← Back to the front page

Mysterious Slayings & Crimes Of The Victorian Era

Khalid Elhassan August 15, 2023 24 min

Victorian - Adelaide Bartlett, Reverend Dyson, and the trial — Adelaide Bartlett, Reverend Dyson, and the trial. CA Asbery

The Thames Torso Murders Horrified Victorian

In May 1887, some East London workers found a bundle in the Thames River that contained a female torso. Over the next few weeks, the rest of the body, except for the head and upper chest, was found in bits and pieces. Nobody could figure out the victim’s identity, nor that of her killer. However, investigators concluded that whoever cut up the body probably had medical training.

It reminded police of another dismembered torso found in the Thames in 1873. In September, 1888, another dismembered female body was found, some of it in the Thames, and other bits in various London locales. The following June, yet another dismembered female torso was found in the Thames.

Victorian era Thames River Division of London's Metropolitan Police — Victorian era Thames River Division of London’s Metropolitan Police. University of Leicester

The similarities led police to conclude that it was the work of the same serial killer. The Thames Torso Murders, as they came to be called, overlapped with Jack the Ripper’s murder spree, which began in April, 1888. Initially, it was suspected that the Thames torsos were the work of the Ripper.

However, the modus operandi differed: the Ripper gruesomely mutilated his victims, while the Thames River killer surgically dismembered his. It was little comfort to Victorian Londoners to know that instead of just one maniacal murderer on the loose, there were actually two. To this day, the Thames River Torso murders, just like those of Jack the Ripper, remain an unsolved mystery.

Written by

Khalid Elhassan

A lifelong history buff, I developed a particular passion for WW2 history as a child, when I spent hours listening to my grandfather, enraptured, as he recounted his wartime experiences in the British East African Campaign and with the British 8th Army in North Africa.

I graduated with a history BA from George Mason University, then went on to get a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law. After lawyering for a decade, I moved to sunny Rio de Janeiro and a less demanding career, opening a tourism agency in Copacabana.

A big chunk of my free time is spent blogging (you can follow me on Quora https://www.quora.com/profile/Khalid-Elhassan ) or freelance writing, mostly about my favorite subject, history.