Whitechapel murders: Tabram, Nichols and Chapman

Background. Jack the Ripper was an unidentified serial killer active in the impoverished Whitechapel district of London in 1888. The police investigation into eleven brutal murders committed between 1888 and 1891 could not conclusively connect all killings. However, five victims, including Nichols and Chapman, are known as the "canonical five" because their murders between late August and early November 1888 are often considered the most likely to be linked.

Victim Profiles. Martha Tabram was an English woman murdered during a spate of violent attacks in Whitechapel. Mary Ann Nichols, known as Polly Nichols, was the first canonical victim. Annie Chapman, born Eliza Ann Smith, was the second canonical victim. These women were part of a series of vicious and grotesque murders attributed to "Jack the Ripper" that received unprecedented media coverage in 1888.

Investigation and Attribution. The canonical five victims were linked together in a letter written by police surgeon Thomas Bond to Robert Anderson, head of the London CID, on 10 November 1888. This connection solidified the attribution of Nichols and Chapman to Jack the Ripper, distinguishing them from other deaths in the broader Whitechapel murders file which spanned from 1888 to 1891.