“They’re only truly great who are truly good“

George Chapman

Chapman was born in the village of Nagórna in the Warsaw Governorate of Congress Poland. According to a certificate found in his personal effects after his arrest, he was apprenticed at age 14 to a senior surgeon, Moshko Rappaport, in Zwoleń, whom he assisted in procedures such as the application of leeches for bloodletting.He then enrolled on a course in practical surgery at the Warsaw Praga Hospital. This course was very brief, lasting from October 1885 to January 1886 (attested to by another certificate in his possession) but he continued to serve as a nurse, or doctor's assistant in Warsaw until December 1886. He later left Poland for London, though the time he arrived at London has never been reliably ascertained. Witness testimony at his trial seems to indicate that he emigrated to London in 1888.During his stay in the East End he had married a young Polish girl, Lucie Badowski in 1889 and had two children with her and soon afterwards was confronted because of this by his original Polish wife.