13. There are other unproven links to the Royal Family among the suspects
Willy Clarkson inherited his father’s costuming and wigmaker’s business in 1878. The Royal Family at the time enjoyed presenting amateur productions of popular plays, and Clarkson provided costumes and wigs to the palace. This has led some to describe him as Her Majesty’s Royal Wigmaker, a title which he did not hold. He later claimed to have produced costumes for the Whitechapel Murderer, as well as for the police searching for him. Speculation the wigmaker was Jack the Ripper is relatively recent, and there exists no evidence he produced costumes for either murderer or police. He spent most of his later career in the theater and participating in elaborate hoaxes perpetrated for entertainment. Still, he provides a link to the Royal Family, though a tenuous one, and is thus too good a suspect for some to pass up.
Princess Beatrice’s (Victoria’s daughter) personal obstetrician, has also been identified as Jack the Ripper. Supporters of the theory Dr. Sir John Williams, First Baronet of London, was the Whitechapel Murderer posit the murders were committed as part of scientific research into the causes of infertility in women. The claim originated in the 21st century, no contemporaneous evidence the police considered him a suspect has been found. Seven years after Sir John was named the murderer, a modification of the theory, by another writer, appeared. This version claimed it was Sir John’s wife who committed the murders, driven mad by her own infertility. Though most Ripperologists agree the murderer was likely a man, it is interesting to note Inspector Frederick Abberline, in his notes of the case, speculated the killer could be a woman.