Gissing & Jack the Ripper

Jack the Ripper: Was Gissing Questioned?

The ridiculous idea that Gissing might have been Jack the Ripper, or had some connection with the Whitechapel murders, seems to have taken on a life of its own; I have heard it mentioned by students who know almost nothing else about Gissing's life. The rumour has appeared in more than one catchpenny 'encyclopedia' about the murderer. Furthermore, there is surely some echo of the suggestion in Peter Ackroyd's novel Dan Leno and the Limehouse Golem, although the dates are changed in the novel and the Gissing character, it turns out, isn't 'guilty'.

Ludicrous though the idea is, it does have a certain historical interest. The story must have come from somewhere, and it does raise the possibility that Gissing was perhaps questioned by police after he returned from Italy. If this did happen, it would surely have been because the authorities knew about his professional interest in low-life London, especially as this was presumably around the time of the publication of The Nether World.

The first time the rumour of Gissing's involvement appeared in print was in Richard Whittington-Egan's A Casebook on Jack the Ripper (London: Wiley, 1975) -- and this is the sole authority cited by all other authors.

There is sort of mad coincidence in the Ripper assertion, though. Nell dies in misery in Lambeth in February of 1888, and after Gissing inspects the corpse and her room, he writes the famous agonised Diary entry. He goes on to write The Nether World between then and July. As Halperin says, he was in a state of 'savage moodiness and misanthropy' and probably at this time was using the services of prostitutes. Unfortunately for the theory, he went off to Italy on 16 September 1888 and was there during the Ripper murders in October-November. There is a passing allusion to them in the Letters which does not suggest any deep interest in the matter.

The Ripper is usually assumed to have been consumed by a psychopathic resentment towards women, especially prostitutes. There is no hint of that in Gissing's biography. Though he is often savagely satirical about women -- especially lower middle class, vulgar women -- he is I think invariably pitying towards 'unfortunates' - though it goes along with a certain erotic fascination with them.

POSTSCRIPT: Inquiries in December 2000 on the "Casebook" website devoted to the Ripper produced the further information that Mr Whittington-Egan believes that he read about the Gissing allegation some 40 years ago, but cannot recall the source now. The only reference in his book is as follows: "Those with a taste for greater specificity later alighted upon Swinburne, Gissing, Walter Sickert . . . " (p.12).