Jack The Ripper - What About The Women?

We had a great experience learning about the history of Whitechapel and about the circumstances these women lived under in Victorian London. Both my partner and I found ourselves referencing the tour many times throughout the rest of our stay! I appreciated the class and dignity with which our guide spoke about these women and highly recommend for anyone looking to learn more than just the lurid headlines!

We are so happy that we found Rebel Tours as we planned our trip to London. Cecily was a wonderful guide who took great care to shine a light on the human side of the Jack the Ripper story, and the deep dive into social and political factors that made Whitechapel the infamous neighborhood it was at the time was fascinating. This tour is a must for anyone who enjoys exploring dark and lesser known history.

What a superb tour by Ellie. The story of Whitechapel is often dominated from the perspective of the murderer. Rebel tours offer something quite different - the story of the victims - the women. Tracing their last moments, this walk offers a unique glimpse into the lives of the 5 or perhaps 6 ladies who met their untimely end. Extremely informative, this walk is highly recommended. Not only does Ellie know her subject, she knows London. Setting the scene and offering some real nuggets of wisdom, she really gives you an insight into the year 1888. Not to be missed.

Charlotte was an amazing tourguide and provided an exceptionaly engaging and interesting tour that I wholehertedly recommend to anyone who is interested in hearing about the victims's stories as real women with real lives and not displayed as objects of ridicule or voyerism as sometimes portrayed in Jack the Ripper tours. Charlotte's knowledge and professionalism deserve to be especially praised

This is one of the best tours ever!! Cecily was so informative so friendly so kind and so well-versed. Absolutely would do it again. And would absolutely recommend it for anyone in the city.

Was amazing changed my whole perspective and will be writing my play about the women and not a serial killer.

Our tour guide Cecily was wonderful and informative! Our group was nice and small (5 people total). The stories were all a refreshing take on what we have all heard.

Can't recommend this tour enough. Love that Rebel Tours takes the perspective of the victims, giving them a voice. While on the tour, Cecily painted a vivid picture of the life of these women, what lead to their living in Whitechapel, and what became of them as a result. While on the tour, I passed other Ripper tour groups, one whose leader was sensationalizing the Ripper. It upset me. I wished those tour members could have heard the story I did. They may not have thought the same afterward. I know I didn't. Thank you, Cecily and Rebel Tours.

Thank you so much Ellie, for bringing the lives of the women to daylight and trying to change how history decided to remember them - and sadly how they are still being remembered today in other tours. The picture of the daily lives and struggles of the working class (women) came to life with a ton of historic knowledge and a sensible telling of their stories. Looking forward to your other tours!

Charlotte gave such an informative and intriguing tour focused on the women and how they lived around 150 years ago. Made us see all of them as people rather than characters in the story most of us have heard over the years. Thank you Charlotte! I highly recommend booking this tour.

A very enjoyable walking tour. I’d been on a Jack the Ripper tour previously, but this one was from a very different perspective. I learned a lot about the women he killed, their lives before their murders, the circumstances that brought them to White Chapel, and Victorian England in general. It was very interesting and eye opening. It is more of a history tour than true crime. The tour was about 2 hours with a lot of walking, frequent stops and places to sit, if needed. There were no grisly pictures or telling of how they were murdered so children are safe to come on the tour. I highly recommend.

Cecily was knowledgeable and delightful. She took us on a fact-based tour. Shedding light on the lives of the victims and life in White Chapel at the time of the murders. Rather than minimizing the value of the lives of the victims as prostitutes (which is in large part, incorrect) she provided information on the culture that allowed so many women to be murdered in a short period of time. She also gave us recommendations on local restaurants, pubs and shops. Definitely a deeper, more informed look at this sad string of murders.

Rebel Tours offers a unique tour that refrains from sensationalizing the Whitechapel murders, instead highlighting the actual lives of the women who were victims. It would be beneficial for more tours and tourists to move away from the gruesome details and conjecture, focusing on the historical truths. Our guide possessed extensive knowledge of the late 19th century and the locality, vividly portraying the lives of the murdered women. The guide's clarity and engaging delivery made the tour accessible even for non-native English speakers. This tour comes with my heartfelt recommendation.

Cecily’s tour was very interesting. We learned all about the victims’ lives. I wasn’t familiar with the legend of Jack the Ripper so this provided a well-rounded picture for me.

Even after 136 years, the world is still fascinated by the story of a psychopathic killer terrorizing the streets of London. This is not your typical Jack the Ripper tour while visiting London. You will learn a good deal about the women who were sadly murdered during this killing spree. It is also a bit of a history lesson of the time period and a sightseeing trip to the East End. Ellie was a wonderful tour guide!

My family (me, husband, 2 daughters 15 & 12) booked the tour with my friend, who had already been on traditional Jack the Ripper tours many times hosting friends. I chose the women-focused tour as I read The Five by Hallie Rubenhold during lockdown and found it far more interesting than re-hashing the murders, all of which, fact&fiction, is available online and infinitum. The Women tour dealt with the murders sensitively and was entirely appropriate for my daughters, who are mature and not innocent of "worldly" topics but don't want the grisly details spelled out. Cecily, our guide, was great. She spoke exceptionally well - I am very hard of hearing and this is the first tour I've been able to enjoy, normally I just tag along. Taking us to all the sites and explaining life in the area, as well as wider London. Cecily was passionate about the focus being the women, mostly overlooked by the police at the time, history, and the modern tours. Lots of the detail came from Hallie Rubenhold's book, which Cecily acknowledged and thanked the author. My husband and daughters came away keen to read the book next. I highly recommend the tour - for the official content but also the added extras that we miss when self-navigating- the street art, the "best restaurant" signs, the old interspersed with the new. Following a guide means it is possible to really look around: thank you to Cecily for the opportunity!

Ellie was great! She had comprehensive knowledge of the women and of the area. The small group dynamic made it even more intimate and enjoyable. Ellie focused on the women rather than the crime, and we came away with much more interesting information than the glorified image the media has produced.

Excellent interesting tour with a great guide, Ellie. Very thoughtfully and tastefully delivered, in contrast to the dozens of "Ripper" tours around. Well researched and focussing on the daily lives and actual histories of the women victims, as well as on local life during those times. No gratuitous or theatrical details or glorifying of the anonymous killer. Great level of information about Victorian life in London. Challenges a lot of media misconceptions about the Whitechapel murders and more generally of violence against women even today. Ellie gave great recommendations for other local areas and attractions too. Highly recommend!

This is a completely fascinating look at a story we've all heard about, but from an entirely different perspective. I'm grateful to have been given a glimpse into the lives of these women who were victimized by both a predator and a century of public opinion and dehumanizing media attention. Our guide had insights and historical info galore to share, and it was fun to wind along the narrow lanes and old streets of Whitechapel and Spitalfields in a small group, rather than the enormous groups we passed along the way. The tour felt personal and just like we were having a fascinating conversation with an intelligent and interesting friend. Will definitely do another Rebel Tour the next time we're here!

It was nice to be given a different perspective about the White Chapel murders that didn’t focus on the murderer and his myth. Knowing the circumstances of society that led to the women being more susceptible to becoming targets of him was informative.

Cecily was a great tour guide, very informative while also keeping it very casual. This tour is the best and only Jack the Ripper tour that anyone should consider, really bringing light to the victims instead of glorifying a serial killer.

Cecily was a great tour guide and super friendly. Would definitely recommend this tour that tells the story of the women that were murdered.

Important and informative. Respectful of the women who were killed, and full of Victorian history of White Chapel residents. Highly recommend.

Loved this tour- our guide was so personable and it was so interesting to delve into the lives of these women

Hearing about life in Whitechapel for ordinary working people was very interesting. I particularly enjoyed hearing about the lives of the women who were killed, how the community reacted and the misconceptions that spread about the victims. I would recommend the tour to anyone. Ellie was so knowledgeable and friendly and answered all questions with enthusiasm.

We just finished our What About the Women tour with Cecily earlier this evening and we've been trying to find the words to describe the lovely time we had and what an amazing of a tour guide Cecily was! It was a thoughtful, educational, and moving experience, especially seeing how many traditional Jack the Ripper tours passed us by trailing upwards of 50 people listening to the guides give graphic, gruesome, and dehumanizing descriptions of the murders of the women of Whitechapel. Cecily was entertaining and empathetic throughout the entire tour, and managed to preserve the dignity of these women and their tragic stories while not shying away from the facts. She explained in detail the sources for all of the information and refrained from making up hyperbolic details to fill in the gaps where there are still questions on what happened, which was very much appreciated and definitely increased the sense of intellectual honesty and credibility of the tour. It definitely fulfilled its goal of giving voices to these women who often have their stories exaggerated and misconstrued for entertainment purposes, and it mades them feel like real people and not props used to sensationalize a serial killer. We had so many questions and Cecily was incredibly gracious and answered all of them, we can't thank her enough for her engaging tour. We've traveled to several countries in the past few years but we've never been on a tour this unique and amazing, so we're definitely planning on looking into more Rebel Tours while we're here in London the next few days!

Outstanding! Best walking tour we’ve done (and we’ve done a lot, all around the world.) it’s exactly as advertised - a tour that focuses on the five women associated with Jack the Ripper. No gory details, no “Who was the Ripper?” theories, no graphic photos to pass around, just clear, well-researched, artfully told stories that tie in the broader social history of the era and daily life of each of the women. If you want Ripper/royalty info this is not your tour. But if you want to go beyond the bloody headlines and learn about real people - they’re families, husbands, children and friends - then this is exactly what you’re looking for. On top of all that, Ellie our tour guide seemed to know something about every building, street, pub and restaurant on the tour. Her curry shop recommendation was great and her description of a pub we had visited earlier was spot on. Finally, her “further reading” suggestions were helpful - currently reading The Five, her top recommendation. An all-around fantastic tour!

I did the tour Jack the reaper - what about the women and my tour guide was Ellie. It was an amazing time where I learned so much about the stories of these wonderful women and the history of the place that I was truly amazed! Ellie was soooo knowledgable - she shared some not well known facts, elaborated on some great stories and even busted some myths along the way :) Highly recommend the tour (and definitely try to book it with Ellie).

Our guide was brilliant ,very knowledgeable of the subject (and the local area) and she reframed the whole subject of what happened here from the women that were involved Perspective. Was Fascinating, Highly recommended .

We did this tour with the family, the guide was amazing really knowledgeable we enjoyed hearing about the women the social history and the times our guide didn’t discuss the gore but the story behind the victims and great tip’s about the area thanks 🙏

The Jack the Ripper - What About the Women? Tour was outstanding. Our tour guide Charlotte was knowledgeable, informative, and incredibly personable. As we walked around the Whitechapel area, Charlotte vividly detailed the stories of the women that would become linked to one of history’s most notorious killers. Charlotte highlighted how sad personal stories of abuse, addiction, and tragedy combined with immigration history, the early labor movement, social class, and poverty contributed to the conditions that made these horrific murders possible. Hearing the stories of these women humanized them and changed the narrative. As Charlotte brought us on a journey through time, visiting the crime scenes and history of the Whitechapel area, I couldn’t help but feel that the dozen or so other Ripper tours that we walked past had missed the real story and focused on sensationalizing a murderer. I wish we were going to be in London for more time so that we could take more amazing tours with Rebel Tours.

We came across the tour online and it was our first guided tour in London; we wanted to explore a part of the city we didn’t know and knew that Whitechapel had a dark but important history to tell. However, we didn’t want to take part in one of the many gruesome tours that focuses exclusively on the killer’s point of view and we wanted to hear about the women, their stories and their lives. If this is what you are looking for too, this is the perfect tour for you! Our guide Cecily was absolutely incredible, knowledgeable and ready to answer all of our many questions; most importantly, she was respectful and truly emotional while speaking of the victims and their unfortunate endings and showed us a side of the story we never heard of! We will definitely recommend it to all of our friends back home, as this is such a beautiful and unique way to experience Victorian London and know the lives of the women who lived it.

This guided tour was quite an amazing experience. Despite being confused about the location of the starting point (it’s not their fault I think), my mother and I, being on a holiday trip to London, liked it very much. The guide was friendly, and the tour is focused on the victims. It’s not feeding the morbid fascination on the mystery of their murderer, Jack the Ripper. I even had the opportunity to translate everything the guide said to my mother (she doesn’t understand a word of English) because a couple cancelled theirs. So it was like a private guide!! The guide even took us back to the underground, to help us with the directions. A superb experience. 10/10!!

An absolutely amazing experience. This was by far the best Jack the Ripper based tour out there as it focussed on the women who were his victims. We learnt so much from our guide about why the women ended up in Whitechapel and then ultimately his victims, as well as life in London at the time. Other tours use shock tactics (like passing around photos of the bodies) while this tour is informative and interesting without needing to do that. Highly recommend if you want to do a Jack the Ripper tour.

This tour was fascinating! Cecily gave voice to those women, the victims of Jack the Ripper. It was thought-provoking, factual and very well done. I would recommend this to anyone who thinks we give too much attention to the perpetrators but never enough to the victims and to the impact such horrible crimes have on their families.

This was such an interesting and moving tour. We were in a very small group so we could have a real conversation with Ellie, our guide, as she told us the stories of the women killed by Jack the Ripper. This tour was a highlight of my recent trip to London and I will definitely book another tour with Rebel Tours. Highly recommended!

We wanted a tour that gave a different perspective and challenged the classic narrative of Ripper tours. This tour gave voices to the victims and told us about the lives of those living in London at the time. Charlotte our guide was incredibly knowledgeable and the tour flew by! We will definitely look at coming along to some of the other tours. Thank you!

On my recent visit to London I did two tours with the Rebel ladies: The Irish in London tour with Ellie, and the What about the Women tour with Charlotte. I loved both of the experiences. Both showed me parts of the city I wouldn't have experienced on my own. All of the places and stories were well researched and interesting. I particularly liked that they gave recommendations for other places to explore in the city. I already went to the library to obtain books that were recommended on the tours. I look forward to checking out the other offerings on future trips to London.

I really enjoyed the Jack the Ripper, What about the women? tour. Ellie was our guide and she did a wonderful job. She is very knowledgeable about the victims and did a great job of painting a picture of what the city was like during that time. The tour is not a blood and guts story of how the women were murdered but a testimony to their lives and that they were real people who have been overlooked by history and misrepresented. We had a small group (only 3) so it wasn't a struggle to hear Ellie our guide like in some of the larger tour groups and it also led to some great conversation about the topic. I highly recommend it!

We did a 2 hour private tour. We started at the Tower of London, moved through parts of Whitechapel, and finished off in the Blind Beggar pub where the Krays frequented. Very interesting and informative tour highlighting the darker side of old London. Our guide was so knowledgeable and kept us riveted for the whole tour.

Ellie was wonderful! Her knowledge of the women plus her knowledge of the history and area made a very informative tour!