Tabram lived on and off with Henry Turner, a carpenter, from about 1876 until three weeks before her murder. This relationship was also troubled by Tabram's drinking and occasionally staying out all night.
In 1888 Turner was out of regular employment and making his living hawking cheap trinkets, menthol cones and needles and pins. The couple lodged in the house of Mrs. Mary Bousfield at 4 Star Place, Commercial Road (Tower and Hamlets). Bousfield described Martha as a person who would “rather have a glass of ale than a cup of tea.” She also said, however, that she was not a perpetual drunk. The couple left their lodgings without notice and behind in the rent approximately 4 to 6 weeks prior to the murder. Perhaps out of guilt, Martha secretly returned one night and left the key to the lodging without seeing the landlady.
Turner left Martha for the last time in July of 1888.