Police Section Houses (H Division)

[PC2267]

Ladies/Gents,

I'm currently researching a police officer who I know in 1897 was with H Division, according to the 1901 census, he and 11 other Constables and a Sergeant where living at 102 Mile End Road, Old Town. I assume this was a Police Section house. Can anyone tell me anything about it? Does it still exist?

[PC2267]

Thought it might be of interest, if I listed the other Officers who lived there, in case anyone's got his medal(s) in their collections?

Sgt Robert CARAHER
PC Thomas CLARKE
PC Henrylo DESSERT ?
PC John J DURKIN
PC John ETHERINGTON
PC Fred K GOODLING
PC Sidney R GREENMAN
PC George HARMAN
PC Joseph E HAYNES
PC Henry F LUCAS
PC Henry RUTTER
PC James SAMPSON
PC George E Scarlett

Sadly I don't recognise any of them as names from the Ripper case, which is a shame!

[Bridewell]

If anyone knows it'll be Monty. It might be worth sending him a PM.

[Monty]

Part of a discussion taken from H Division Crimes Club Facebook page.

Neil Bell
There were three in H Division, however one actually housed G Division men.
Like · 1 · Edit · Wednesday at 20:27

Neil Bell
Mile End Road and Denmark Street.
Like · 1 · Edit · Wednesday at 20:28

Gordon Caldecott
Only 3, but G Division used one, that is interesting. That would suggest that most of the Officers were married or lived in private digs? Assuming PC Ernest THOMPSON was a single man, is it known if he lived in a section house? Given the location of his death and were he found Francis COLES, etc would I be right in thinking he was stationed at Shadwell station?
Like · Report · Wednesday at 20:40

Neil Bell
No, Leman Street.
Like · 2 · Edit · Wednesday at 20:44

Gordon Caldecott
Am I right in thinking then that given the locations of all the Ripper victims (excluding Eddowes & Nicols), that they would have all been dealt with by the Commercial Street station bobbies. Coles & the Pinchin Street torso, would have been dealt with by Leman Street. Which areas did Shadwell & Arbour Square cover? Now that I can be pretty certain that my guy was stationed in Shadwell or Arbour, is there anyway of confirm which one?
Like · Report · Wednesday at 20:58

Gordon Caldecott
Yellow dots for the stations blue for the station houses (assuming there roughly in the right places). Can we ascertain the boundaries which each station was responsible for or didn't it work like that? We know that Mile End supplied Officers for Shadwell & Arbour. I assume then that Denmark Street, supplied Officers for Leman & Commerical? Further assuming that Denmark had a similar number of officers as Mile End, that's only 25 Officers total, I assume then that the rest were married or lived in their own digs somewhere either on or slightly off patch?

Edited · Like · Report · Wednesday at 21:26

Gordon Caldecott
Something like this perhaps?

Like · Report · Wednesday at 21:24

Neil Bell
The Section House men would cover all the sub divisions, however Leman St and Commercial St were larger stations than Arbour Square and Shadwell. So the need to cover the latter two was greater. However, as I said, there's no fix regulation on the matter.
Edited · Like · 1 · Edit · Wednesday at 21:27

Gordon Caldecott
Makes sense. So by that rational then, the officers from the section houses could find themselves assigned to different stations as and when operational demands required and at short notice? Especially during the height of the Ripper murders.
Edited · Like · Report · Wednesday at 21:31

Neil Bell
Absolutely.
Like · 1 · Edit · Wednesday at 21:32

https://m.facebook.com/questions.php?question_id=390033047849559&qa_ref=qd&p=10

Monty

[PC2267]

102 Mile End Road, Old Town.

[Bridewell]

I was right!

[PC2267]

Has anyone got an census's from the other section houses/police stations that they could share with me?

[PC2267]

In Neil Bell's excellent book Capturing Jack the Ripper (if you haven't read it I highly recommend it). He states that the Met owned houses within each division where the married men were quatered.This being so that the constables lived close together and increased camaraderie. To that end I wonder whether Bewley St Model Dwellings was one such location? It's just round the corner from Shadwell Police Station and I know of at least one bobby PC250H William WHIFFIN, who resided there with his wife and child. It would be interesting to see if any other bobbies lived there and whether their names can be connected to any particular station?

[Emma Carew]

Section houses for City police

Would the City police have had a similar setup for their policemen? I'm specifically wondering where someone working at Bishopsgate station would have lived. The Booth poverty map only gives the blurriest of gray sketches for the City. Was the City, as it seems to be now, largely a commercial/industrial zone dominated by shops and train stations, or were there more houses than there are now?

[PC2267]

Would the City police have had a similar setup for their policemen? I'm specifically wondering where someone working at Bishopsgate station would have lived. The Booth poverty map only gives the blurriest of gray sketches for the City. Was the City, as it seems to be now, largely a commercial/industrial zone dominated by shops and train stations, or were there more houses than there are now?

I would assume, if he was married, he could have lived anywhere. If he was single then I would further assume that he'd have lived in a nearby section house, or even in the station it's self?

[Rosella]

The City was always a financial centre so there were many offices and merchant banks etc., but people also lived there.

The police station at Bishopgate St, Bishopgate, had a well-known infirmary and a section house attached to it. There were section houses scattered all over London.

I don't have information about the location of any other section houses in the City but Neil Bell, in his 'Capturing Jack the Ripper' states that 'All large police stations within the Met and City of London forces held accommodation quarters within which typically resided unmarried constables'. There was probably such accommodation at Cloak Lane Police Station as Acting Commissioner Smith was awoken from his bed on the night of the double event there.

In the 20th century there was a section house in Golden Lane that was later named Bernard Morgan House but I don't know if it was there at the time of the Ripper.