Robert Mann was brought to international attention in 2009 when author M. J. Trow highlighted evidence to suggest Mann could have been behind the gruesome killings by Jack the Ripper. That said, is there really enough evidence to confidently put Robert Mann’s name forward as a suspect? Here, we will present you with the facts so that you can come up with your own answer.
Robert Mann is a fairly unknown figure. He exists in the historical record, and the case of Jack the Ripper, almost entirely because he was the keeper of the mortuary at the Whitechapel Workhouse where two of the victims – Mary Ann Nichols and Annie Chapman – were examined after their deaths. Because he was involved in the handling of the bodies, he was called as a witness in the coroner’s inquests in both cases. His testimony has survived in the records and was reported in the press at the time. He was not considered a major suspect by police in Whitechapel during the time of Jack the Ripper’s murders and, as a result, there are few records surrounding his background or history.
What we do know is that Robert Mann was a poor resident of the Whitechapel Workhouse and worked at the workhouse mortuary. The mortuary was little more than a shed within the workhouse’s grounds – in fact during the inquest into Mary Ann Nichols’ death, the coroner interjected during Mann’s testimony to object to the room being described as a mortuary. It would be more accurate to describe it as an outbuilding where bodies could be stored and examined without disturbing the work or occupants of the workhouse. None the less, a few of Jack the Ripper’s victims did end up being handled there – which is key to M. J. Trow’s theory.
At the mortuary, Mann was a keeper or watchman. He was in charge of opening and closing the mortuary but wouldn’t usually handle the bodies except for transportation purposes to get them into the building. Then, he would secure the building and wait for nurses or a doctor to arrive who would directly handle the more gruesome medical work. However, his testimony at the inquests shows that in reality his activities took him some way beyond these official duties, since he also left the workhouse to collect bodies. As we’ll see, he also removed the clothes from the bodies before the arrival of the physician or the police, which was well beyond his official duties and against police orders.
With limited information on his background or motive, you might think that Robert Mann is an unlikely Jack the Ripper suspect. However, there was something more than meets the eye to the man and M. J. Trow’s theory for why he could be the infamous killer is based on a few key pieces of supposition.
Firstly, Trow cites a psychological profile conducted by the FBI in 1988, 100 years after the gruesome Whitechapel murders. Utilising modern profiling techniques, the FBI defined a likely description of the killer’s identity, detailing that Jack the Ripper was likely:
From what we know, Robert Mann fulfils many of these criteria. As a poor workhouse resident and keeper of the mortuary, he would spend long periods alone, surrounded by the dead. This would contribute to a lack of social skills. As he worked around the deceased and may have been able to observe or even assist with autopsies, he may have had a rudimentary knowledge of how to cut out organs, as Jack the Ripper did to his victims.
In Mary Ann Nichols’ trial, Mann said he was working at the mortuary and handled the body after her death. He arrived at the mortuary at 5:00am, after a police summons, and stayed there until the body was transported inside. At this point he locked the door and went for breakfast. After breakfast, Mann claimed that he and a fellow workhouse resident, James Hatfield, returned to the mortuary and undressed the body.
This was against the instructions from the police to leave the body untouched which, when highlighted, Mann claimed he had forgotten. He also said that he couldn’t remember whether the police inspector for the case, Joseph Helson, was present when the body was being undressed, or where the blood was on the body.
This conversation occurred in the official court proceedings and according to the coroner, contradicted some of Mann’s earlier statements. The coroner stated that Mann was supposedly known for having fits and an unreliable memory, making his accounts undependable. Trow argues that Mann was conscious of breaking the police’s instructions and wanted to admire his handiwork.
In Anne Chapman’s inquest, this idea of him breaking the rules was supported as his duties were described as those of a watchman who managed the mortuary but wasn’t meant to handle the dead or touch the bodies.
All we know about Mann in the years after the murders was that he died in 1896 of phthisis (tuberculosis) – a common fate for workhouse residents in the 19th century.
So, we have a man with a direct link to some of the Jack the Ripper victims, an untrustworthy statement and who fits the FBI’s profile.
One of the biggest shifts in criminology since the 1880s is a greater awareness that serial killers are often very ordinary characters who blend in with normality between their crimes. The Victorians believed that someone capable of carrying out the gruesome, anatomical crimes of the Ripper would have to be insane of a violent nature or in some other way extraordinary. The FBI profile backs up the modern understanding and is part of what drove M. J. Trow to search the record for more ‘ordinary’ people who went overlooked a century before.
Trow also noted that Mann had been abandoned at the workhouse as a child by his mother, who was in her 40s at the time. This is the age range of all but one of the ‘canonical five’ Ripper victims (the exception being the 25-year-old Mary Jane Kelly). Other victims in the Whitechapel Murders of 1888-1891 included Emma Elizabeth Smith (45), Martha Tabram (39), Alice McKenzie (45) and Frances Coles (40). This is consistent with modern behavioural psychologists’ theories about how a serial killer motive emerges – Mann harboured a deep-seated resentment of his mother and took out his traumas on women of a similar age and class. Or was he a traumatised and disturbed man who built up a fascination with the dead – and dead women especially – and decided to ensure a supply of bodies at the mortuary where he worked? Did he do so, undressing the bodies against orders and procedure, to further admire his handiwork?
As someone who had grown up almost entirely in the workhouse, Mann would not have had a great deal of education. This is an unknown factor – since he did not marry, we don’t even have a signature in a parish register. If he had had basic schooling before coming to the workhouse or lessons at the institution, it would have covered only the most basic writing and reading skills – a level that could explain the erratic and grammatically poor writing in the letters sent to the police and held to be from Jack the Ripper himself.
The inquests mentioned that Mann was prone to fits and loss of memory. At the time this was merely to account for inconsistencies in his testimony or when it contrasted with more reputable sources. But could this also have been signs of someone prone to loss of faculty or dissociative episodes? Or could Mann quite honestly not remember his nocturnal activities when in the grips of a disturbance?
So, it seems Mann fitted the modern profile for Jack the Ripper. He likely had a psychological drive and motive. Was he really the Ripper, though?
Despite some of the odd coincidences and profile matching status of Robert Mann, there are other considerations we should include before deciding he was the Ripper.
To start with, Mann was living in a workhouse and therefore was one of the poorest members of society. This could well have been illiterate, meaning that he wouldn’t have been able to write the letters assigned to Jack the Ripper. Furthermore, with few funds available, buying the supplies to write the letters would have proved a challenge in itself.
Additionally, it’s supposed that Mann was called to the mortuary at around 4:00am on the morning of Mary Ann Nichols’ death. There are reports that he was in a deep sleep when roused and considering Nichols’ body was discovered just 15 minutes beforehand at 3:45am, it would have been challenging for Mann to get home, dispose of the murder weapon, clean himself and nestle into a deep sleep within that time.
After learning all the information, it’s hard to say with confidence that Robert Mann was Jack the Ripper but that is partly what makes this mystery so interesting – there are a host of different possible suspects and answers.
On our Jack the Ripper Tour you can discover all of the most popular theories surrounding the identity of the world’s most famous serial killer, all whilst walking through Whitehall and exploring where the murders took place and what happened at each one. Led by leading Ripperologists and local experts, we encourage you to come to your own conclusions about who committed these heinous crimes.
Learn more about the Jack the Ripper Tour today or get in touch if you have any additional questions.
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