Whitechapel Flashcards
Story of Harriet lane
Henry wainwright had an affair w her, and when his business began to fail he could no longer support her, so he killed her. Put her in chlorine, then chopped her up.
Henry was hanged 1875
Story of Sarah Fischer
Convicted of unlawfully exposing her child. Nov 1873, she was begging w her 18 month old. Fischer was arrested
Baby was taken to a workhouse and died three sayd later
She was found guilty and in trial she pleases, ‘I am very sorry that I was begging. I have lost my baby now’
Charles booth
Him and 80 other researchers developed a map of the poverty and living conditions in Whitechapel
He realised that the census is inaccurate
Interviews police on beats to find their views
Flower and dean street
902 lodgers in 31 doss houses 16ft street Buckets and pots for toilet 4d prices Had a rep of thieves drunkards and prostitutes
How many people lived per acre
188.6
How many people lived per square foot?
25,6
What were workhouses like
For those who couldn’t afford a bed, too poor, to sick, too young
Families were segregated and were not allowed to communicate
Dictated lifestyle
Uniform and would do manual labour
Casual ward
Took up to 400 ppl but had only room for 60
Harsh rules
Had to work for their bed for one night
Pick oakum
The Peabody estate
1879 bought by Peabody trust
28 flats built by1881
Each flat was a yard apart for ventilation
Shared bathrooms and kitchens
Rents were too high and just increased overcrowding in other areas
Why didnt people leave Whitechapel
Lots of opportunities for work, sweatshops, tanneries etc
They did have enough money to be able to leave as jobs were insecure and money was used in paying for food and a place to sleep
Reasons for criminal behaviour
Criminal underclass - residuum
Losging houses and pubs - dry cramped conditions and people could spread ideas about crime there, and thus influence ppl
Alcohol - coping, addiction, led to crime, all JTR victims were alcoholics
Immigration - Irish and russian jews
Socialism and anarchism - Irish fenian groups
Difficulty of reform - reformers wanted to open up he east end
How many russian jews were their in Whitechapel
30,000 between 1881 and 1891, jews were a target as they were segregated as their culture differed
What did Irish fenian groups do and what did they want?
They wanted Irish independence
Series of bombing occurred
Edmund Henderson
Commissioner in 1870
He relaxed police discipline
Allowed beards to be grown and reduced military drill
Why was Henderson replaced and when
Seen as too lenient
Irish fenian terrorism bombing in 1884-85
Embarrassing as 1 yr prior special Irish brach was set up to stop this
He was replaced in Jan 1886
Charles warren
Took firm military approach
Raised standards
Used force to put down a protest in nov 1887, criticised for this
What division was whitechapel in
H division
Recruiting constables
Recruited by Scotland Yard, they were trained and then sent to divisions to work
They were given 2 weeks training
Recruits were bought up in country
Had 1871 instruction book for candidates and constables for new recruits
What was the head of the met police called?
Scotland yard
H division
Consisted of 19 inspectors 44 sergeants 441 constables 505 police covering 176000 population 1 policeman for every 300 people
Police uniform
- wollen trousers and jacket
- top hat, helmet, custodian
- stand out
- deep blue colour
- hand cuffs
- oil fired bullseye lamp
The beat
Constables patrol a route given by the sergeant
Times precisely, sergeant meet constable at certain place at certain time
Before radio it was the only way to track them
Route walked every 15 mins
9 hr shift, 8 hrs walking, 1 hr studying crimes
New route each month to prevent corruption
Criminals would know beat and know when to do crime
CID - central investigation division
Met wasnt favoured so detective force wasn’t set up until 1842
Set up to attract constables to become detectives, investigate crimes that they suspect rather than wait for them to be reported
Detectives day to day work?
- worked in plain clothes
- shadow suspects or make arrests
- received report from chief inspector in each division which listed on giving crimes
- looked out for habitual criminals
- records kept in register of habitual criminals at Scotland Yard
- supervised prisoners released for good behaviour
Why was policing in Whitechapel difficult
Alcohol - vulnerable to be victims, violence and abuse in families Henry seigenburg case of father beating him
Pubs - gambling, illegal boxing
Gangs - protection rackets which threatened owners of Jewish businesses
Prostitution - all JTR victims were prostitutes to get money for alcohol or lodgings
Immigration - lots of jews, treated badly
Political demonstrations and attacks - riot on 16 march 1889 by jews for the bad working conditions, police raided the OWA and arrested the leaders of the March, another strike of 10,000 sweatshops
Attack on jews-
