Whitechapel

Whitechapel

1. What was it like?

   • Area of poverty
   • Lots of different type of people
   • Overcrowded
   • People in a lot of transit
   • Key areas
     • Flower & Dean street
       • 902 lodgers staying in the 31 'doss houses' on this street
       • very old - dated back to 1600
       • 16 ft wide
       • outside toilets
       • home to thieves, drunkards, & prostitutes
       • 'vicious semi-criminal' area - CB
     • Whitechapel work house
       • available to those who were too young, old, or unwell to work
       • strict - dictated what people ate,& how & when they worked
       • Families separated
       • parents only allowed to see children once a day
     • Peabody estate
       • Offered affordable rates
       • improved ventilation
       • more pleasant
       • too high rate for the area
     • 10 Bells Pub
       • A lot of people drank here, which made them more likely to commit crimes
       • Prostitutes
       • Pick pockets
       • Place to get a warm meal
     • Casual ward
       • took in people who were sick
       • had 400 inmates but only 60 beds
       • strict
       • work for their bed
       • Pick oakum (rope) so they wouldn't want to stay
   • Charles Booth
     • Successful business man
     • Sociological research
       • Employed 80 researchers
       • Explored poverty, living conditions, & faith
       • Interviewed policemen & school board visitors
     • MAP

2. fear of crime

   • 'residuum' - natural criminals
   • Lodging houses & pubs
     • overcrowding & unhealthy living would cause criminal activity
     • addiction to alcohol caused crime
       • & allowed people to become victims
   • Immigration
     • Why was there immigration?
       • jobs
       • cheap places to sleep
       • communities of similar people
     • due to language barriers & cultural differences, jews were often segregated
       • led to prejudice
   • socialism & anarchism
     • people thought those who believed in this were more violent.

3. Metropolitan Police

   • Public attitudes
     • People thought it was a way for the government to spy on them
     • people attacked them
       • A stabbing of a policemen was deemed as justifiable due to the tactics they used
   • set up in 1829 by Sir Robert Peel
   • paid for by local london authorities
   • controlled by home secretary
   • Commissioners & the home security
     • Edmund Henderson
       • 1870
       • accused of relaxed police discipline - allowed them to grow beards & reduce military drills
       • forced to resign in 1886
     • Trial of the detectives
       • uncovered corruption of police
       • Thomas Titley
         • forced to break the law by the police
       • made people suspicious of the police
     • Charles Warren
       • tried to raise standards
       • focus on military discipline
         • made people worry the police was becoming an army
       • bad press reaction

4. Policing

   • H division
     • 505 policemen for 176,000 people
       • 1 for every 390
   • Recruits
     • 21-32 years
     • 5"9'+
     • no more than 2 children
     • can't own a trade
     • read & write
     • fit
     • 3 weeks of training
     • preferably from countryside

5. Details about Ripper's murders

   • victims
     • Mary Nichols
       • 31st August
       • 1st victim
       • found in bucks row
     • Elizabeth stride & Catherine Endows
       • ES - found 1st in Outfields Yard
       • CE -found in Mitre square, badly mutilated, disemboweled
         • part of apron found at goulston street
       • same night - 30 sept
     • Annie Chapman
       • 8 sept
       • tips on georges yard
       • signs of being strangled
     • Mary kelly
       • 9 nov
       • happened inside

6. How did police try to catch the ripper?

   • Observation
     • keeping the area clear of onlookers so no evidence was tampered with
     • Inspector to make careful note of the scene
     • wasn't always possible due to lack of light
   • photos & sketches
     • of the bodies & of suspects
   • autopsy
   • criminal profiling
   • interviews
     • went to houses & businesses near the murders
     • full-scale searches - questioned over 2,000
     • focus on butchers & slaughter men
     • statements written on paper

7. The press

   • full of criticism
   • suggestions on what to do better
     • use bloodhounds
     • disguise police men as prostitutes
   • sensationalised stories, exaggerated
     • posted fake facts
       • made people wonder why they hadt caught him yet
   • published ripper letters
   • vigilance committee
     • 2private detectives

8. Metro & city

   • worked well together
     • other divisions sent extra men to help
     • H division learnt lots from city
       • use of photography
   • didn't work well
     • at risk of anti-semitic rioting met decided to rub of graffiti before camera arrived
       • happened in cities territory

Images and files in the map