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'.
Series
Home Office: Criminal Petitions, Series I
Catalogue reference: HO 17
What's it about?
HO 17
Original petitions made by convicted persons or their friends, relations etc., seeking the revocation or reduction of their sentences. Attached to some petitions are related papers and some returns, made by the governors of convict prisons, of...
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
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Title (The name of the record)
- Home Office: Criminal Petitions, Series I
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Date (When the record was created)
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1819-1886
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Description (What the record is about)
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Original petitions made by convicted persons or their friends, relations etc., seeking the revocation or reduction of their sentences. Attached to some petitions are related papers and some returns, made by the governors of convict prisons, of convicts recommended for early release for good behaviour.
The petitions were made between 1819 and 1839; some of the related papers are dated after 1839. Later petitions are in HO 18.
PLEASE NOTE: Electronic images of selected pieces of these records can be searched online through our partner website. Pieces 3-4, 10, 17, 20-24, 27, 29, 31, 34, 37, 39-43, 46-50, 55, 58-59, 61-65, 67, 69-74, 76-77, 79-80, 83, 85-90, 92-96, 99, 101, 103-106, 108-117, 119-124 and 126-131 only have been digitised at this time (February 2013); further releases to follow.
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Note (Additional information about the record)
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Catalogue entries for this series have been enhanced as part of a project supported by volunteers, completed in 2019.
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Arrangement (Information about the filing sequence or logical order of the record)
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Arrangement
The petitions are arranged in bundles, each with a coded alphabetical reference (apart from (HO 17/1), and papers are numbered within each bundle. For example, the petition from William Ashton is identified as Rk 44 and is in the piece (HO 17/92) containing papers from bundles Rk-R1.
The petitions are indexed by registers in HO 19, which are arranged alphabetically by name of convict and give the coded reference mentioned above. There are some gaps in the petitions referred to in these registers. Bundles with coded alphabetic references ending in a-g, ie Aa, Ba, Ca, etc are missing from this series, except for the Scottish petitions, Aa-Ag (HO 17/6-7) and Ba-Bg (HO 17/20-22) and would appear to have been lost before transfer.
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Held by (Who holds the record)
- The National Archives, Kew
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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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Physical description (The amount and form of the record)
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132 bundle(s)
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Access conditions (Information on conditions that restrict or affect access to the record)
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Open
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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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Administrative / biographical background (Historical or biographical information about the creator of the record and the context of its creation)
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Record URL
- https://beta.nationalarchives.gov.uk/catalogue/id/C8881/
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...
You are currently looking at the series: HO 17
Home Office: Criminal Petitions, Series I
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