Because of the epoch in which the MPF was established and existed (an age of technological and industrial revolution) it was constantly undergoing changes and improvements and because of its youth it was always in the process of modernisation. In 1829 Sir Robert Peel had the task of deciding the uniform for his new Police Force, he knew that the British people disliked seeing 'redcoats' or individuals from the army on the streets so avoidance of possible confusion between the army and the MPF was imperative. However the blue-clad navy were considered heroes and defenders of England, so the MPF was given a blue uniform, with a rather unpractical tailcoat and top hat. At first policeman were armed only with a truncheon (and occasionally a cutlass), but from the 1840's inspectors began to carry revolvers. In 1842 eight detectives were appointed by the MPF; two inspectors and six sergeants. But it was in the 1860's that detective work really began to start and the inspector/sergeant combination created a pattern of inquiry that was to last to the present day. Opposition to these plain clothed policemen was widespread and the possibility of corruption due to their un-identifiable nature was raised.
Forensic science and detection techniques were improved within the force as well: In the early nineteenth century the cutting edge of detection policy was foot printing and its value in locating the criminal. But still the standard process in detective work remained to be 'following suspicious characters', the same methods used by 'bobbies' on the street. In 1884 a murderer was convicted because of the torn paper used for his pistol wadding matched the minute pieces that were found in his victims wound from the firearm. In 1892 a man called at no two individuals would be the same. This was soon made obsolete by the significant invention of fingerprinting in 1901, which was founded on a similar sort of assumption as the 'Bertillon' technique. Another revised form of police detection was photography; although a 'Rogues Gallery' of criminal photographs had existed in Scotland Yard since 1862 the first Force photographer was appointed in 1901. This method was originally used because it was thought possible to distinguish criminal 'types' from the shape of their skull and facial features. Photography was useful also in the examination of crime scenes and evidence...
Summarily, we can now see that although law and order in London in the nineteenth century was improved and regulated by the Metropolitan Police Force it had its failures as well. For instance while there were far fewer street crimes in the second half of the nineteenth century with the introduction of the MPF, but the number of burglaries A ERROR: BOOK MARK NOT DEFINED -slasher who held the East of London in his grip of terror spanning nearly a whole year, who has still never been caught...
2. Why did the Whitechapel murders attract so much attention in 1888?
Between the years 1888 and 1891 eleven murders took place in an area named Whitechapel, London. At some point in the last 114 years all of these murders have been branded as 'Ripper' killings (See following table for a list of the murders and the six, in bold, now conceded as Ripper victims.) Jack the Ripper is the most notorious of Victorian criminals, yet he only, allegedly, killed six people who were considered to be of little importance in relation to Victorian s ERROR: BOOK MARK NOT DEFINED ociety. So why did London, England and a number of other nations become so shocked and absorbed by this one man? Why do we still toil and endlessly investigate over this case of homicides? I hope to be able to answer this question during and at the end of this essay.
The Whitechapel Murders and the incorporated Ripper Murders (Marked in bold):
DateVictimCircumstances
Tuesday 3-7 April 1888Emma Elizabeth SmithAssaulted and robbed in Osborn Street, Whitechapel
Tuesday 7 August 1888Martha Tabram George Yard Buildings, George Yard, Whitechapel
Friday 31 August 1888Mary Ann NicholsBuck's Row, Whitechapel
Saturday 8 September 1888Annie ChapmanRear Yard at 29 Hanbury Street, Spitalfields
Sunday 30 September 1888Elizabeth StrideYard at side of 40 Berner Street, St Georges-in-the-East
Sunday 30 Street Spitalfields
Wednesday 21 November 1888Amelia FarmerLodging House, 19 George Street, Whitechapel
Thursday 20 December 1888Rose MylettClarke's Yard, High Street. Poplar
Wednesday 17 July 1889Alice McKenzieCastle Alley, Whitechapel
Tuesday 10 September 1889Unknown female torsoFound under railway arch in Pinchin Street, Whitechapel
Friday 13 February 1891Frances ColesFound under railway arch in Swallow Gardens, Whitechapel
Note: Emma Elizabeth Smith and Amelia Farmer were not killed. Smith was attacked by a gang of five men who raped her and 'inserted a blunt object into her vagina' causing a substantial rip in her perineum. She succumbed to a coma after describing her attack and died four days later. Farmer (probably the same alive) faked a Ripper attack and partially slit her own throat in order to commit robbery.
A simple answer to this question could be that people had never seen this sort of crime before, neither sex-related nor serial, but both statements would be untrue. History has seen plenty of serial killing sex-offenders and although the common person may not be aware of them sexual murders are no modern thing. Sex related child murders could be accounted to Gilles de Rais, Marshal of France, in the 13th Century. Countess Bathory of 16th Century Hungary caused the death of some 650 girls so as to bathe in their blood and even in 1880 in Paris a man named Louis Menesclou lured a four year old girl into his room, strangled and then slept with her. The truth is however that the Ripper killings revolutionised the age of sex crime, they were the first cases of sex crime in the sense that we understand it today. The brutal and increasing ferocity in the nature of the crimes seemed designed to shock London. The Ripper murders, with their nightmarish mutilations, simply went beyond normal comprehension. This sparked a sort of morbid and black curiosity within people, ensuring their instant absorption into the story of the Ripper killings.
It seemed that the Ripper had no motive for such crimes, except from perhaps harbouring a deep sexual-psychological rage towards women. The killings were certainly not economic, the women were prostitutes and rarely carried amounts of money greater than that of which could buy a large glass of gin. Another stricken motive is sexual desire, even the most attractive of the victims, Mary Jane Kelly, was described as 'a massive Irish woman who looked as if she could knock down a horse with an uppercut.' The abdominal wounds and ferocity of the killings suggest what some people call 'sexual hunger' not like the aforementioned sexual desire but a force that had gone past desire and forced the individual to achieve sexual fulfilment in more radical ways. An example of this is Sylvestre Matushka who wrecked trains in order to reach sexual climax. These seemingly random, motiveless and psychological aspects of the murder methods attracted more attention from people.
One of the main factors of interest within the Ripper case was the unresolved matter of his identity, this particular aspect amassed quite a following due to the possible theories that the killer could perhaps posses medical knowledge, making him a high class, maybe prominent within London's society. The continuing question of the Rippers existence and his ERROR: BOOK MARK NOT DEFINED to people were intriguing, it appeared that this evasive monster was above the law, laughing and ridiculing even as he told authorities where he lived. (Prince William Street, this was derived from one of the many letters allegedly sent from the Ripper, although few researchers give it much credence. Prince William Street was only yards from the main road between Aigburth and the office of the Cotton Exchange.)
The correspondence received that related to the Ripper case (almost all claming to be Jack the Ripper) was massive, and only three are now considered credible, th ERROR: BOOK MARK NOT DEFINED e 'Dear Boss' letter, the 'Saucy Jacky' postcard and the 'From Hell' letter. These, if real, all gain the reader a disturbing if valuable insight into the Rippers mind, suggesting a psychotic notion and displaying how he derived pleasure from his killings. These details served only to spark more interest in the case of this serial killer. The press reacted to the Ripper with great shock, and any news on it was widely covered. This emphasises just how much of an impact the killings made on people's lives; normally a murder in Whitechapel would receive no such coverage at all and would often go un-noticed by the press, but the sheer ferocity of the Ripper murders instantly caught their attention and after the Nichols murder coverage was widespread.
