Dr. William Gull - Jack the Ripper

William Gull is the principle character and antagonist of the graphic novel; he is today remembered by his nom de plume of Jack the Ripper. Gull was born 1816 and died 1890. As a child he helped his father work on a river barge, the family business. After his father's death Gull demonstrated a keen interest in natural sciences, received early schooling and medical instruction, and quickly became a minor celebrity in the medical field. Simultaneously, Gull is admitted to the secret society of the Freemasons and enjoys a meteoric rise to the highest ranks. Gull's life is thus marked by success, wealth, and access to power. His reputation is sealed when he is selected as Queen Victoria's royal physician and entrusted with the treatment of Prince Albert Victor's syphilis—primarily because of his Masonic ties.

This atypical but successful existence ends c...