Police In The Whitechapel Aftermath

[Curious Cat]

Does anyone know if there was a higher rate of dismissal/leaving among police officers who were directly involved in the Whitechapel murders compared to the rest of the police force in London around the same time?

[bolo]

Hi Curious,

there was a lot of coming and going in H and J Divisons between September 1888 and February 1889. The numbers of members of the force in plain clothes and uniform were gradually increased and decreased following the events in Whitechapel and the City, if it's that what you mean. However, as far as I know there were no quick dismissals after the murder of Mary Kelly, the numbers were kept high until December and then gradually decreased from January 1889 onwards.

Grüße,

Boris

[Trevor Marriott]

Hi Curious,

there was a lot of coming and going in H and J Divisons between September 1888 and February 1889. The numbers of members of the force in plain clothes and uniform were gradually increased and decreased following the events in Whitechapel and the City, if it's that what you mean. However, as far as I know there were no quick dismissals after the murder of Mary Kelly, the numbers were kept high until December and then gradually decreased from January 1889 onwards.

Grüße,

Boris

This evidence comes from official police sources and is contained in a Home Office file numbered HO 144/221A49301G, and is with The National Archives. This file relates to the payment of additional expenses to police officers drafted into Whitechapel at the time of the murders. It has been long suggested that a short time after the Mary Kelly murder in November 1888 the police operation in Whitechapel was wound down.

Some researchers suggest that it was because the police knew the identity of the killer and that fact that he could not kill again. This could relate to the Druitt theory, or perhaps Tumblety fleeing the country, or soon to e discussed Kosminski being caged in a lunatic asylum.

The truth is that this file shows that the police who were drafted into Whitechapel were kept on at great additional expense long after the Mary Kelly murder. They were not stood down for some considerable time after the Kelly murder.

In July 1889 in Whitechapel there was still a complement of three sergeants and thirty-nine constables from other divisions outside Whitechapel, that decreased slightly in January 1890 to three sergeants and twenty-six constables and in March 1890 it was reduced even more to two sergeants and eleven constables which may indicate that they suspected the murder of Alice McKenzie in July 1889 as being the work of the Ripper.

This same file contains memos from many senior officers regarding the concerns over the cost of this extra manpower. Clearly, this shows that up until then the police did not have any clue as to the identity of Jack the Ripper or any suspicions about any other killer or killers. So that must eliminate Druitt, Tumblety and Ostrog from further suspicion.

www.trevormarriott.co.uk

[Simon Wood]

Hi All,

Chief Inspector Henry Moore retired in 1913.

Not much is known about his role in the Whitechapel murders other than he sent Sergeant White to see Matthew Packer, and that he offered a grand guignol description of Room 13.

So I would like to know how he spent the not inconsiderable sum of £76. 11s. 0d.

Here's his expenses, dated December 1889.



Regards,

Simon

[Curious Cat]

Hi Curious,

there was a lot of coming and going in H and J Divisons between September 1888 and February 1889. The numbers of members of the force in plain clothes and uniform were gradually increased and decreased following the events in Whitechapel and the City, if it's that what you mean. However, as far as I know there were no quick dismissals after the murder of Mary Kelly, the numbers were kept high until December and then gradually decreased from January 1889 onwards.

Grüße,

Boris

Sorry, the question was perhaps a little vague. But yes, I see what you mean about there being quite a bit of movement in numbers of officers throughout the case.

What I was aiming at was if the officers who came into contact with the victims, on duty on the nights/days of the murders near the sites or were close to the investigation were more prone to leaving the force under a cloud relative to the rest of the force in the following few years. Did they leave as a matter of course - they'd simply done their time - or had their mood/behaviour been affected by the murders? Was there a hidden level of PTSD among those who worked in Whitechapel over those last months of 1888?

[bolo]

What I was aiming at was if the officers who came into contact with the victims, on duty on the nights/days of the murders near the sites or were close to the investigation were more prone to leaving the force under a cloud relative to the rest of the force in the following few years. Did they leave as a matter of course - they'd simply done their time - or had their mood/behaviour been affected by the murders? Was there a hidden level of PTSD among those who worked in Whitechapel over those last months of 1888?

I don't know of any official ressources covering these issues but something tells me that most of the higher officers were not harmed by the horrible things they had seen but by the simple fact that they were involved in a huge case which they could not solve. They were directly or indirectly pummelled by large parts of the press for their alleged incompetence in catching the culprit which let the murderer look like a criminal genius and the police like a bunch of yokels wearing blinds and poking around in the dark. Neither assumption is true but it still shaped public opinion of the case which I'm sure the officers involved must have noticed but not condoned at all.

[Bridewell]

Does anyone know if there was a higher rate of dismissal/leaving among police officers who were directly involved in the Whitechapel murders compared to the rest of the police force in London around the same time?

It would be good to know but it's probably unknowable.