Examp of FOI request for Special Branch information

[Phil H]

No, I have no interest in writing or pursuing FOI requests in my own interest.

It would be a waste of time for "colleagues" given that there is nothing that I want to see badly enough.

I am more than happy to assist those with burning issues though.

Phil H

[auspirograph]

Special Branch Records

Is it really the case that the only pre-1916 records that survive are the ones described in Clutterbuck's thesis? And if so when were the other pre-1916 records destroyed?

Yes, it does now appear to be the case. Clutterbuck had to reconstruct and date events stemming from around 1882 with only the sequential index entries to guide him. Though the index ledgers are separated in dated volumes.

The attached files would have been destroyed sometime between 1956, as Browne noted sighting Macnaghten's Balfour statement, and as Porter was writing his Special Branch histories during the 1980's.

The issue of informants, or rather the handling of informants, appears to be the most sensitive, as noted in the FOI Metropolitan Police objections to ongoing disclosures despite their knowledge now in the public domain.

I have fully documented, as far as is possible and based on the details found in Jack the Ripper: Scotland Yard Investigates, their history and context in the Whitechapel murders in my book.