Sir Herbert Varney was a famous Victorian vampire who preyed upon exclusively on the women in the 1880’s in London. He met his death when he was captured and then killed by a special squad from the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures (FW).
Commentary
Etymology
While Sir Herbert Varney may be a reference to Jack the Ripper, whose "five canonical" murders all happened in 1888 (other murders attributed to the Ripper, up to 1891, are generally considered to have nothing to do with him) it is certainly a direct reference to Sir Francis Varney, of "Varney the Vampire, or The Feast of Blood." This was an extremely popular "penny dreadful" work of Victorian literature published between 1845-1847. It runs to 232 chapters and well over 600,000 words.
