1876 Trophy Cup Awarded To M.J. Druitt / Fives Champion / Cricketer…Jack The Ripper?

We always look for rarities in sports memorabilia, and when available we like to pick up items that belonged to or were used by the athletes themselves. We have been fortunate to find and collect such football items that belonged to Walter Camp, Mrs. Walter Camp, Glen "Pop" Warner, Bill Edwards, William Church, Mel Hein, Morton Prince, Edgar Wrightington, Johnny Poe, Arthur Poe, Benny Friedman, as well as others. We also have important crew related items belonging to Joseph S. Fay, Fred Plaisted. 

The pictured trophy is a sports rarity awarded to Montague John Druitt in 1876 for the Winchester College Fives competition. Druitt (1857-1888) was educated at Winchester College and in his final year there, 1875-1876, was school fives champion and opening bowler of the cricket team. Later in his short life he was known as a cricket player of some note. He became, and remains, one of the leading suspects of being Jack the Ripper. He died in 1888 after what was thought to be an apparent suicide, although circumstances make it highly likely that he was murdered, again, probably in connection with the Ripper case.

Two books have been written on Druitt, Ripper Suspect: The Secret Lives of Montague Druitt and Montague Druitt: Portrait of a Contender . From a sporting perspective, both are very heavy on his time playing cricket.

Significant flaws exist in each theory on who Jack the Ripper was, including one that claims to have DNA evidence.  At the time there was a propensity to blame certain ethnic groups or religions, or to look at social status or believed sexual orientation when assessing guilt for crimes. This held true when looking at the suspects thought to be Jack the Ripper. The police were fully embedded in this skewed assignment of blame as well.  After roughly 134 years it is unlikely we would ever know for sure who the Ripper's identity is.

This is barely a 'scratching the surface' overview of Druitt. For now let it suffice that this trophy is a rare and unique part of history with both its sports and significant Ripper associations.

The trophy is unusual in that all of the engraving, including the school crest is gilt; 6 ¼” in height. 

Walter Camp's Silver Flask

 An 1890s sterling silver flask having belonged to Walter Chauncey Camp; WCC monogram.  Providence, RI maker, Knowles, working 1879-1905. Camp is known to most as the "Father of American Football" contributing to its development, particularly through rules changes he initiated. An important piece that is a nice addition to our collection.  

The flask is accompanied by a nine page letter from Harriet E. Koehler, written in 1987, when she was 93, about her family and the flask. Her family had a long history of living in New Haven, where she died at 101. 

She wrote the letter to give a history of the flask and her family, and stated the intent was to document the flask was "brought into my hands thru perfectly legitimate means, and that my family history makes that clear". She had been in possession of the flask fifty years at the time she penned this letter. 

Her father Henry, who died in 1927 worked for 12 years at Yale's Marsh Hall School of Forestry. Two of seven of her brothers (she was the youngest)  worked at Yale in the Gardens and Greenhouses as well. They were also in charge of the horses and wagon stabled at Hillhouse barn, which was used by the Marsh Botanical Garden to dispose of debris. The brothers would oversee properties and clean out houses when they were taken over by Yale, and this included the Walter C. Camp residence. It was her brother Richard (1879-1966)  who brought the flask and other items back from the Camp home.

Related posts, September 28, 2014, June 15, 2015 and November 21, 2013 (a photo that had hung in the Camp home).