The police force gradually improved. One of the reasons was because the numbers of men wanting to join were increasing. However many of the early recruits had to be dismissed, mainly due to drunkenness and disorderly behaviour. In 1847, a constable was dismissed after 4 hours of service.
The increase was due to the fact that many men were keen to join the police force was unemployment and a huge desire for financial security.
The population of London was still increasing rapidly, even though large new industries were developing, and there was still a widespread unemployment all over Britain. Jobs such as farm labour was seasonal and provided no backup like sickness pay, compensation, pension scheme and with trade unions of no strength to change or rectify any of these issues. In comparison, policemen were given a reliable wage, and pension. In 1829 the wage offered by Robert Peel for a recruit was three shillings a day, whilst farm labourers were barely living on six shillings a week. Men were also eager to join the police force, as it was recognised as a respectable career, something that cannot have been easy to earn especially when living in the East End of London.
However, despite all the initial problems for the police force, Londoners gradually began to see that they were having a positive effect on the level of crime, and many finally began to approve. By the late nineteenth century the police presence in London had changed considerably from the occasional Bow Street Runner. It became much more organised and efficient than it had previously been. This change came about by a series of major developments. Firstly, the Metropolitan Police Force was set up in 1842, a Detective Department was established for Scotland Yard in 1842, the introduction of the telegraph from 1867 was a catalyst to communication, and the Criminal Investigation Department was founded in 1878. The most important role of the new police force was to control and prevent crime. The policemen were supposed to carry out the functions of watchmen and constables, and patrol the streets, keeping order. They were also used to tackle major disturbances such as riots, that the army would have previously have tackled. Once on duty, policemen had responsibilities such as lighting London’s street lamps and watching out for fires.
Towards the end of the nineteenth century, ‘bobbies’ became very popular. In 1851 and article in Punch said, ‘The police are beginning to take that place in the affections of the people that the soldiers and sailors used to occupy. In these happier days of peace, the blue coats, the defenders of order, are becoming national favourites’. At the same time, The Times also wrote, ‘Amid the bustle of Piccadilly, or the roar of Oxford Street, P.C.W. 50 stalks along, an institution rather than a man’. However, Punch’s view of the London ‘bobby’ was very one-sided. People saw the police as ‘defenders of order’ and not crime solvers. A policeman on duty in the streets was there to stop disorderly behaviour and to deal with drunkenness, beggars, vagrants and prostitutes. London’s streets did become more orderly, but the number of burglaries went up. Also, the reputation of the policeman as the ‘friendly bobby’ was not shared in many working class districts in London, and the police continued to go on the beat in poorer areas armed with cutlasses. This was the world in which the Jack the Ripper murders took place.
There are good reasons for thinking that the police could have been more efficient than they were. Even so, the uniformed peelers did their job. The force was designed to be cheap and simple, to get men out on the streets where they could keep order, prevent crime, and make London a safer place.
Q2) Why did the Whitechapel Murders attract so much attention in 1888?
There are a number of reasons that the Whitechapel murders attracted so much attention. One of them was the nature of the attacks. No one had ever seen or heard about such violent and gruesome attacks so everyone was intrigued and wanted to know more. The middle class had to take an interest because of the threat of disorder and a possible uprising by the poor. So for this reason they wanted to see the murderer caught as soon as possible for their own safety not the prostitutes.
The interest in the murders grew with each attack. This was because of the regular continuation of the killings and the failure of the police catching him.
Another reason interest grew with every attack was because of the amount of women that were killed, a serial killers had never really been recorded before, so this was all new to everyone.
The nature of the crimes and the victims caught a lot of people’s attention. All the victims were prostitutes, this made other prostitutes scared for their own safety therefore they would have paid a lot of attention to whether Jack had been caught yet so they could get back to business normally. The fact that they were all poor along with being prostitutes made richer people have sympathy for them as they thought they suffered enough for being poor. For this reason they would want to find out what was going on and if Jack The Ripper had been caught yet. The upper class was also very surprised that it was the poor being attacked and not them being attacked for their money. The poor described the streets as being dirty, filthy, smelly and damp with appalling lighting conditions, however, the rich in contrast, lived in big houses, in well-lit areas and when travelling at night they had private coaches to move in. This might have been a reason why Jack did not attempt to attack the upper class as they were too protected for them to be assaulted.
The main factor that attracted so much attention towards the murderers though was the press at the time. The murders took place at the same time as the beginning of the rise of the tabloid press. As they were just starting they needed to attract new readers, which meant that they were all describing the attacks in graphic detail as this sold papers. The Star August 31st 1888 wrote ‘a woman with…. her throat cut from ear to ear…the wound was about two inches wide and blood was flowing profusely…as the corpse lies in the mortuary it presents a ghastly sight.’ Another article in the same paper said ‘The throat is cut in two gashes….the instrument having been a sharp one but used in the most ferocious and reckless way…making a wide and horrible hole nearly severing the head from the body…no murder was ever more ferociously and brutally done.’ The need for the papers to attract readers leads to sensationalism to the extreme.
The five murders that are generally accepted as the work of Jack the Ripper, with his unique way of mutilating the bodies, by slitting the throat twice in two sharp cuts and cutting open the stomach, are:
MaryAnn (Polly) Nichols – murdered Friday August 31st 1888, her body was found on Derwant Street
Annie Chapman – murdered Saturday September 8th 1888, her body was found on Hanbury Street
Elizabeth Stride – murdered Sunday September 30th 1888, her body was found on Burnen Street.
Catherine Eddowes – murdered Sunday September 30th 1888, her body was found on Mitre Square.
Mary Jane Kelly – murdered Friday November 9th 1888, her body was found on Dorset Street (now known as Millers Court).
These five victims, all women, were prostitutes. It seems that Jack would have a certain routine he would follow. He would first meet his victim and introduce himself so he would seem reliable, then he would kill and mutilate her, after that he would go on living as a normal person. He murdered most of his victims on the weekend, this might suggest that he had a weekday job, and judging by his skills of mutilating the bodies so precisely and so quickly and the extremely sharp instruments used he might have been a doctor or a butcher. This is another reason why the murders attracted so much attention, the killer was not caught, nor identified causing more and more of the local people and people of London to become suspicious of almost every one.
To receive the publics interest so that the papers would sell, there were a lot of hoax letters sent to liven up the story if it was dying down, most of these were sent by the press themselves. A couple of examples of possible fake letters were the ‘dear boss letter’ received on 27th September 1888 and the ‘from hell letter’ received on 16th October 1888. The effect they had was dramatic, these letters made the killer seem even more horrific.
The radical press who wanted to improve conditions in poor areas of London saw the murders as the perfect opportunity to express their views because the local elections were approaching. The police failing to catch Jack gave the radical’s ammunition to attack the establishment and the police about the conditions in Whitechapel and the surrounding area. The East and West Ham Gazette Saturday 6th October 1888 wrote ‘this is surely the time for those who have time and money at their disposal to come forward and help on a movement that shall…do away with prostitution….it must be a cruel thing for women who have had a respectable youth to have these dens of infamy to rest, to be compelled to walk the streets until they can get fourpence somehow or other that is necessary to pay for what is called a bed.’
The press also reacted to the excitement and gloomy fascination the public took so they wanted to produce more and more.
When all of this is taken into account it is hardly surprising that the work of Jack The Ripper attracted so much attention at the time.
31st August: Mary Ann Nichols is found murdered in Whitechapel In Bucks Row.
1st September: Leather Apron (Jon Pizer) identified by the Police as a chief suspect.
8th September: The body of Annie Chapman is found at 29 Hanbury Street Whitechapel.
10th September: A description of a man seen with Annie Chapman is issued by the Metropolitan Police.
Same day: Samuel Montagu, a local MP offer a £100 reward for the capture of the murderer.
Same day:The Whitechapel Vigilance Committee is formed. George Lusk, a local businessman is the Chairman.
Same day: The Star announce that the Police are holding 7 men in connection with the murder including Leather Apron.
12th September: Joseph Isenshmid, a Whitechapel butcher is arrested. He is released 10 days later.
13th September: The Star demands to know why Police have not photographed the eyes of Annie Chapman, believing the image of the killer might be seared on the retina.
13th September: The East London Observer report that Catherine Eddowes knew the identity of the Whitechapel Murderer and intended to claim the reward.
26th September: John Fitzgerald confesses to the murder of Annie Chapman. He is released 3 days later.
Dr.Barnado, collecting evidence for his survey of poverty in the East End visits Whitechapel and speaks with Elizabeth Stride, a prostitute in her home in Flower and Dean Street.
27th September:The Central News Agency in London receives a letter, beginning “Dear Boss,” and signed “Jack the Ripper.”The letter is not released to the press.
29th September: 11.00-11.45pm.Witnesses see Elizabeth Stride in the company of a man in Berner Street, Whitechapel.
30th September: 12.30am PC Smith sees Elizabeth Stride talking to a man in Berner Street.
12.45am Israel Schwartz sees Stride arguing with a man in Berner St. and sees the man throw her to the ground.
1.00am:. Elizabeth Stride’s body is found in Berner Street.
1.30am: A man is seen washing his hands in Church Lane, between Berner St. and Mitre Square. This story is reported the next day in the Star.
1.35am: Three witnesses see Catherine Eddowes talking to a man at the junction of Church Passage and Mitre Square.
1.45am: The body of Catherine Eddowes is found in Mitre Square by PC Watkins.
2.55am: A piece of Eddowes apron is found blood-stained, in Goulston Street.Beside it is chalked the words, “ The Juwes are the men that will not be blamed for nothing.”
5.30am: Sir Charles Warren orders the writing washed off.
3rd October: Police publish the letters from “Jack the Ripper”
10th October: Sir Charles warren declares the “Jack the Ripper” letters to be a hoax.
9th November: 2.00am George Hutchinson sees Mary Kelly with a man on their way to her home at Miller’s Court.
4.00am: Mary Kelly’s neighbours at Miller’s Court hear two cries of “Murder”.
8.30am: one witness claims to have met Mary Kelly on the corner of Miller’s Court.
10.15am: Maurice Lewis sees Mary Kelly in a pub ¾ mile from Millers Court.
10.45am: A rent collector discovers Mary Kelly’s badly mutilated body in her room at Miller’s Court.
Q3) Why were the police unable to catch Jack the Ripper?
The night of MaryAnn Polly Nichols was the beginning of a series of murders committed by a the most unidentified killer throughout the history of London, ‘Jack the Ripper’
Jack the Ripper was never caught but descriptions of suspects made by witnesses were so identical a ‘Jack suspect’ was stereotyped. A white male in his late 20’s or early 30’s that had a handlebar moustache and wore a black tall hat and cloak was thought to be a suspect. The public was led to believe that the killer might be foreign as an English man was far too decent to do such a gruesome thing. Witnesses catching a glimpse of the man last seen with the victims made this description of the killer. This description of the killer would have been useful if the ‘Ripper’ attack took place in the 20th or 21st century but unfortunately it took play in the 19th century which meant that nearly all the men in those days fitted that description. Also, due to the rush of immigrants most of the people in the east were foreign. This was one of the reasons why the police were unable to catch or identify Jack the Ripper.
Hundreds of letters supposedly from the murderer were sent to the police, news agencies and individuals associated with solving the crime. Only three of these letters had grabbed attention and seemed genuine at first. Two in particular, which were written, by the same individual gave us the name ‘Jack the Ripper’. Before this the name had not been devised.
The first letter is commonly known as the ‘Dear Boss’ letter, which was written in red ink, and received by Central News Agency on the 27th September 1888. The letter was dated 25th.
