Origin
Elizabeth Stride was born Elisabeth Gusatsdotter just west of Gothenburg, Sweden. Unlike the other victims of Jack the Ripper she fell into prostitution fairly early, having been registered as one by the Swedish authorities as early as 1865. She was treated several times for venereal disease and gave birth to a stillborn child before moving to London in 1866. The reasons for this move are unclear and variously given as to become a domestic servant for a family in Hyde Park, or to work for an unknown "foreign gentleman". Three years later in 1869 she married John Thomas Stride. Together the operated a coffee house in East London. She was working in the Poplar Workhouse in 1877, which implied that she and her husband had separated. In 1878 the Princess Alice disaster occurred in the River Thames, and Liz claimed that her husband and two of her nine children had died in the sinking, however she had no children and she and her husband reconciled in 1881, though they had separated again by the end of that year. Her husband actually died in 1884.
After their separation Liz lived mostly in common lodging houses in Whitechapel and received charitable support from the Church of Sweden twice in May of 1886, and twice again in September of 1888. From 1885 she had an on-and-off relationship with Michael Kidney, with whom she frequently lived. In the months leading up to her death she was often brought into court on charges of being drunk and disorderly. During this time she earned money as a domestic, a seamstress and infrequently as a prostitute. She learned Yiddish as well as English during her time in England. In 1887 she was again registered as an inmate of Poplar Workhouse, and in late 1887 she charged Kidney with assault, but didn't attend court. She left Michael Kidney for the last time on September 25th 1888, about which he was not particularly concerned as she frequently disappeared for days at a time.
Major Story Arcs
Elizabeth Stride was murdered on September 30th. At around 11 p.m. she was seen at a pub kissing a man wearing a billycock hat. The couple was taunted by two labourers, who warned Stride jokingly that she was with Leather Apron, the nickname at the time for Jack the Ripper. The couple soon exited the pub. She was seen again at 11:45 talking with another man with whom she was also outwardly affectionate. She was not definitely seen again until 12:35, when she was seen by a police constable to be talking with a man wearing a deerstalker hat. At approximately 12:45 a woman was seen being thrown to the street by a man who was probably not the same as the one who was seen with her earlier.
At 1 a.m. her body was discovered in Dutfield's Yard next to the International Working Men's Educational Club. Her throat had been cut. It is believed that the discoverer scared Jack the Ripper away before he could perform any mutilation. If true, this was presumably what caused him to seek out the second victim of the double event, Catherine Eddowes. Elizabeth was buried on October 6th, 1888.
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