Lizzie Albrook
A 20-year-old witness involved in the Mary Kelly investigation, though she was never called to testify at the inquest. Lizzie spent part of the evening of Thursday 8 November with Kelly in 13 Miller's Court, leaving at around 8.00pm.
All information from Lizzie Albrook comes from her interviews with local press - including the Western Mail of 12 November 1888 and Lloyd's Weekly Newspaper of 11 November 1888. In these interviews Lizzie related her final words with Mary Kelly:
"About the last thing she said was, 'Whatever you do don't you do wrong and turn out as I have.' She had often spoken to me in this way and warned me against going on the streets as she had done. She told me, too, that she was heartily sick of the life she was leading and wished she had money enough to go back to Ireland where her people lived. I do not believe she would have gone out as she did if she had not been obliged to do so to keep herself from starvation."
Joseph Barnett testified at the Kelly inquest that he visited Kelly at around 7.30pm or 7.45pm on Thursday, 8 November. When asked by the coroner if anyone else had been with her at that time, Barnett responded, "Yes, a woman who lives in the court. She left first, and I followed shortly afterwards." (Daily Telegraph, Tuesday 13 November). It was long suspected that this woman was Maria Harvey, but it is now generally accepted that it was, in fact, Lizzie Albrook. Her statement to the Western Mail indicated that she had left Kelly's room at around 8.00pm on the night of the 8th - a near-perfect match to Barnett's testimony.
Lizzie lived in Miller's Court at the time of the Kelly murder, and worked nearby at a local lodging house. A.P. Wolf identifies this lodging house as Crossingham's, at 35 Dorset Street.
Lizzie also said in the Western Mail interview that Mary had told her she had a relative on the London stage.
Contemporary Sources
Western Mail (Cardiff) - 12 November 1888
Lloyd's Weekly Newspaper - 11 November 1888
Secondary Sources
Jack the Ripper A-Z (Begg, Fido and Skinner)
Jack the Ripper: The Uncensored Facts (Begg)
Jack the Ripper: The Simple Truth (Paley)
Jack the Myth (Wolf)
