George Chapman

 George Chapman was born in Poland on 14 December 1865. (His real name was Severin Klosowski). He trained to be a barber-surgeon. He married in London, but he later left his wife. He moved to London probably in 1888. Klowoski was a barber in London. He eventually started calling himself George Champman.

Chapman lived with women whom he called his wives, although he was already legally married. He physically abused his ‘wives’. He also poisoned three of them. The first victim was Mary Spink. Chapman gave up barbering and leased a pub. However, his ‘wife’ fell ill and died on 25 December 1897. 

Her death was ascribed to natural causes (many people died of diseases with symptoms similar to poisoning in those days, so it was often possible to poison someone without arousing suspicion). 

The second victim was Bessie Taylor. While Chapman was the landlord of a pub, he employed her as a barmaid, and she moved in with him. She, too, was abused by Chapman. She, too, fell ill and she died on 13 February 1901. Unfortunately, her death was thought to be due to a disease. 

Chapman’s third victim was Maud Marsh, whom he employed as a barmaid. He persuaded her to move in with him. However, Maud’s family did not trust Chapman. Maud fell ill in 1902. Her mother suspected her daughter was being poisoned, and when Maud died, the doctor refused to issue a death certificate. An autopsy showed that Maud had been poisoned with antimony. The bodies of the first two victims were exhumed, and they too were found to have been poisoned.

Chapman went on trial for murder on 16 March 1903. Not surprisingly, he was found guilty and he was hanged on 7 April 1903. 

It’s not clear why Chapman poisoned women. Maybe he grew tired of them and decided it was a convenient way of getting rid of them. Maybe he also got some satisfaction from poisoning people.

It has been suggested that Chapman was Jack the Ripper. However, there is no evidence to link Chapman to the Whitechapel murders. The murders he committed were different. Jack the Ripper killed strangers by cutting their throats and then mutilating them. Chapman married women and then poisoned them. Furthermore, at the time of Jack the Ripper, Chapman was only 23, which makes him younger than the man eyewitnesses saw.