Record revealed
Hoax letter signed by ‘Jack the Ripper’
This is one of hundreds of letters in police files claiming to have been written by the infamous Whitechapel Murderer – otherwise known as 'Jack the Ripper'.
Item
Prisoner name: William Burrows. Prisoner age: 26. Prisoner occupation: Baker. Court...
Catalogue reference: HO 17/54/180
What’s it about?
This record is about the Prisoner name: William Burrows. Prisoner age: 26. Prisoner occupation: Baker. Court... dating from 1832 Oct 20 - 1833 Jun 25 in the series Home Office: Criminal Petitions, Series I. It is held at The National Archives, Kew.
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Full description and record details
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Reference (The unique identifier to the record described, used to order and refer to it)
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HO 17/54/180
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Date (When the record was created)
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1832 Oct 20 - 1833 Jun 25
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Description (What the record is about)
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Prisoner name: William Burrows.
Prisoner age: 26.
Prisoner occupation: Baker.
Court and date of trial: Peterborough Quarter Sessions, 17 October 1832.
Crime: Warehouse breaking and stealing four 20 stone sacks of flour and two stone weight of bacon, value £11, the property of Mary Walling, baker, of Stamford, Lincolnshire.
Initial sentence: Seven years transportation.
Gaoler's report: Character good.
Annotated: Nil.
Petitioner(s): Mary Walling (prosecutrix) undersigned by 51 inhabitants of Stamford, Lincolnshire; William Burrows alias William Borows, the prisoner's father.
Grounds for clemency: Previous good character; deep contrition; the goods have been returned; led astray by his accomplice; he leaves a distressed family.
Other papers: A letter from William Hopkinson, a concerned inhabitant, against the petition. He states that the prosecutrix is an infirm woman more than 80 years old; the convict had been in her service either as apprentice or journeyman for two or three years; he traded in the same business in the same street; he broke into the premises by first breaking in through a hospital inhabited by old men and went through it six different times in the dead of night [with the goods]; the goods were only returned by the court upon his conviction; mitigation would have a very bad moral effect [on the town's underclass].
Additional Information: Tried with Samuel Baker who was acquitted after turning King's evidence against the convict. Ordered to Ganymede convict hulk.
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Held by (Who holds the record)
- The National Archives, Kew
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Former department reference (Former identifier given by the originating creator)
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IR 14
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Legal status (A note as to whether the record being described is a Public Record or not)
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Public Record(s)
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Language (The language of the record)
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English
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Closure status (Whether the record is ‘open’ (available to the public) or ‘closed’ (not available due to a legal exemption))
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Open Document, Open Description
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Subjects (Categories and themes found in our collection (our subject list is under development, and some records may have no subjects or fewer than expected))
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Record URL
- https://beta.nationalarchives.gov.uk/catalogue/id/C12326082/
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Series information
HO 17
Home Office: Criminal Petitions, Series I
See the series level description for more information about this record.
Catalogue hierarchy
Over 27 million records
This record is held at The National Archives, Kew
1,719,919 records
Within the department: HO
Records created or inherited by the Home Office, Ministry of Home Security, and related...
19,921 records
Within the series: HO 17
Home Office: Criminal Petitions, Series I
221 records
Within the piece: HO 17/54
Petitions referenced Io, Ip, Iq and Ir. (Described at item level)
You are currently looking at the item: HO 17/54/180
Prisoner name: William Burrows. Prisoner age: 26. Prisoner occupation: Baker. Court...
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