Whitechapel Flashcards
problems with housing
overcrowded -> 188.6 people per acre
rookeries -> lodging/doss houses -> 4d for a night
back-to-back houses
define rookeries
areas filled with lodging houses
overcrowded
poor sanitation
what were lodging/doss houses?
pay 4d for a bed for the night
attempts to improve housing?
metropolitan board of works -> bought areas in south of whitechapel for clum clearance
area bought -> sold to peabody trust -> built better flats
flats -> were too expensive for some
describe work houses
for those who couldn’t afford doss houses
or too young/old to work, disabled, unmarried mums
families split up
v. strict rules, basic food/dorms -> separate for genders
infirmary for sick
casual ward for the able
describe employment
many worked at the docks, sailors or building railways
immigrant jews worked in workshops/sweatshops
the shops had bad conditions + pay
link between environment + crime
dark, overcrowded streets made crime easy
narrow alleyways + rabbits warren streets made it easy to escape police
low income -> stealing to avoid workhouse
unreliable work -> got drunk at pubs, violent behaviour
overcrowding -> tension between residents (brits vs. foreign)
prostitution -> violence towards women
describe the fluctuating population
people came to and left the area regularly as most accommodation was temporary -> no sense of community
people didn’t know their neighbours + mistrusted newcomers
caused suspicion/tension
immigration tension
immigrants dressed differently + looked different
spoke polish/russian/yiddish
lived in different communities -> tension/mistrust
jewish immigration
pogroms + discrimination pushed jews out of poland/russia
came to britain
treated better here
define a pogrom
a massacre (to kill an ethnic group)
socialism + anarchism
socialists -> want more power for working people
anarchists -> want society without govt./hierarchy
both popular ideas -> esp. amongst immigrants
1848 -> wave of revolution attempts across europe
when did peabody estate open?
1881
reasonable rent
what happened to young orphans in workhouses from 1880?
cared for in banardo’s homes
better conditions
why was there high unemployment?
economic depression
few jobs available to women -> turned to prostitution
conditions for those with jobs
long hours
cramped/dirty conditions
what was better about working on railways or docks?
also the -ves?
better pay
employees needed varied from time to time so weekly income fluctuated
describe irish immigrants
many left for USA in 1840s -> ended up in london
poor -> worked as labourers or dockers
reputation -> drunk + violent, terrorism -> fenians
what was happening in europe over 1848?
wave of revolutions
revolutionaries ended up in east london
middle/upper class scared
attracted support in whitechapel
why were immigrants feared?
foreign accent -> suspected violent revolutionary
foreigners blamed for cime e.g. jack the ripper murders
organisation of policing
whitechapel in H division
police station based on lenman street
how did H division officers patrol?
given set route
on look-out -/. stopped to question people
regularly reported to sergeant -> recorded in diary
attitudes towards police
locals mistrusted police
seen as a part of the govt.
believed to not care for working class people
so few people co-operated with investigations
police constables attacked frequently
issues with policing
pg.28
causes of crime
poverty made ppl desperate
tensions between communities -> race
gang violence
political demonstrations/strikes got out of hand
vigilance comittee
set up by george lusk
thought police didnt do enough to catch jsck the ripper
hired 2 prv detectives
sent letters to media
developments in detective policing
*police code* photographs sketches autopsy interviews following up clues witness statements mug shots criminal profiles
metropolitan vs city police
city of london police didnt communicate well with met.
explains the night of the double murder
police recruits
from countryside -> seen as fitter/stronger
31% by 1874
weren’t familiar with london streets
explain beats
walk a set route
30 mins several times a day
officers rotated once a month
alone -> in pairs in H division
CID development
set up in 1842
conducted criminal investigations
followed suspects in plain clothes
1877 -> a trial found many detectives guilty of taking bribes
1877 trial?
corruption
detectives took bribes
home sec. + charles warren
home sec. henry mathews disliked warren and blamed him for not fining jack the ripper
warren resigned in 1888
who was the home sec.?
henry mathews
who was chief commissioner until 1888?
charles warren
attitudes towards police
rich trusted them
poor/immigrants didn’t
criticised for not catching jack the ripper
key sources
census (every 10 yrs)
police/court/housing/employment/workhouse records
newspapers
coroner’s reports
