Whitechapel

Question 1

What was Whitechapel housing like?

Answer 1

Most houses were in overcrowded slum areas known as “rookeries”
Houses were divided into apartments with up to 30 people inside
There were lodging houses with little more than a bed in squalid conditions
The Peabody estate opened in 1881 providing flats for 20 shillings

Question 2

What was the Whitechapel population?

Answer 2

30,000 and 1,000 of which were homeless

Question 3

What were workhouses like?

Answer 3

Work houses were set up in the 19th century as part of the poor relief
Conditions were very bad to put people off
People were expected to do hard manual labour and families were often split up. This was done out of desperation for basic food and shelter

Question 4

How polluted was it?

Answer 4

London was a heavily polluted industrial city at this time
The prevailing wind from the west carried smoke and stinking gas fumes
There was also little healthy drinking water.

Question 5

What were the problems with accommodation?

Answer 5

The accommodation was overcrowded causing theft of personal property and domestic abuse

Question 6

What were the problems with work?

Answer 6

There was lots of unreliable work and unemployment causing stealing and disruptive behaviour

Question 7

What were the issues with prostitution?

Answer 7

There were lots of prostitutes in Whitechapel due to the lack of work causing many assaults of women and gangs intimidating women

Question 8

What did the workhouses cause?

Answer 8

They caused theft and other crimes from people desperate not to go to the workhouses

Question 9

What were the issues with alcoholism?

Answer 9

There was lots of alcoholism in Whitechapel causing disorder on the streets especially around public houses

Question 10

What did immigration cause?

Answer 10

The high levels of immigration in Whitechapel caused tension and violence between longer established residents and Irish and Jewish immigrants

Question 11

What was the problem with the language barrier for the police?

Answer 11

It was difficult for the police to communicate with Eastern Europeans making them suspicious of them as they were unable to claim their innocence

Question 12

What were the issues with violence?

Answer 12

Because of increased tensions between locals and immigrants, people became violent over housing and jobs

Question 13

What caused the increase in racial hatred?

Answer 13

People were convinced that Jack the Ripper was an immigrant so people had bad attitudes to Jews and Irishmen. Beatings to Jews became common

Question 14

What were the police methods for catching Jack the Ripper?

Answer 14

• Following up direct individuals
• Interviewing witnesses
• Investigating lunatic asylums
• Following up on journalist’s stories
• Following up clues found with victims
• Following up on coroner’s reports
• arranging post mortems

Question 15

What role did forensics play?

Answer 15

The metropolitan police had almost no scientific methods, they relied on forensic techniques in their investigation, DNA began use in the later 20th century, scientists did not know the difference between human blood and animal blood, crime scene photography had only just started being used

Question 16

What role did the press play?

Answer 16

They exposed more witnesses by getting them to come forward although stories were pushed on guesswork and unreliable interviews

Question 17

What role did police rivalry play?

Answer 17

In each area of London there were different police forces, each having a bitter rivalry with the others and this meant that widows killed in other boundaries had different police forces which the Whitechapel police did not get on well with.

Question 18

What role did the vigilance committee play?

Answer 18

Set up on 1st September 1888 by a group of business men/traders were people who wanted to embarrass the police before the election by going to the streets at night and making lots of noise to try and catch Jack the Ripper

Question 19

What were the later improvements in communication?

Answer 19

The Jack the Ripper murders led to police being able to communicate via telephone allowing them to call for back up more easily than just a whistle

Question 20

What were the later improvements in records?

Answer 20

Police after the murders, started to adopt the Bertrillion system. This meant that measurements of suspects were done and mug shots were taken and records were stored on a central file

Question 21

What were the acts later introduced that improved the environment for police?

Answer 21

The first was the housing of the working class act which allowed the new London county council to begin housing development schemes to replace slums. The second was the public health amendment act which gave more power to local councils to improve toilets, paving, rubbish collection and other sanitary services

Question 22

What needs to be remembered when answering source question 2a?

Answer 22

Comprehensive
Objective
Accurate
Typical

Nature
Origin
Purpose

Question 23

What needs to be remembered when answering source question 2b?

Answer 23

Follow up a detail from the source
Then put a question you would ask
Put the type of source you would use to answer this question
Put why you would use this source (COAT)

Question 24

Who were the five victims of the Jack the Ripper murders?

Answer 24

Mary Ann Nichols, Annie Chapman, Elizabeth Stride, Catherine Eddoves and Mary Kelly

Question 25

What were the patterns in the injuries to the victims of the Jack the Ripper murders?

Answer 25

They all had similar injuries e.g. Throats slashed and abdomen cut. The murders all happened early. They were all poor prostitutes. He always used a knife.