Montague John Druitt (15 August 1857 – early December 1888His body was discovered on 31 December 1888 about a month after his death. A train ticket dated 1 December was found in his pocket. His gravestone reads 4 December 1888; his death certificate gives the date his body was found. According to the probate records of his estate, he was last seen alive on 3 December (McDonald, p. 143).) was an English barrister and educator who is known for being a suspect in the Jack the Ripper murders of 1888.
Druitt came from an upper-middle-class English background, and studied at Winchester College and the University of Oxford. After graduating, he was employed as an assistant schoolmaster at a boarding school and pursued a parallel career in the law, qualifying as a barrister in 1885. His main interest outside work was cricket, which he played with many leading players of the time, including Lord Harris and Francis Lacey.
In November 1888, Druitt lost his post at the school for reasons that remain unclear. One month later his body was discovered drowned in the River Thames. His death, which was found to be a suicide, roughly coincided with the end of the murders attributed to Jack the Ripper. Private suggestions in the 1890s that he could have committed the crimes became public knowledge in the 1960s and led to the publication of books that proposed him as the murderer. The evidence against him was entirely circumstantial, however, and many writers from the 1970s onwards have rejected him as a likely suspect.
Early life Montague Druitt was born in Wimborne Minster, Dorset, England. He was the second son and third child of prominent local surgeon William Druitt, and his wife Ann (née Harvey). William Druitt was a justice of the peace, a governor of the local grammar school, and a regular worshipper at the local Anglican church, the Minster.Cullen, p. 224; Leighton, pp. 10–12 Six weeks after his birth, Montague Druitt was christened at the Minster by his maternal great-uncle, Reverend William Mayo.Leighton, p. 10 The Druitts lived at Westfield House, which was the largest house in the town, and set in its own grounds with stables and servants' cottages.Cullen, p. 224; Leighton, pp. 10–12; McDonald, p. 80 Druitt had six brothers and sisters, including an elder brother William who entered the law, and a younger brother Edward who joined the Royal Engineers.Leighton, pp. 13, 31; McDonald, p. 80
Druitt was educated at Winchester College, where he won a scholarship at the age of 13, and excelled at sports, especially cricket and fives.Cullen, pp. 224–225; Leighton, pp. 15–18 He was active in the school's debating society, an interest that might have spawned his desire to become a barrister.Cullen, p. 225; Leighton, p. 20 In debates, he spoke in favour of French republicanism, compulsory military service, and the resignation of Benjamin Disraeli, and against the Ottoman Empire, the influence of Otto von Bismarck, and the conduct of the government in the Tichborne case. He defended William Wordsworth as "a bulwark of Protestantism",Cullen, p. 225 and condemned the execution of King Charles I as "a most dastardly murder that will always attach to England's fair name as a blot".Spallek, Andrew (October 2008) "Young Montie: Montague Druitt at Winchester", Ripperologist 96: 4–5 In a light-hearted debate, he spoke against the proposition that bondage to fashion is a social evil.
In his final year at Winchester, 1875–76, Druitt was Prefect of Chapel, treasurer of the debating society, school fives champion, and opening bowler for the cricket team. In June 1876, he played cricket for the school team against Eton College, which won the match with a team including cricketing luminaries Ivo Bligh and Kynaston Studd, as well as a future Principal Private Secretary at the Home Office Evelyn Ruggles-Brise. Druitt bowled out Studd for four.Leighton, p. 16 With a glowing academic record, he was awarded a Winchester Scholarship to New College, Oxford.Cullen, p. 225; Leighton, p. 20; McDonald, p. 82
At New College, Druitt was popular with his peers and was elected Steward of the Junior Common Room.Cullen, p. 226; Leighton, p. 28; McDonald, p. 82; Rumbelow, p. 155 He played cricket and rugby for the college team, and was the winner of both double and single fives at the university in 1877.Leighton, p. 24; McDonald, p. 82 In a seniors' cricket match in 1880, he bowled out William Patterson, who later captained Kent County Cricket Club.Leighton, pp. 24, 169
Druitt gained a second class in Classical Moderations in 1878 and graduated with a third class Bachelor of Arts degree in Literae Humaniores (Classics) in 1880.Oxford University Calendar 1895, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1895, pp. 228, 328 His youngest brother, Arthur, entered New College in 1882,Foster, Joseph (ed.) (1888) Alumni Oxonienses, London: Parker and Co., vol. I: "Abbay–Dyson" just as Druitt was following in his eldest brother William's footsteps by embarking on a career in law.Leighton, p. 31; McDonald, p. 83
Career
On 17 May 1882, two years after graduation, Druitt was admitted to the Inner Temple, one of the qualifying bodies for English barristers. His father had promised him a legacy of £500 (equivalent to £ today), and Druitt paid his membership fees with a loan from his father secured against the inheritance.Begg, The Definitive History, p. 259; Cullen, p. 227; Leighton, p. 32; McDonald, p. 89; Rumbelow, pp. 154–155 He was called to the bar on 29 April 1885, and set up a practice as a barrister and special pleader.Begg, The Definitive History, p. 259; Begg, The Facts, p. 323; Leighton, pp. 41–47; Rumbelow, pp. 154–155
Druitt's father died suddenly from a heart attack in September 1885, leaving an estate valued at £16,579 (equivalent to £ today).Cullen, p. 227; Leighton, pp. 43–44; McDonald, p. 90 In a codicil, Druitt senior instructed his executors to deduct the money he had advanced to his son from the legacy of £500. Montague received very little money, if any, from his father's will, although he did receive some of his father's personal possessions.Leighton, p. 44 Most of Dr. Druitt's estate went to his wife Ann, three unmarried daughters (Georgiana, Edith and Ethel), and eldest son William.Cullen, p. 227; Leighton, pp. 44–45; McDonald, p. 90
Druitt rented barristers' chambers at 9 King's Bench Walk in the Inner Temple.Begg, The Facts, p. 323; Cullen, p. 227; Leighton, p. 41 In the late Victorian era, only the wealthy could afford legal action and only one in eight qualified barristers was able to make a living from the law.George R. Sims quoted in Cullen, p. 228 and McDonald, p. 90; Leighton, p. 46 While some of Druitt's biographers claim his practice did not flourish,Cullen, p. 228; Knight, pp. 107, 129 others suppose that it provided him with a relatively substantial income on the basis of his costly lease of chambers and the value of his estate at death.Begg, The Facts, p. 323; Leighton, p. 47; McDonald, p. 91Spallek, Andrew J. (July 2005) "Montague John Druitt: Still Our Best Suspect", in Norder, Dan; Vanderlinden, Wolf; Evans, Stewart P. (editors) Ripper Notes: Suspects & Witnesses Issue 23, Madison, Wisconsin: Inklings Press, , pp. 4–21 He is listed in the Law List of 1886 as active in the Western Circuit and Winchester Sessions, and for 1887 in the Western Circuit and Hampshire, Portsmouth, and Southampton Assizes.Begg, The Definitive History, pp. 259–260; Begg, The Facts, p. 323; Leighton, p. 47
To supplement his income and help pay for his legal training, Druitt worked as an assistant schoolmaster at George Valentine's boarding school, 9 Eliot Place, Blackheath, London, from 1880.Leighton, pp. 31–35; Rumbelow, p.155 The school had a long and distinguished history; Benjamin Disraeli had been a pupil there in the 1810s, and boys from the school had been playmates of a younger son of Queen Victoria, Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught, who as a boy in the 1860s had lived nearby at Greenwich Park.Cullen, pp. 228–229; McDonald, pp. 83–85 Druitt's post came with accommodation in Eliot Place, and the long school holidays gave him time to study the law and to pursue his interest in cricket.Leighton, pp. 31–32, 36; McDonald, p. 83
Cricket In Dorset, Druitt played for the Kingston Park Cricket ClubDorset County Chronicle and Somersetshire Gazette, 10 January 1889, quoted in Evans and Skinner, p. 590; Leighton, pp. 47, 56 and the Dorset County Cricket Club.Leighton, p. 56; McDonald, p. 82 He was particularly noted for his skill as a bowler."A Brief History ", Blackheath Cricket Club, retrieved 26 November 2011Leighton, pp. 18, 42 In 1882 and 1883 he toured the West Country with a gentleman's touring team called the Incogniti.Leighton, p. 57; McDonald, p. 83 One of Druitt's fellow local players was Francis Lacey, the first man knighted for services to cricket.Leighton, pp. 62, 173, 175 Druitt played for another wandering team, the Butterflies, on 14 June 1883, when they drew against his alma mater Winchester College. The team included first-class cricketers A. J. Webbe, J. G. Crowdy, John Frederick, and Charles Seymour.Leighton, pp. 55, 177
While working at Blackheath, Druitt joined the local cricket club, Blackheath Morden, and became the club's treasurer.Montague Druitt, CricInfo, ESPN EMEA Ltd, retrieved 26 November 2011Begg, The Definitive History, p. 259; Leighton, p. 37 It was a well-connected club: the president was politician Sir Charles Mills and one of its players was Stanley Christopherson, who later became president of the Marylebone Cricket Club.Leighton, p. 37 After the merger of the club with other local sports associations to form the Blackheath Cricket, Football and Lawn Tennis Company, Druitt took on the additional roles of company secretary and director.Begg, The Facts, p. 323; Leighton, p. 42; McDonald, p. 91
The inaugural game of the new club was played against George Gibbons Hearne's Eleven, which included many members of the famous cricketing Hearne family. Hearne's team won by 21 runs.Leighton, pp. 45, 181 On 5 June 1886, in a match between Blackheath and a gentleman's touring team called the Band of Brothers, led by Lord Harris, Druitt bowled Harris for 14 and took three other wickets. Blackheath won by 178 runs.Leighton, pp. 45, 182 Two weeks later, he dismissed England batsman John Shuter, who was playing for Bexley Cricket Club, for a duck, and Blackheath won the game by 114 runs.Leighton, pp. 45, 184 The following year, Shuter returned to Blackheath with Surrey County, a team that included Walter Read, William Lockwood, and Bobby Abel, whom Druitt bowled out for 56. Surrey won by 147 runs.Leighton, pp. 48, 186
On 26 May 1884, Druitt was elected to the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) on the recommendation of his fellow Butterflies player Charles Seymour, who proposed him, and noted fielder Vernon Royle, who seconded his nomination.Leighton, p. 38 One of the minor matches he played for MCC was with England bowler William Attewell against Harrow School on 10 June 1886. The MCC won by 57 runs.Leighton, pp. 61, 183 Druitt also played against MCC for Blackheath: on 23 July 1887, he bowled out Dick Pougher for 28 runs, but he only made 5 runs before bowled out by Arnold Fothergill with a ball caught by Pougher. The MCC won by 52 runs.Leighton, pp. 62, 189