mother was Catherine Evans, a kitchen maid and cook. However, once she married, she had to quit her job. Contrary to popular beliefs about the Victorians, methods of contraception were widely known, but they tended to only be available to women who “possessed the time, the money, or the moral courage” (194) and had knowledge of such contraceptives.