Researching the time period

Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde was written in the victorian period, the "Victorian Era" was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from 20 June 1837 until her death, on 22 January 1901. It was a long period of peace, prosperity, "refined sensibilities" and national self-confidence for Britain.

What interested me about this time period (and what I think would make an interesting short story) is that around 1888 Richard Mansfield took the starring role and was much praised for his performance. But events took a dark turn when, later that month the infamous Jack the Ripper murders began. Mansfield’s performance was so convincing that press reports suggested he might be a possible suspect…The murderer was never caught…