Jack the Ripper: Case Study

Lesson 5: A Look at the Maybrick Diary

The Diary Comes Under Scrutiny

Maybrick was never a suspect during his own lifetime. After the emergence of the diary in 1992, he came under serious suspicion as a Ripper suspect and the diary was also closely examined by experts in an attempt to find out whether or not it was authentic.

Experts who analyzed the diary found many indications that it could be a clever hoax. The volume in which the diary was written had many pages torn from its beginning, as if it had initially been used for some other purpose. The fact that these kinds of volumes could be purchased in antique shops as well as the suspicion by some experts that the ink used was modern, led to some serious questions concerning the diary's authenticity.

Just about everything about the diary is controversial. Experts were called in to analyze the diary. Scientific tests on the ink were inconclusive and it was generally accepted that the ink used in the diary could have been used in the late 1800's.

Criticisms of the diary include the suggestion that the handwriting does not look Victorian, that the diary was not written in a standard Victorian diary book, and that there are certain anachronisms to the text that are not in keeping with Victorian times.

However, the late Victorian era was a time of change and new styles of handwriting and phrases were constantly emerging. That makes it difficult to say for certain whether or not certain phrases could have been used at that time.

The handwriting in the diary does not match the neat handwriting found in James Maybrick's will. This, alone, could have proven the diary a fake, but Maybrick was so ill and his hand so shaky at the time of his death, it is believed that his brother may have signed the will instead of him.

In 1995, Michael Barrett confessed that the Maybrick diary was a hoax, authored by him and hand written by his wife from his typed notes. In the confession, he tells how he had bought the antique album from an auction house and had purchased Diamine Manuscript ink to make the entries.

According to him, it took him only eleven days to actually write the diary after carefully researching Maybrick's history. He claimed that he chose Maybrick because the dates he was in England conveniently corresponded to the Ripper murders and made him the perfect candidate. Barrett claims he wrote the diary on a word processor first. He claims his sister destroyed all of the disks in order to protect him from scandal and possible prosecution for forgery.

Despite the diary's questionability, many continue to believe in the diary's authenticity. Why would they continue to believe in it even after reading Barrett's signed confession that it was a hoax? Ironically, the confession itself has been questioned and some believe it is the fake and not the journal.

Some believe that it was written while Barrett was under extreme emotional stress and pressure from his family, the publishing world, and even the law, and that he wrote the confession to distance himself from the problems and notoriety the diary had brought him.

To make matters more complicated, his wife later said that the diary had not been given to them by Tony Devereux as they had earlier claimed, but had come from her own family, and had been given to her by her father. Why she did not come out with this information in the first place is a mystery in itself. Of course, the changing stories and the fact that the Barretts had not told the truth from the beginning cast doubt on their credibility.

Even considering Barrett's confession, the authenticity of the diary has never been completely disproven, and there are firm believers that it is proof that Jack the Ripper was James Maybrick.

Curiously, another item belonging to James Maybrick, a watch bearing the inscription "J. Maybrick. I am Jack." also turned up in an antique shop in Lancaster, England in 1992. Also inscribed on the watch are the initials of the five Ripper victims. Though experts believe the inscription on the watch could date back to the late 1800's, the watch has also been viewed with great skepticism.

The main source for this lesson was The Mammoth Book of Jack the Ripper, The Diary of Jack the Ripper by Shirley Harrison, 204-227.

For further Reading about the Maybrick Diary: Jack the Ripper: The American Connection includes the diaries of James Maybrick, by Shirley Harrison and David Canter, Metro Books, 2003

Jack the Ripper: The Final Chapter (Virgin True Crime) by Paul H. Feldman, reissue edition, March 2002

The Diary of Jack the Ripper by Shirley Harrison, Pocket Books, reprint edition, 1995

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