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(s): Joseph Organ. Prisoner occupation: A burgess, [of Bristol Gloucestershire]....
Catalogue reference: HO 17/16/48
What’s it about?
This record is about the Prisoner name(s): Joseph Organ. Prisoner occupation: A burgess, [of Bristol Gloucestershire].... dating from 1828 Apr 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)
- HO 17/16/48
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Date (When the record was created)
- 1828 Apr
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Description (What the record is about)
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Prisoner name(s): Joseph Organ.
Prisoner occupation: A burgess, [of Bristol Gloucestershire].
Court and date of trial: Somerset Lent Assizes, Taunton, 1828.
Crime: Horse stealing, namely one horse from Robert Coleman.
Initial sentence: [Death recorded] and commuted to two years imprisonment.
Annotated (Outcome): 'Nil May 7 1828'.
Petitioner(s): John Davis. Thomas Smith (Minister of Chipping Sodbury, Gloucestershire and known to the convict for ten years), undersigned by two churchwardens and 24 inhabitants of Chipping Sodbury.
Grounds for clemency (Petition Details): The prosecution was just a conspiracy to extort money from the convict who bears an excellent character; The prosecutor bears a very bad character.
Additional Information: He was charged with another man named Belcher.
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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)
- Bn 48
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Legal status (A note as to whether the record being described is a Public Record or not)
- Public Record(s)
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Language (The language of the record)
- 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))
- 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/C14455950/
How to order it
- View this record page in our current catalogue
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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
1,720,231 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
158 records
Within the piece: HO 17/16
Petitions referenced Bn, Bo and Bp. (Described at item level)
You are currently looking at the item: HO 17/16/48
Prisoner name(s): Joseph Organ. Prisoner occupation: A burgess, [of Bristol Gloucestershire]....
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