Adolphus Williamson

[lynn cates]

sport

Hello Simon. Yup, know that one. The Irish had great sport with that, um, no pun intended.

Cheers.
LC

[Simon Wood]

Hi Lynn,

Check back on the Dublin Castle scandal.

By comparison, Cleveland Street was small beer.

Regards,

Simon

[lynn cates]

not in favour

Hello Simon. Thanks. Dublin castle was not much favoured back then.

Cheers.
LC

[Simon Wood]

Hi Lynn,

Dublin Castle employed only "an scum fearr" to achieve its ends.

This was not the UK's finest moment.

Regards,

Simon

[lynn cates]

meeting

Hello Simon. Thanks.

"Perhaps then it was a smart piece of commercial opportunism."

I can live with that.

But my problem was in his contact with Alice. I thought it was unauthorised and had alarmed the poor girl?

Cheers.
LC

[Simon Wood]

Hi Bridewell,

Are you seriously suggesting that Lloyds Weekly News put the arm on Meiklejohn to insert a paid advertisement?

How and why?

Regards,

Simon

[Bridewell]

But instructed by whom? we must ask.

Hi Simon,

Instructed by Lloyds Weekly News themselves perhaps? just a thought.

Regards, Bridewell.

[Simon Wood]

Hi Lynn,

John Meiklejohn, one of the most corrupt, lying, cheating, bad-arse cops imaginable, who was drummed out of the Metropolitan Police in the Turf Fraud scandal, turns up in Ireland a few years later working on behalf of Dublin Castle [HMG] in the matter of the Phoenix Park murders/Alice Carroll et al and then, to cap it all, as a private inquiry agent, becomes "instructed in the matter of the Whitechapel mystery."

It almost beggars belief.

But instructed by whom? we must ask. I can't imagine Scotland Yard putting out the Ripper investigation to private tender. They weren't that interested.

Perhaps then it was a smart piece of commercial opportunism. Meiklejohn certainly sounds like an ambulance-chaser [and in those days you didn't have to run too fast to keep up].

Imagine all the nutbags with a whacky theory who might have beat a path to his door in the hope of securing a liberal reward, little realising that an up-front "investigative" fee was involved.

Merely my ramblings.

Regards,

Simon

[lynn cates]

P I

Hello Phil. Well, something there is that doesn't love a private investigator.

Cheers.
LC

[Phil Carter]

Hello Simon. Good heavenly days! If I were cynical I might say this looks like a probe that was sent out.

Hmmmm.

Cheers.
LC

Hello Lynn,

I am, and yes, it does, doesnt it!

Best wishes

Phil

[lynn cates]

probe

Hello Simon. Good heavenly days! If I were cynical I might say this looks like a probe that was sent out.

Hmmmm.

Cheers.
LC

[Simon Wood]

All Roads Lead to Rome

Hi Lynn,

Small world, eh?

Lloyds Weekly News, 18th November 1888 -



Regards,

Simon

[Bridewell]

Good post, Autolycus.

Agree with you about 'Dolly' Williamson.
He achieved the highest rank any 'career' policeman ever did at a time when the 'top' positions were dominated by patronage appointments.

The difference between him and somebody like... say Macnaghten... is like night and day. You never can substitute experience with anything comparable.

I couldn't agree more. There is no substitute for experience in the relevant field. I think 19th century police officers, generally, are unfairly maligned, and the senior detective officers particularly so, Abberline most of all.

Regards, Bridewell.

[lynn cates]

nemesis

Hello All. Found a link to the scandal mentioned above.

If I recall properly, Meiklejohn became a private investigator and, I think, made an unauthorised entry with Alice Carroll (careful the double entendre).

Given Williamson's intelligence work with Fenianism, and Williamson's "clean up" of Meiklejohn's mess, it looks almost like Meiklejohn is his nemesis.

Cheers.
LC

http://www.met.police.uk/history/turf_fraud.htm

[lynn cates]

Q & A

Hello Simon. Thanks for that.

2 quick questions.

1. Did not the CID and Williamson's place therein spring, at least in part, from the embarrassment of the "Turf Scandal"?

2. Aren't a few of his letters to/from Secretary Harcourt extant?

Cheers.
LC