Elizabeth Stride :Jack the Rippers Swedish victim part 1

In the  autumn of 1888 London and especially the poorer Whitchapel  of London was held captive by an unknown serial killer who killed 5 women. Despite being one of the most well known serial killers of all time and despite a big manhunt at the time by Scotland Yard, he was never caught.  He is known by the name he supposedly gave himself  JACK THE RIPPER and for the gruesome way in which he mutilated his victims,Much have been written about Jack the Ripper and his supposed identity.There exist over 100 theories about  who he was and there has been hundreds of books written on the subject. The persons bhind the names of the 5 women commonly thought to be his victims are less wellknown.
Most of them where poor women living a hard and miserable  life in Whitechapel  earning their living by taking odd jobs as cleaners and whole or part time time prostitution

What is less known is that the third of his victims was Swedish. ELIZABETH STRIDE.She was born as Elisabeth Gustafsdotter was born on November 27, 1843 in Stora Tumlehed in  Torslanda parish  the daughter of Gustav Eriksson and Beata Carlsdotter. 

Stora Tumlehed in Torslanda original photo by A. Jacobson 2007
original source: Elisabrth Gustafsdotters last stride

The family were tenant  farmers in Stora Tumlehed Torslanda  She had 3 siblings Anna Catharina born 1840, Carl Bernhard born 1848 and  and Svante born 1851  

Elisabeth Gustafsson and her family in the household examinations from 1855-1860 for Torslanda Parish


In 1857 Elisabeths older sister Anna Catharina moved to Gothenburg and on October 14, 1860, when she was ddd17 years old Elisabeth followed her there.  in a few years Anna Catharina marries a shoemaker and had a large family.
 Elisabeth  began working as a maid in the household of Lars Fredrik Olofsson in Majorna (Carl Johans parish ) She stays there for 4 years but the suddenly leaves.. In 1864 after moving to the  Cathedral Parish  she gave birth to a stillborn girl on April 21, 1865. She was then living at Pilgatan  in Haga
Already, Elizabeth was listed as a prostitute   by the police in Gothenburg, and she was treated twice for sexually transmitted diseases.  Early in 1866  She apparently managed to leave prostitution and get work as  a maid.

Note in the Birth record of The Gothenburg  Cathedral parish about Elisabrths
stillborn daughter in 1865 (Photo Arkivdigital)

In  the spring  of 1866, she emigrated to London, in July the same year  she was registered as a member of the Swedish  Ulrica Eleonora congregation  in London.  i It is  is not known exactly why and how she traveled  to London but most likely is that she  worked for a Swedish family who settled there.




Elisabeth Gustafsdotter and John Thomas   Stride marriage in St Giles church 7 match 1869 Source: London Metropolitan Archive (Ancestry.com)                
On 7 th  March 1869 Elizabeth married John Thomas Stride, a carpenter  in St Giles in the Fields in  Camden,London. For a few years life seems to have gone well for the couple The couple had a coffee shop at three different addresses in Poplar until 1875. 
St Giles in the Fields January 2012
St Giles church in Camden London Jan 2012 Photo by Prioryman
After that apparently their fortunes went downhill Elizabeth and her husband is listed together both in the 1871 and 1881 English Census .However they apparently had separated sometime in the late 1870 thies and defenitively  after 1881.

 For her acquaintances, Elizabeth  would later state that her husband and children had drowned at the Princess Alice  disaster in  1878, but  as far at is known the couple had no children,  and John Stride died on October 24, 1884

After her final separation from the husband of 1881 Elizabeth Stride lived in  Whitechapel. It  was a poor area where around 76000 people lived,poor english workers and many irish and jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe. Many of the families lived in 1 room apartments and 8000 people who could not afford even that had to crowd together in cheap lodging houses where one could rent a bed for the night. It cost 8 pence for a double bed 4 pence for a single bed and for those who could not afford that  could stand and sleep against a rope for 2 pence. A drink at a local Pub cost about 2 pence  about the same as  sex with a low class prostitute or a piece of bread .



Flower and Dean Street 1902 At the time of her death Elizabeth Stride resided in  a"doss house" Source: Jack the Ripper Photo archive


 In late  1888 Elizabeth was severely alcoholised  and making her was living on sewing, cleaning, charity  from the Swedish congregation in London, begging and prostitution.  She lived mainly in at  32 Flower and Dean Street a cheep lodging house or "doss house". From 1885 she had to and from a relationship with the worker Michael Kidney. They seem to have been out of hand in the shelter and in cheap apartments and had constant problems with the police due to their alcohol abuse. Elizabeth reported Kidney for abuse, but never encountered the trial. 
The scene was set for her and 4 other womens  unfortunate end .


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