Was JTR a member of the Whitechapel Vigilance Committee?

[Archaic]

1897 Book Mention of W.V.C.

The following passage is from an 1897 book called 'English Social Movements' by author Robert Archey Wood.
In the midst of discussing the various laudable activities of political organizers and social welfare groups associated with Toynbee Hall,
he mentions the Whitechapel Vigilance Committee.

When the terrible outbreak of crime occurred in the vicinity in 1888, a vigilance committee was organized.
With the assistance of a number of working men, the neighboring part of Whitechapel was patrolled every night for six months.

After that, as a marked improvement was noticed, the committee continued its activity only on the noisiest nights—Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays, and Mondays—up to January, 1890.

Then, after thirteen weeks had gone by with only a single disturbed night, the patrol was discontinued.

Much evidence was collected by this committee, which will be of use in the process of cleansing the district of its abominations.

I found the last sentence the most interesting. I wish the author had gone into more detail.

Note: I quoted the entire passage concerning the WVC. The subject of the book is Social Reform, so the "evidence" Wood refers to was probably something in the nature of first-hand witness accounts concerning of the rampant social evils and poverty of the Whitechapel neighborhood. The very next sentence discusses local board schools and the need to educate poor children.

Best regards, Archaic

[lynn cates]

questions

Hello Tom. Very interesting!

I have 2 quick questions.

1. Is your case strengthened by Bachert's later story about the police telling him, on the QT, that Jack had drowned himself? (Another alibi.)

2. Is it possible that Liz, in "working amongst the Jews" had inadvertently picked up a tidbit which, although meaningless to her, could have later repercussions? If so, could her death be a routine precaution? And if the answer to this is yes, then is it too hard to imagine Liz collecting her date at the door of the club, only to be felled by him a couple of steps later?

The best.
LC

[Tom_Wescott]

Hi Phil,

As Monty pointed out, the first vigilance committee to be assembled was after Tabram. But this was localised and had absolutely no connection to the committee we know as the WVC.

Monty and Phil,

I've never researched any surviving records relating to the WVC. There may be some somewhere, but I have no idea where.

Archaic,

Take a look at Warren's 'facsimile' of the graffiti and you'll see it. I should have been more specific. I meant when writing in a hand similar to the graffiti. I'm a sloppy writer, so it comes out better with mine. Of course the letters are different, but look at the 'humps'. They match. And also keep in mind that no two people who read the graffiti saw the same thing in that word. They tried to make a word of it, and some variation of 'Jews' was the best they could do. But if it wasn't a word, but an abbreviation, then that changes things and makes far more sense in this context.

Yours truly,

Tom Wescott

[Phil Carter]

The following passage is from an 1897 book called 'English Social Movements' by author Robert Archey Wood.
In the midst of discussing the various laudable activities of political organizers and social welfare groups associated with Toynbee Hall,
he mentions the Whitechapel Vigilance Committee.

When the terrible outbreak of crime occurred in the vicinity in 1888, a vigilance committee was organized.
With the assistance of a number of working men, the neighboring part of Whitechapel was patrolled every night for six months.

After that, as a marked improvement was noticed, the committee continued its activity only on the noisiest nights—Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays, and Mondays—up to January, 1890.

Then, after thirteen weeks had gone by with only a single disturbed night, the patrol was discontinued.

Much evidence was collected by this committee, which will be of use in the process of cleansing the district of its abominations.

I found the last sentence the most interesting. I wish the author had gone into more detail.

Note: I quoted the entire passage concerning the WVC. The subject of the book is Social Reform, so the "evidence" Wood refers to was probably something in the nature of first-hand witness accounts concerning of the rampant social evils and poverty of the Whitechapel neighborhood. The very next sentence discusses local board schools and the need to educate poor children.

Best regards, Archaic

Archaic,

WELL DONE! thats a really useful find.

best wishes

Phil

[Tom_Wescott]

1. Is your case strengthened by Bachert's later story about the police telling him, on the QT, that Jack had drowned himself?

This never happened. It was an invention by the author (I forget if it was Farson or McCormick)

2. Is it possible that Liz, in "working amongst the Jews" had inadvertently picked up a tidbit which, although meaningless to her, could have later repercussions? If so, could her death be a routine precaution? And if the answer to this is yes, then is it too hard to imagine Liz collecting her date at the door of the club, only to be felled by him a couple of steps later?

I don't think Liz was specifically targeted because of something she knew, if that's what you mean.

Yours truly,

Tom Wescott

[lynn cates]

yes

Hello Tom. In Bachert's case, I thought perhaps such a story would be used as an alibi.

Yes, I referred to information which Liz possessed but did not KNOW she possessed.

The best.
LC

[Tom_Wescott]

Hi Archaic, that's a neat find you have there. I'm not sure how accurate it is, but I'd love to know where the author got his info from.

It's known that the patrolmen discovered other crimes and persued other criminals that came across their path during their walks, so this is probably what he's referring to. Nothing Ripper related.

Yours truly,

Tom Wescott

[Tom_Wescott]

Hi Lynn,

It is not my argument that Albert Bachert was either the Ripper or the killer of Stride. He's merely a curious character who becomes increasing curioser the more we learn about him. I don't think Liz knew anything that got her killed, whether she was aware of her knowledge or not. There's absolutely nothing in the evidence to suggest this.

Yours truly,

Tom Wescott

[Phil Carter]

Phil,

Not sure if the registers would be archived. If they were then I feel the committee members, or their families had them. And if they did there would been deemed little use 20, 30, 50 years after the murders.

That said, and Tom may know this, I have read of some records surviving.

Monty

Monty,

Could I ask you to try and remember where you remember these from, as Tom knows not of these records?

best wishes

Phil

[Monty]

Lynn,

Just an add on to Toms post, Eddowes was also identified under the name of 'Phoebe the Jewess'...make of that was you will.

Yes, Tom is correct, WVC was quite independant from St Judes VC with the former consisting of local businessmen and residents, the latter Oxbridge students and George Yard residents.

RE IWMES = Juwes. There are two issues with this.

1 Acronyms were little used in Victorian Britain.

2 Acronyms were often all in upper case, which the Goulston Street writing is not.

Monty

[Tom_Wescott]

1 Acronyms were little used in Victorian Britain.

Yes, by today's standards. But then, we overuse acronyms today. The papers of 1888 are full of them, MP and HRH being two common examples.

2 Acronyms were often all in upper case, which the Goulston Street writing is not.

They very well could have been. Keep in mind that the writer would have been under pressure, composing his script in the dark, with chalk, on a bumpy surface.

Yours truly,

Tom Wescott

[Monty]

Tom,

Yeah, taken on board.

Monty

[Tom_Wescott]

Tom,

Yeah, taken on board.

Monty

Monty's way of saying this debate ain't worth his time.

Yours truly,

Tom Wescott

[Archaic]

Pre-Ripper Origins of WVC As Local Civic Group

Hi, guys.
In the course of my research I have come across a number of references to the Whitechapel Vigilance Committee. What they made me realize is that although the WVC as we know it was formed to patrol the neighborhood during the Whitechapel Murders, its impetus seems to have come from various inter-related citizen's groups already operating in the area.

In fact, I found an appeal for the formation of a neighborhood "Vigilance Committee" going back to 1883 and a local social reformer by the name of Reverend Barnett from St Jude's. He was concerned about vice, sanitary conditions, hunger, drunkenness, violence, and misery he saw around him. The original aim of organizing seems to have been to keep an eye on the social welfare of the local residents, to report dangerous sanitary conditions, and to provide a simple form of a "Neighborhood Watch" in order to deter any illegal activities.

I have read contemporary assertions that many members of the WVC were members of local church groups, teachers, political organizers, and even very civic-minded college alumni.
Before reading these I had imagined that the WVC sprang up spontaneously as a response to the Ripper Murders, but in fact many of its members had previously worked together on other social reform/neighborhood monitoring projects and continued to do so when the 'Ripper scare' was over. Schools were built, children were given nourishing meals and new play-grounds and holidays in the country, and prostitutes were helped to find another line of work.

I'm not sure if the various social ventures had different titles, or if the name 'Whitechapel Vigilance Committee' was already in use before 1888, but there was a definite increase in civic participation in the aftermath of the "Horrors".

> Rev. Barnett's 1883 Call For A Vigilance Committee-

Contemporary Review, 1883:
Meanwhile it is certain that much, very much, might be done to improve the condition of some of the courts and alleys and houses which have lately been exposed to the public gaze. Some of them are past mending—but by no means all of them. If action were taken at once, many places that are now in a disgraceful condition, and not to be distinguished by an unpractised eye from the very worst, might be made decent and healthy. But it is often very difficult to excite landlords to action. The occupants dare not complain directly, for they fear either ejection or an increase of rent if anything is done for them.

To meet this difficulty, experienced workers in poor neighbourhoods advocate the formation of local sanitary aid committees. I have before me a letter from the Rev. S. Barnett, Vicar of St. Jude's, Whitechapel, a gentleman whose experience entitles him. to a hearing on the general subject of the housing of the poor, and to whose judgment great prominence should be given.

He says in this letter :—"Cleaning can be enforced, and what is needed is a vigilance committee of volunteers, who shall daily collect information of such nuisances and force the notice of them upon the medical officer."

In regard to infectious diseases and overcrowding, he says: "All that is wanted is again an active vigilance committee, which, of 'course, should be in connection with, or rather should include, all those working the district in lay or clerical capacity." Such committees are in existence in some parts of London, and are working well. Multiplied so as to cover the whole metropolitan area they would do wonders. But they must be large, and they must work systematically. It is to be hoped that this point will not be lost sight of.

I pass now to another view of the general subject. To repeat Mr. Barnett's words, quoted above, "cleaning can be enforced." In other words, the existing laws, if properly administered, would meet and effectually grapple with a very large amount of the evils now so common—filth, overcrowding, and vice. (The article then goes on to a discussion of the Public Health Act.)

The Delta Epsilon Quarterly, Volume 27, 1908:
The pioneer settlement house, Toynbee Hall, was established in London in 1884, as the direct outcome of the influence of such men as Ruskin, John Richard Green, the historian, and Thomas Hill Green, the philosopher. It was the result of the great concern felt throughout England, at that time, on account of the distress among the working population of London and the other large cities in England. The students at Oxford began to ask themselves what university men could do in order to meet their share of this national responsibility.
They were proposing to establish a center for university extension lectures in East London, when the Rev. Samuel A. Barnett, Vicar of Whitechapel, now Canon of Westminster, urged upon them the vital importance of having a group of university men who should become local citizens and neighbors in a district from which responsible and resourceful people had entirely disappeared. This suggestion was immediately adopted, and, after a first season in a disused public house, the Settlement found itself in a building quite suggestive of Oxford, behind a warehouse, but having a small quadrangle with vines and flowers and a tennis court at the rear.

One of the first things which the Toynbee men did was to organize a vigilance committee to patrol the district at night. This was done on account of a serious outbreak of crime. The patrol was continued for nearly two years.

Next they undertook to convince the people of the need of a public library, and after two years of the most thorough political work the library was established by popular vote. An annual picture show was begun, which has, by this time, become one of the artistic events of the year in London. Much work has been done in developing the service of the public schools and of the charities of the district.

1890 Wesleyan-Methodist Magazine:
The parish library is doing much to turn the public tastes from low literature; while the Vigilance Committee, in its disinterested and practical way, has been hard at work collecting facts, which tell their own sad story of neglect and selfishness. Neglect has been indirectly the means of sheltering vice, and creating a public opinion in favour of vice. Much has been done and much waits to be done to improve the sanitary condition of the district aptly termed the ' scourge of East London,' which covers about three acres of ground. Many of the members of the Vigilance Committee are regular attendants at St. Jude's Church.

Reading contemporary accounts such as these has given me a whole new perspective on who the members of the WVC were and what they were doing. I suppose that in the past I had seen them as more of a 'citizen's police force', closer to the concept of 'vigilantes' or even 'security guards' rather than as civic-minded community activists.

Best regards, Archaic

[Tom_Wescott]

Archaic,

Vigilance committees were not a new thing in 1888, but the Vigilance Committee we're discussing, headed by Joseph Aarons and George Lusk, formed following the Chapman murder.

Yours truly,

Tom Wescott