| Joesph Barnett | |
|---|---|
 | |
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Other Names |
Danny Barnett, Joe Barnett |
|
Born |
May 25, 1858 |
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Died |
November 29 1926 |
Origin[]
Joseph Barnett was a fish porter who worked at Billingsgate Market in the 19th century, located in the East End of London, and later became known for being the roommate of Mary Jane Kelly. It was not suspected that he had murdered her and, even less, that he was Jack the Ripper, until the 1970s, when he was added to the growing list of more than 100 people that someone has speculated could be Jack the Ripper.
He was born on 25 May 1858 at 4 Hairbrain Court, Whitechapel. He was the fourth child of dock worker John Barnett and his wife, Catherine, Irish immigrants who fled their native country for Great Britain following the Great Famine. The Barnetts already had a son before they moved to Whitechapel, Denis, and went on to have three other children (excluding Joseph) - Daniel (b. 1851), Catherine (b. 1853) and John (b. 1860).
In 1861, the family moved to nearby Cartwright Street, and they lived there until 1864, when the elder Barnett, who worked as a porter in Billingsgate Fish Market, died of pleurisy in July. His eldest son Denis assumed responsibility as head of the family, until he married Mary Ann Garrett and moved to Bermondsey, on the other side of the river Thames.
Before he turned 20, Barnett began working in Billingsgate Market as a fish porter, a job he held for more than a decade, although intermittently, until he was sacked in October 1888. Barnett also worked briefly as a horse slaughterer in the Kings Cross area for a short period.
He was Mary Jane Kelly's roommate until days before she was brutally murdered on Friday 9 November 1888. He was 30 years old in 1888 and had worked as a fish porter at the Billinsgate Fish Market in London's East End, though he had reportedly been fired earlier in the year, which may have been why Kelly had resorted to prostitution. He occasionally also worked as a construction worker. The pair had rented the small room of 13 Miller's Court at 26 Dorset Street, Spitalfields.
On 30 October that year, he had separated from Kelly after a violent fight, potentially due to his disapproval of the people whom she associated with as a prostitute. During the fight blunt objects had been thrown, resulting in the glass of the window adjacent to the door that entered the house being broken.
Barnett later testified that despite the separation, they saw each other again outside Miller's Court several times after he had moved out, though only as friends. Both he and Kelly adopted, from then on, the custom of introducing the arm through the broken window in order to open the porch from the inside, pushing the inner bolt, since they had lost the only key and had no money to manufacture a copy. Barnett also stated that on the night of 8 November, the evening of Kelly's murder, he had visited her for around one hour.
Little is known about Barnett's life after Kelly's death. He only reappeared in official records in 1906, when he was again granted a porter's license at Billingsgate Market. At that time he lived at 18 New Gravel Lane, Shadwell, with his brother Daniel. The following year his work license shows that he lived at Number 60 Red Lion Street, Shadwell, and in 1908 at Tench Street, Wapping.
In the subsequent judicial survey conducted after the murder of Mary Jane Kelly, he was called to the stand as a witness. Once there, he said he could recognise Kelly, despite the dire state of the body, by the shape of her eyes and ears. After that statement, Barnett supplied to the justice most of the little information known about Kelly's life.
After this, in 1919 the electoral register recorded that he lived at 106 Red Lion Street in Shadwell with Louisa Barnett, who appears to be his wife, although there is no documented evidence to confirm whether he was married or had any children with her. The couple remained there until Louisa's death on 3 November 1926. Shortly thereafter, it is recorded that Joseph Barnett died on 29 November 1926, at the age of 68. The cause of death was oedema of the lungs and acute bronchitis.
Public Domain Appearances[]
All published appearances of Joesph Barnett from before January 1, 1930 are public domain in the US.