Jack the Ripper Tour: Focusing on Resilient Victims in London's East End
5.0
20 Ratings
Greater London
Uncover the untold stories of Jack the Ripper's victims on a walking tour of London's East End. Explore the district that created a monster and hear from the resilient women who were silenced by history.
Duration:
1 hour, 30 minutes
Cancellation:
1 day
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Highlights
- Whitechapel Road - Hear the stories of Martha Tabram and Polly Nichols whilst understanding what life was like for working class residents of the Victorian East End. Learn about the harsh living conditions for the poor including dosshouses, workhouses, spikes and other types of accommodation, all experienced by the women in our story.
We will also show you some of the charities still carrying out work in the area today.
- Brick Lane - We’ll stop at the site of the pub where Polly Nichols was on her final night as we delve deeper into her life and the problem of alcoholism and addiction in the Victorian era.
Stop at the Brick Lane Mosque to understand the story of immigration into the East End and the cultural diversity of the area.
- Spitalfields - We’ll visit the site of the old Truman Brewery, once the largest in the world. Next doors is 29 Hanbury Street, where Annie Chapman was found the morning of September 8. Around the corner at the famous Ten Bells Pub, we’ll hear more about Annie’s life and the heartbreak she suffered.
We’ll also hear about how the movement Reclaim the Night had a hand in forcing the pub to change its name back to the Ten Bells from the Jack the Ripper pub.
- Old Spitalfields Market - A market opened in 1887, the year of Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee and the year before the Whitechapel Murders began. Here, we’ll briefly dwell on the great contrasts of the Victorian era.
Then, we’ll head to Crispin Street to see the site of a refuge for working class people that actually worked!
Across the street is the former site of Mary Jane Kelly’s residence, the last victim in the murders and by far the most mysterious.
- Petticoat Lane Market - The former heart of the textile industry in the East End.
- St Botolph’s Aldgate - At the church of St Botolph’s without Aldgate, we’ll introduce you to Elizabeth Stride, originally from Sweden and tell you about her traumatic beginnings in Gothenburg and her later adventures in London.
We will finish close by in Mitre Square, where Catherine Eddowes’ body was discovered and we’ll hear about the exploits of this feisty Wolverhampton lass.
What's Included
- Experienced Guide
What's Not Included
- Gratuities
Additional Information
Whitechapel is often associated mainly with Jack the Ripper, one of the most notorious serial culprits in existence. However, the story delves deeper! We invite you for a walking tour in London’s East End, enabling the unheard voices to tell their stories: the victims of the Ripper and forgotten narratives of history. Uncover the world of these resilient women and their surrounding community whilst exploring the neighborhood that birthed an atrocity.
Location
Aldgate
Aldgate High Street
We meet right outside the entrance to Aldgate Station.
Cancellation Policy
For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.
Customer Ratings
5.0
(20 Ratings)
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Marymg2019
Mar 29, 2024
Fascinating Tour! - Important and informative. Respectful of the women who were killed, and full of Victorian history of White Chapel residents. Highly recommend.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Mariacecilia_a
Feb 27, 2024
Fantastic tour - Loved this tour- our guide was so personable and it was so interesting to delve into the lives of these women
Review provided by Viator
Lawrence_g
Feb 15, 2024
Stands well apart from other tours - Hearing about life in Whitechapel for ordinary working people was very interesting. I particularly enjoyed hearing about the lives of the women who were killed, how the community reacted and the misconceptions that spread about the victims. I would recommend the tour to anyone. Ellie was so knowledgeable and friendly and answered all questions with enthusiasm.
Review provided by Viator
Jessicaandchristopha
Oct 25, 2023
Highlight of Our Trip! - We just finished our What About the Women tour with Cecily earlier this evening and we've been trying to find the words to describe the lovely time we had and what an amazing of a tour guide Cecily was! It was a thoughtful, educational, and moving experience, especially seeing how many traditional Jack the Ripper tours passed us by trailing upwards of 50 people listening to the guides give graphic, gruesome, and dehumanizing descriptions of the murders of the women of Whitechapel. Cecily was entertaining and empathetic throughout the entire tour, and managed to preserve the dignity of these women and their tragic stories while not shying away from the facts. She explained in detail the sources for all of the information and refrained from making up hyperbolic details to fill in the gaps where there are still questions on what happened, which was very much appreciated and definitely increased the sense of intellectual honesty and credibility of the tour. It definitely fulfilled its goal of giving voices to these women who often have their stories exaggerated and misconstrued for entertainment purposes, and it mades them feel like real people and not props used to sensationalize a serial killer. We had so many questions and Cecily was incredibly gracious and answered all of them, we can't thank her enough for her engaging tour. We've traveled to several countries in the past few years but we've never been on a tour this unique and amazing, so we're definitely planning on looking into more Rebel Tours while we're here in London the next few days!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Candr_benoit
Oct 16, 2023
Brilliant tour that focuses on what matters - Outstanding! Best walking tour we’ve done (and we’ve done a lot, all around the world.) it’s exactly as advertised - a tour that focuses on the five women associated with Jack the Ripper. No gory details, no “Who was the Ripper?” theories, no graphic photos to pass around, just clear, well-researched, artfully told stories that tie in the broader social history of the era and daily life of each of the women. If you want Ripper/royalty info this is not your tour. But if you want to go beyond the bloody headlines and learn about real people - they’re families, husbands, children and friends - then this is exactly what you’re looking for. On top of all that, Ellie our tour guide seemed to know something about every building, street, pub and restaurant on the tour. Her curry shop recommendation was great and her description of a pub we had visited earlier was spot on. Finally, her “further reading” suggestions were helpful - currently reading The Five, her top recommendation. An all-around fantastic tour!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Resort38750127167
Sep 27, 2023
A tour to remember - I did the tour Jack the reaper - what about the women and my tour guide was Ellie. It was an amazing time where I learned so much about the stories of these wonderful women and the history of the place that I was truly amazed! Ellie was soooo knowledgable - she shared some not well known facts, elaborated on some great stories and even busted some myths along the way :) Highly recommend the tour (and definitely try to book it with Ellie).
Review provided by Tripadvisor
A5617pgandyw
Aug 30, 2023
Brilliant ,highly recommended! - Our guide was brilliant ,very knowledgeable of the subject (and the local area) and she reframed the whole subject of what happened here from the women that were involved Perspective.
Was Fascinating,
Highly recommended .
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Boardingpass559799
Aug 26, 2023
Rebel Jack the Ripper tour - We did this tour with the family, the guide was amazing really knowledgeable we enjoyed hearing about the women the social history and the times our guide didn’t discuss the gore but the story behind the victims and great tip’s about the area thanks 🙏
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Darren
Aug 18, 2023
Take This Tour! - The Jack the Ripper - What About the Women? Tour was outstanding. Our tour guide Charlotte was knowledgeable, informative, and incredibly personable. As we walked around the Whitechapel area, Charlotte vividly detailed the stories of the women that would become linked to one of history’s most notorious killers. Charlotte highlighted how sad personal stories of abuse, addiction, and tragedy combined with immigration history, the early labor movement, social class, and poverty contributed to the conditions that made these horrific murders possible. Hearing the stories of these women humanized them and changed the narrative. As Charlotte brought us on a journey through time, visiting the crime scenes and history of the Whitechapel area, I couldn’t help but feel that the dozen or so other Ripper tours that we walked past had missed the real story and focused on sensationalizing a murderer. I wish we were going to be in London for more time so that we could take more amazing tours with Rebel Tours.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Gaia_f
Jul 25, 2023
A true tribute to the forgotten ones - We came across the tour online and it was our first guided tour in London; we wanted to explore a part of the city we didn’t know and knew that Whitechapel had a dark but important history to tell. However, we didn’t want to take part in one of the many gruesome tours that focuses exclusively on the killer’s point of view and we wanted to hear about the women, their stories and their lives. If this is what you are looking for too, this is the perfect tour for you! Our guide Cecily was absolutely incredible, knowledgeable and ready to answer all of our many questions; most importantly, she was respectful and truly emotional while speaking of the victims and their unfortunate endings and showed us a side of the story we never heard of! We will definitely recommend it to all of our friends back home, as this is such a beautiful and unique way to experience Victorian London and know the lives of the women who lived it.
Review provided by Viator
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