Person    | Male  Born 1861  Died 12/10/1934

Willy Clarkson

Costumier and wigmaker. He took over his father's business in 1878, and became very successful, including providing costumes and wigs for productions by Queen Victoria's family. It was claimed that he created a disguise for the murderer Doctor Crippen. He was rumoured to be homosexual, and a public lavatory in Soho was known as 'Clarkson's Cottage'. We have found a reference to a documentary which makes a tenuous claim that he was Jack the Ripper.

Credit for this entry to: Alan Patient of www.plaquesoflondon.co.uk

Comments are provided by Facebook, please ensure you are signed in here to see them

This section lists the memorials where the subject on this page is commemorated:
Willy Clarkson

Commemorated ati

Wong Kei Restaurant - Willy Clarkson

Willy Clarkson, 1861 - 1934, theatrical wigmaker, lived and died here. London...

Read More

Other Subjects

Lord Randolph Churchill

Lord Randolph Churchill

Politician.  Father of Winston.  Born at 3 Wilton Terrace, son of the 7th Duke of Marlborough of Blenheim Palace.  1874 married an American Jennie Jerome and Winston was their first child.  (After ...

Person, Jack the Ripper suspects, Politics & Administration

1 memorial
Jack the Ripper Museum

Jack the Ripper Museum

When this misconceived museum opened, its planning application had described it as a 'Museum of Women's History', so the revelation of its real purpose unleashed numerous protests, focussing on the...

Group, Jack the Ripper suspects

2 memorials
Walter Sickert

Walter Sickert

Considered the most influential English painter since Turner. Born Munich, eldest son of a Danish artist and French-educated English mother. His family moved to England when he was 8. Trained as an...

Person, Art, Jack the Ripper suspects

3 memorials
Canon Samuel Barnett

Canon Samuel Barnett

Social reformer. While curate of St Mary's in Bryanston Square, met Henrietta Barnett and married her in his own church. The site given as the picture source is a forum where the infamous Jack the...

Person, Jack the Ripper suspects, Religion, Social Welfare

2 memorials
Francis Thompson

Francis Thompson

Poet and cricket lover, author of 'The Hound of Heaven'. Born Preston, Lancashire into the middle classes. Went through a period as a down-and-out and opium addict before being discovered as a poet...

Person, Jack the Ripper suspects, Poetry

1 memorial