Request for info

[Herlock Sholmes]

This question comes after a point made to me by George. At the Chapman inquest Nurse Simonds said that she was told to strip the body by Inspector Chandler. This wasn’t the case though.

”Inspector Chandler stated he did not instruct the nurses to undress and wash the body. The Coroner’s officer said it was done by order of the clerk to the guardians.”

Does anyone know who this clerk to the guardians was?

[Kattrup]

William Vallance, I believe

Appointed clerk to Whitechapel Union in 1868. Died 1909.

[Herlock Sholmes]

William Vallance, I believe

Appointed clerk to Whitechapel Union in 1868. Died 1909.

Thanks for that Kattrup. Do you know what his role was and why he would have been present? It seems strange that he would have ordered the body stripped and washed?

[Kattrup]

As clerk, I believe he was the main administrative employee of the Whitechapel union. As I understand it, according to the Poor Law and Metropolitan poor act and probably other laws, London was divided into districts administering the provisions of those laws, that is to provide poor relief to the worthy and needy by for instance running a workhouse and an infirmary.
So the Whitechapel union was one such district, comprised of several parishes, and was led by a board of guardians responsible for enacting poor relief in that district.
To help the board do that, they hired a clerk to manage the daily administrative tasks.

So why was he present? I dont know, it seems likely he was informed that a murder victim had been brought to the infirmary mortuary and that the mortuary would be required for the postmortem. And as the main administrative employee, he went to keep an eye on things and represent the board. He would probably be expected to report to them on such unusual and extraordinary occurrences.

As for why he ordered the body washed, I’ve no idea. Perhaps he just thought it was the right thing to do. Perhaps he was upset it was soiling his pristine mortuary.

Note that I’m not an expert on the Poor Laws and Acts etc so I’ve probably misunderstood something, hopefully someone better informed can chime in.

[Kattrup]

It looks like there’s a long obituary of him in:
Charity Organisation Review New Series, Vol. 26, No. 154 (OCTOBER 1909), pp. 268-271
which is why I assumed he died 1909.

Many other volumes of the series are available online, but that one is not available to me at present.