Henry Cox

[Rob Clack]

Robert Sagar joined the City Police on 1 January 1880 and was certified fit for service on the 27 February 1880.
He became a Detective Constable on the 7 February 1884 so I would think started of as a uniform constable.

Rob

[robhouse]

What year was the photo taken?

[Rob Clack]

1887 I believe.

[Chris]

The photo of City Police officers on the roof of Snow Hill police station in 1887 is on p. 232 of Scotland Yard Investigates.

I wonder if the fourth man on the front row could be Sagar? The comparison below is with a photo published by the City Press at the time of his retirement in 1905, again courtesy of Stewart Evans. If so, he must have put on a lot of weight over the intervening 18 years, but the eyes and eyebrows look rather similar to me.

[Chris]

The only man in plain clothes who looks anything like Cox is the one in the middle. I think it could be him, but it's difficult to know.

[Rob Clack]

Don't know if this is any clearer Chris.



Rob

[Chris]

Don't know if this is any clearer Chris.

Thanks. That's much clearer. Here's an improved version of the Sagar comparison. I'm inclined to think it is Sagar, but it would be nice to have a second opinion.

[Chris]

Here's a similar comparison between the man in the middle and the photo of Henry Cox from the Police Review of 1906.

[Rob Clack]

Thanks. That's much clearer. Here's an improved version of the Sagar comparison. I'm inclined to think it is Sagar, but it would be nice to have a second opinion.

[ATTACH]8993[/ATTACH]

I think your right and it could very well be Sagar. The eyes and shape of the nose are pretty close. Although I wouldn't say for definite.

Rob

[Stewart P Evans]

Detectives

I have always maintained that some, if not most, of the well-known City detectives appear in this 1887 photograph. The photograph originated with Don Rumbelow who gave me a first generation copy many years ago. I did do some close-up shots of the indvidual officers and the two being discussed here are reproduced below.

[robhouse]

I do think these suggestions for Sagar and Cox are quite plausible... I thought this guy looked like Cox, but I don't know if he would wear a uniform. He looks right around the eyes to me.

RH

[Scott Nelson]

Are those are sergeant's stripes on the left? Was Cox a sergeant in 1887?

[Chris]

Many thanks to Stewart for posting those images, which are clearer still.

Regarding uniform and rank:
(1) The article on Cox in the Police Review, 7 December 1906 (posted above), says he was in uniform for "nearly three years". He joined the force on 21 July 1881, so it seems that he would have been in plain clothes by 1884.

(2) Judging by references in the Old Bailey Proceedings, he was promoted to inspector between July 1894 and May 1896. From the same article, he had been promoted to sergeant three years earlier, so that would have been around 1892.

(3) As Scott mentioned, there are several statements in press articles about Sagar that he was unique in never having been in uniform.

"The circumstances of his joining the police force were, therefore, peculiar, but that is not the only unusual feature associated with it, as Detective-inspector Sagar is the only officer of the City of London Police who has never donned a uniform."
[City Press, 7 January 1905]

"... it is stated that he was the only member of the City Force who went through 25 years' police service without having to wear a uniform."
[Brighton Gazette, 6 December 1924]

"Insp. Sagar was the only member of the City Force who went through 25 years police service without having to wear a uniform. He had a large hand in tracing the perpetrators of many notorious crimes, and spent much time trying to trace Jack the Ripper."
[Southern Weekly News, 6 December 1924]

"Exactly how it was done, no one knows, but it is certain that young Sagar went direct to the detective force of the City. He never did duty in the streets as an ordinary constable, and also never wore a uniform."
[City Press, 6 December 1924]

[Chris]

Like father, like daughter

An interesting twist: Henry Cox's memoirs, published in 25 instalments in Thomson's Weekly News in 1906-1907, originally discovered by Nick Connell, were followed by 5 instalments of "My Experiences as a Lady Detective", which appeared under the name of his daughter, Miss Constance Cox:

[Chris]

Memoirs

I have now compiled transcripts/copies of all 25 instalments of Henry Cox's memoirs (published in Thomson's Weekly News between 15 September 1906 and 2 March 1907, preceded by a short introductory article) and of the 5 instalments of the memoirs of his daughter Constance (published between 13 April and 11 May 1907, again preceded by an introductory article). They are partly transcripts in text format and partly scans in jpg format.

I have bundled them into a large zip file (27 MB). Please send me a private message if you'd like to download it.

The memoirs are quite interesting, but there are no further revelations about the Whitechapel Murders, and it's obvious that quite a lot of journalistic licence has been used in preparing them for publication, with large chunks of fiction having been inserted in places - predominantly romantic fiction, in the case of the Constance Cox articles.

Below is a list of the dates and titles of the articles.

Harry Cox

8 September 1906
Famous Cases from my Notebook - 25 Years of Detective Work. [Introductory article]

15 September 1906
[Morgan, Drexel & Company forgery case]

22 September 1906
The Affair at the Foreign Consulate.

29 September 1906
The Mysteries of Mincing Lane.

6 October 1906
Sidelights on The Moat Farm Mystery.

13 October 1906
The Exploits of an American Adventuress.

20 October 1906
The Smartest Lad in London.

27 October 1906
The Begging Letter King.

3 November 1906
My Adventures among Anarchists.

10 November 1906
The Adventures of Two Little Vagabonds.

17 November 1906
Shadowing the Missing Jeweller.

24 November 1906
Billingsgate Market Robberies.

1 December 1906
The Truth about the Whitechapel Mysteries.

8 December 1906
The Leadenhall Market Mysteries [a.k.a. Mysterious Thefts of Horses and Carts in London City].

15 December 1906
How I Arrested a Famous Coiner.

22 December 1906
Harpies of the Race-Course.

29 December 1906
Forging Bank of England Notes.

5 January 1907
Remarkable Career of "Gentleman John."

12 January 1907
The Amazing Career of "The Baron."

19 January 1907
Shadowing a Notorious Forger.

26 January 1907
Daring Scheme to Rob a Bank.

2 February 1907
Tracing a Schoolboy Forger.

9 February 1907
Dodges of London Harpies.

16 February 1907
Thrilling Hunt after Bank Robber.

23 February 1907
Arresting a Foreign Gambler.

2 March 1907
To Sunderland for a Book-Keeper.

Miss Constance Cox

6 April 1907
My Experiences as a Lady Detective. [Introductory article]

13 April 1907
The Hunted Lovers.

20 April 1907
The Story of the Lost Jewels.

27 April 1907
A Life for a Love.

4 May 1907
Tracking a Rich Kleptomaniac.

11 May 1907
The Ways of Fashionable Shoplifters.