Toffs in Whitechapel

[Writerboy]

ON the BBC's excellent Shadow of the Rippe documentary from 1988, surely the most level headed of all docs on the subject, Christopher Frayling at one point wanders Wiltons Music Hall explaining how it was really a glorified brothel with toffs taking girls from the stage up to the rooms for cheap sex.

He also says that the toff be he Burlington Bertie or Champagne Charlie had become a stock figure by then, "jeered at by the locals, cheered at by the men upstairs". This suggests an audience of poor and wealthy. It made me wonder: were there really that many toffs frequenting the East End back then? Wouldn't it have been dangerous for them? Wouldn't they have stood out? Or was it a common practice? We so often are asked to see the Ripper as a toff and Ive always wondered how plentiful toffs (or coaches for that matter) were there and then.

[Ben]

Hi Writerboy,

Check out the very similarly named "Toffs in Spitalfields" thread here:

http://forum.casebook.org/showthread.php?t=1949

As you'll note from the discussion, I very strongly reject the idea that "toffs" were prevalent in either district, and regard the efforts to warp "Jack" into a toff as a form of titillation.

[Wickerman]

It made me wonder: were there really that many toffs frequenting the East End back then?

Hi Writerboy.
A straight answer, ...you will not find a more informed opinion on Casebook than you already have with Christopher Frayling.

Wouldn't it have been dangerous for them?

Yes, it would and it was, but many of them scoffed at the danger.
To some, the ever present danger was part of the attraction.

We so often are asked to see the Ripper as a toff and Ive always wondered how plentiful toffs (or coaches for that matter) were there and then.

Toff is often used here as more of a derogatory term.
You already have your answer as to the presence of these Toffs in the East End, but to think of the Ripper as a Toff is highly unlikely, most of them wouldn't get their hands dirty.

There are suspects in Whitechapel described as 'well-dressed', but you didn't have to be rich to be better dressed than the average dosser who spent all day & night in the same clothes.
'Well-dressed', in this context, should never be interpreted as meaning 'Toff'.