Why did Aberline resign?

[Hatchett]

Hi,

Sorry Maurice for the "strangely" I was mistaking you for someone else. Silly me. Please forgive me.

Best wishes.

[The Grave Maurice]

There is nothing at all to forgive, Hatchett. I say a lot of strange things, and I say some things strangely. Fortunately, I have Chris to make the necessary corrections. But, I'm happy to see that we all seem to agree that there was nothing whatever odd about Abberline's retirement.

[Hatchett]

Thanks Maurice,

I can be strange too in both what I say and the way I am. But who wants to be normal.

Best wishes.

[Stephen Thomas]

My own feeling is that Aberline left the Met because of his involvement in the Cleveland Street and Jack the Ripper cover-ups and he didn't need ongoing aggravation. How mysterious is it that his two biggest cases don't appear in his scrapbook?

As I said, just a 'feeling'.

[Hatchett]

Hi Stephen,

Everyone is entitled to have their own feelings about things. I tend to go for the simplest explanations. I think Abberline had had enough, the pension was right, and he decided on a well deserved change.

Best wishes.

[ChrisGeorge]

My own feeling is that Aberline left the Met because of his involvement in the Cleveland Street and Jack the Ripper cover-ups and he didn't need ongoing aggravation. How mysterious is it that his two biggest cases don't appear in his scrapbook?

As I said, just a 'feeling'.

Hi Stephen

I think you make a very good point that Abberline was probably exhausted after dealing with the stress of those two major investigations, with all the political implications of both cases.

All the best

Chris

[Phil Carter]

Hello all,

On 17th January 1892 the Rocky Mountain News [Colorado] reported a story datelined London, Saturday 2nd January 1892, announcing that "a royal commission is to investigate the now almost forgotten Whitechapel murders."

Five days later, on Thursday 7th January 1892, Chief Inspector Abberline resigned one day shy of his 49th birthday, his pension kicking in one month later on 7th February 1892.

Coincidence?

best wishes

Phil

[ChrisGeorge]

Hello all,

On 17th January 1892 the Rocky Mountain News [Colorado] reported a story datelined London, Saturday 2nd January 1892, announcing that "a royal commission is to investigate the now almost forgotten Whitechapel murders."

Five days later, on Thursday 7th January 1892, Chief Inspector Abberline resigned one day shy of his 49th birthday, his pension kicking in one month later on 7th February 1892.

Coincidence?

best wishes

Phil

Hi Phil

You bring up an interesting point. However, police officers are used to official investigations of police procedures in different cases, both today and back then. The resignation sounds a bit sudden if the announcement of the Royal commission was the reason. More likely, Abberline had been contemplating resigning for some time before he actually tendered his resignation.

Best regards

Chris

[The Grave Maurice]

And he may, as many people still do, have taken his annual leave just prior to his retirement.

[Hatchett]

Hi

I'm with you Maurice. I think it was just a simple early retirement and a supplementary job.

Best wishes.

[Phil H]

Abberline had been closely involved in twohigh-profile and demanding cases before his retirement: the Whitechapel murders and the Cleveland St scandal.

In both, senior officers within the Met Police and the Home Office were involved and there was a good deal of political interest (in the widest sense of the word). There certainly appears to have been high-level intervention in the case of Cleveland St and potentially in the case of JtR (if words attributed to Munro, for instance, are to be believed).

Both cases must have been demanding and stressful for Abberline and he may, in the case of Cleveland St, have felt that he was frustrated in his management of it.

Further, one doesn't know how far the changes in the upper echelons of the Yard may have effected officers like Abberline as they saw first Munro be sidelined, then Warren forced out and finally Munro return and be replaced in quick order. Personalities can play a large part in the satisfaction people get out of work and their desire to remain within a organisation. If members of the organisation believe it is changing from what they believe it should be, or are used to, then they may be driven to resign.

Such things are impossible to evaluate for Abberline as he left no memoirs which might have given us an explanation or clues.

He went, so I deduce that either opportunity beckoned or conditions became intolerable, or both coincided. But I doubt we will ever know for sure.

Phil

[YankeeSergeant]

Cover ups?

My own feeling is that Aberline left the Met because of his involvement in the Cleveland Street and Jack the Ripper cover-ups and he didn't need ongoing aggravation. How mysterious is it that his two biggest cases don't appear in his scrapbook?

As I said, just a 'feeling'.

Stephen, Just a query. You mention cover ups and I certainly can see that in the Cleveland Street Scandal but can you elaborate on the Jack the Ripper cover up?