Whitechapel

workhouses

• built by local authorities, conditions deliberately harsh- for the desperate

• families split up- eg unmarried mothers and children

• wore a uniform, worked hard to earn their keep

• casual wards- shelter for 1-2 nights in exchange for work

slums/rookeries

• run down, poor ventilation and sanitation

• whole families in a single room

• doss houses- temporary accommodation for the poorest, in ‘coffin beds’

• fluctuating population

• kips bay rookery- 30 people in a room, 123 rooms

• ¼ of Whitechapel lived in rookeries/somewhere similar

peabody estate

• 1875- artisans dwellings act encouraged slum clearances

• 1881- Charles peabody, American banker, founds a charity to provide respectable homes for the working class with good moral character

• rent higher, conditions nicer eg kitchens

• good character and a steady job to rent a flat

• drunkenness/criminal behaviour- eviction

• 3 shillings a week

irish migrants

• jobs as navvies- building canals and railways

• many catholic- resented and mistrusted by English protestants

• fenians- tiny minority, Irish nationalists seeking independence; bombing campaign in england to pressure the campaign, attempt at the fenian dynamite campaign to blow up important structures

jewish migrants

• Eastern Europe and russia

• many could not speak English or work on the sabbath- options limited

• working for jewish tailors in sweatshops

• society- jews had links to radical socialist and anarchist groups

• some- set up political organisations and newspapers, organised protests in the area

reason for poverty- sweatshops

• small, unhygienic, cramped

• jewish migrants- tailors, shoemakers, matchmakers

• extreme hours, low pay

reasons for poverty- poor health

• poor sanitation

• high levels of pollution- smoke and gas fumes from nearby factories

• people ill, less able to work

• disease spread fast in overcrowded slums

reasons for poverty- alcoholism

• drinking to escape everyday life

• led to poor health, limiting ability to work, therefore no wage

reasons for poverty- casual employment

• laboured on docks for a few days/hours only

• only the fittest men , so older, sick, disabled men struggled

• women- ‘piece’ work at home, wages very low and dependant on what they could make eg matchboxes

women in Whitechapel

• prostitution

• vulnerable to assault, walked Whitechapel at night

• illegal abortions common

• 1882- 1200 prostitutes

protection rackets

• gangs eg Bessarabian tigers, odessians- demand money from small business owners and attacked them if they didn’t pay

socialists

• demonstrations that often turned violent

• Bloody Sunday Trafalgar Square 1887- protests out of control, met struggle to control crowds

structure of H division

• met police commissioner- in charge of whole London force excluding city of London police, answered to home sec

• h division- 19 inspectors, 44 sergeants, 441 officers by 1815; not enough to deal with crime in Whitechapel

duties of H division

• beat constables patrolled specific areas, looking for suspicious behaviour, recorded crimes and wrote reports

• poverty- h division take on extra duties eg escorting people to the workhouse, supervising children

difficulty in policing- reputation

• residents tended to resent police for making their lives harder

• concerns over quality of recruits being lower than expected; officers drunk on duty/absent from posts

difficulty in policing- ‘no go’ areas

• dark narrow alleys- treacherous

• attacks and ambushes on police common

• flower and dean street- 2 police at a time, not allowed to go alone

difficulty in policing- level of crime

• alcoholism and poverty- high levels of crime

• antisemitic attacks common, police often struggled to communicate with victims- non English speakers

difficulty In policing- protests/demonstrations

• hard to keep socialist and anarchist protest under control in whitechapel

• handling of Bloody Sunday 1887- criticised for being heavy handed

leadership, scandals

• detective branch small, ineffective, open to corruption- 1877 huge scandal in trial of 3 detectives for taking bribes; CID set up to replace the branch

• Charles warren- met commissioner 1886-1888, orders over Bloody Sunday questioned, and commissioner over Jack the Ripper- highly criticised, resigned

the ripper murders

• august-november 1888

• five women, one killer

• Mary ann nichols, Annie chapman- first two victims

• failure to catch the ripper- problems in Whitechapel policing

investigative techniques- ripper murders

• autopsies- analysing body for clues, coroners report- left handed killer

• interviews- thousands interviewed, follow up every clue

• photography, sketches- visual record of victims and crime scenes. Mary Jane Kelly (last victim) room photographed

• bloodhounds- dogs used to track potential clues and suspects

press response- Jack the Ripper

• media published hundreds of stories, few facts- journalists exaggerated or imagined details to keep reader interest eg penny dreadfuls

• hoax letters sent, claiming to be JTR, each had to be treated as genuine, claiming witness to get attention- dear boss letter

• criticism of police in newspapers for failure to catch ripper, ‘allowing’ for more orders, trust in decline

• some articles and pictures- the killer must be an immigrant, increased chance of attacks on Irish and Jewish migrants

rivalry between forces

• Catherine eddowes murdered September 1888 on street policed by city of london

• graffiti found on a wall near to scene of crime, referring to the jews

• commissioner warren ordered for graffiti to be washed away, for fear of it being photographed- feared antisemitic riot

• could have also been trying to prevent detectives from COLP from obtaining evidence and solving murder, or trying to protect someone

the Whitechapel vigilance committee

• George lusk established bc of frustration with police failure

• committee offered rewards for information, which police rightly didn’t do as it would lead to false claims

• loudly patrolled streets at night, aiming to scare off ripper, deliberately disrupt work of police

population statistics

30k, 1k homeless

Charles booth

• social reformer, philanthropist, researcher

• investigating working class life in london

• life and labour of the people- survey

types of work

• bell foundry- casting bells in metal eg big Ben bell

• small, cramped, hard physical labour

• sweated trades- tailoring, shoe making

• docks and railway

Thomas barnardo

• orphanages opened from 1870

• nearly 100 barnardo homes opened by the time of his death

• 85 children per house

Edward duffy

• fenian

• organised bomb attack on clerkenwell

• increased public hate

queen Victoria on Jack the Ripper

‘unfortunate women of a bad class’