Elizabeth Stride

Elizabeth Stride was born Elisabeth Gustafsdotter on a farm called Stora Tumlehed in Torslanda parish, north of Gothenburg, Sweden. Her father was Gustaf Ericsson and her mother Beatta Carlsdotter. She had an older sister, Anna Christin (b. 1840), and two younger brothers, Carl Bernard (b. 1848) and Svante (b. 1851). On October 14, 1860 she moved to the parish of Carl Johan in Gothenburg to stay with her sister Anna Christin, who was married to a cobbler. It was her sister that found work for Elizabeth as a domestic. February 2nd of 1862 finds her moving to Cathedral parish in the Ostra Haga area in Gothenburg: in Pilgatan, where in March 1865 she was registered by the police as 'Female Prostitute number 97', and on April 21 of that year she gave birth to a stillborn baby girl result of her seven-month pregnancy. The October 17 entry stated that she was treated for a venereal chancre. In Husargatan, another suburb from Gothenburg, she worked as a maid from November 1865 to February 1866. On February 7th of 1866 she applied to move to the Swedish parish in London, England, to avoid even more social stigma. She entered the London register as an unmarried woman on July 10, 1866 at the Swedish Church in Prince's Square, St. George in the East. On March 7, 1869 she married John Thomas Stride, from Sheerness (Kent) at the parish church, St. Giles in the Fields. Soon after the marriage John and Liz were living in East India Dock road in Poplar. They kept a coffee shop at Chrisp Street, Poplar and in 1870 in Upper North Street, Poplar. They moved themselves and the business to 178 Poplar High Street and remained there until the business was taken over by John Dale in 1875. The marriage of John and Elizabeth ended in 1881. From 1882 on-wards she lodged on and off at the common lodging house at 32 Flower and Dean Street. Lodgers described her as a quiet woman who would do a "good turn for anyone." However she had frequently appeared before the Thames Magistrate Court on charges of being drunk and disorderly, sometimes with obscene language. In 1885 she was living with Michael Kidney. They lived together for three years although she often left him for periods of time to go off on the town. She made money by sewing and charring, received money from Michael Kidney and was forced to occasional prostitution to survive. Elizabeth frequently visited the Swedish Church where she begged for money or food. She was murdered on the night of 30th September 1888 around 12:45/1 AM by the unidentified serial killer nicknamed Jack The Ripper.