Whitechapel

Irish left ireland to go to america in 1840 but ran out of money. in 1840, 40% of army were irish.  by 1861, 3% of population were irish. many were unskilled labourers. 

Fenians (irish terrorists) tried to bomb a prison in 1867

Eastern European jews came because. Tsar Alexander II was assasinated and a jew was blamed

Jews stuck together and caused segregation - they were about 0.3% of population

Were quite succesful as many were previously in skilled professions. this sparked jelousy and for irish and jews, caused deiscrimination. They were blamed for many crimes

High tensions between immigrants and locals because

• Overcrowding
• Limited access to housing and jobs. 

Conditions lead to Alcoholism, violence, robbery. Alcoholism meant witnesses were unrealible, police drunk on job, and people commited crimes to feed their addiction. 

Whitechapel anarchists feared upper classes and authority, opposed capitalism, believed the world would be better if everyone made their own rules. Crime rose by 41% in 7 years and they exusted until 2011 and handed out propoganda. 

Watchmen until 1829, then met police. H division was police force that covered whitechapel made of 505 officers. Beat constables- given set route, had to walk certain pace so the sergeant could always find them. Could not stop for toilet breaks. Patrolled high crime areas more and used this method to catch Jack the Ripper

Police were mistrusted, seen as part of government that didnt care about working class. Very few cooperated and constables often attacked. 

Problems:

• Rivarly between met police, city of london and scotland yard
• Didn't share info, no coorperation because competition to solve cases first
• 1 policeman to 625 citizens 
• Didn't have enough staff, training or repsect
• Media attracted fake letters, theories, stirred up racial hatred, was critical to added pressure

Howard vincent recruited to reform CID, with increased pay and training. Started investigating crimes that may occur instead of waiting for them to be reported. Started using sketches, photos, interveiws, letters, post mortem evidence. 

Intro of telephone improved communication. Also Bertillion system, indentifying people by body parts (fingerprinting ID due to this) Alphonse Bertillion used photography and measurement to create unique identifiers to track suspectsm, inmates, repet offenders

Charles Warren used blood hounds, greatly mocked by media. Most important trials at Old Bailey, centeral court of England and Wales. It is because 1856 a case about doctor being trialled for murder couldnt be judged fairly anywhere else. 

Development of CID

• 1829, detective crime seemed like snoopong and public were suspcicious
• 1870, commisioner Henderson received poorly performing detectives
• Reorganised in Scotland Yard
• Detectives worked in plain clothes to shadow and observe suspects
• Most did this^ but occasionally used photos and forensics

• Problems facing police force- 
• Protection gangs (demanded 'protection money'. if refused, mysterious property damage and violence)
• Dark narrow alleyways, buildings close, deep interconnecting gardens. Hard to navigate if not v familiar. Easy for criminals to escape
• Professional gangs with employed individuals. 
• Few jobs for women, vunerable so became prostetues. 
• Cheap, strong, easy access alcohol. Drunkenness lead to crime/ violence
• Attacks on jews
• Public protests, disorder and violent demonstrations

Vigilance commitee set up by wealthy bussinessmen because lack of progress on ripper case. Leader George Lusk. Tried to solve murder because police couldnt, would damage their bussinesses. Not taken seriously (historinas think only letter not a hoax from murderer was the one to Lusk, because he knew it wouldnt reveal his identity- mocking them) Offered rewards for helpful info. Encouraged police critisism by planting false leads and leaking to the media. Media often mocked police through cartoons (penny illustrated newspaper)

• Poor living conditions
• Low wages (avergae 15 shillings a week for a man)
• Many turned to crime, high crime rate  (32,000 thieves opearting)
• Poor working conitions w long hours (12-14 hour shift)
• Transient population because many people couldnt afford stable housing (moved between doss house, workhouse, street)

Types of housing:

• Rookeries, overpopulated, poor sanitaion. Small areas of extreme poverty eg: Flower and Dean Street
• Lodgings/doss houses was nightly fee for bed/kitchen
• Peabody estate- 11 new flats to provide affordable rent in old rookeries, to reduce rookeries (mr peabody) but rent was 3 shillings a week, unaffordable, so was worse in other areas
• Group of companies to improve life quality of working class. Tried to improve funds and awareness 
• Workhouses delibaretly horrible so it was last resort

Ripper Murders:       Polly Nichols married at 22 years old then 22 years and 5 kids later, they separated. She was a prostitute and when her ex found out, he stopped payments to support her. Polly’s father spread that it was because Willian, her ex, had an affair. After they separated, Polly began moving from workhouse to workhouse. She then moved in with her dad, who kicked her out for being alcohol dependant. Continued to move between workhouses and sleeping on the streets. She then took a job as a maid but is fired for stealing. She is in a dosshouse in Spittlefeilds . She left to find a client (prostitute) to earn her doss money for that night. Someone at 7 buck row awoke and heard gaps. Potentially her being murdered.

 Charles Booth.        Charles Booth didn’t believe that London Poverty was as bad as it was made out to be, so he did his own research. It turned out to be worse than he thought, with 30% of London living in poverty. He used scientific methods to put people in classes. He went to each street and colour coded it according to the poverty level. E.g. on his map, black was semi criminal, red was middle class and yellow was upper class.