Whitechapel

• Which police force was in charge of policing Whitechapel?

  H Division
• Which immigrant groups moved to Whitechapel during the 1800s?

  Irish immigrants and Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe and Russia
• What was a ‘beat constable’? 


  A police officer who had a specific area of Whitechapel where they were expected to walk around and patrol.
• Who built the 284 flats in the Peabody Estate?


  A wealthy American philanthropist called George Peabody
• What were workhouses? 


  A place where those unable to support themselves were offered accommodation and employment. Conditions were terrible E.g oakum picking
• What were lodging houses?

  Sometimes called doss houses. Cheap accommodation, people often lodged together in one room. 3 eight hour sleeping shifts. Some people slept on a penny hang.
• What were rookeries?

  Slum-like areas of Victorian Whitechapel with ‘maze-like’ streets, alleys and courts
• What were the ‘sweated trades’?

  Industries with long working hours, poor working conditions and low pay. Included trades such as tailoring and shoe making.
• Give an example of overcrowded accommodation in Whitechapel

  There could be over 25 people living in one apartment
•  What was the population of Whitechapel?

  30,000
• How many people were estimated to have been homeless?

  1,000
• Why was alcoholism a problem in Whitechapel?


  There were many public houses (pubs) and access to cheap alcohol such as gin
• What were protection rackets? 


  Gangs organised protection rackets where businesses were intimidated into paying money to the gangs in return for protection
•  Name two gangs which operated in the Whitechapel area

  The Bessarabian Tigers and the Odessians
• What was the Whitechapel Vigilance Committee? 


  Created by George Lusk. A group of middle class businessmen who patrolled the streets and offered rewards to the public to try and gain more information about Jack the Ripper
• Name three investigative techniques that the police used in Whitechapel

  Sketches (the Bertillon system), photographs, interviews
• What police rivalry existed in Whitechapel?

  The Metropolitan Police (H Division) faced some competition from the City of London police
• What was the CID? 


  The Criminal Investigation Department
• Who was the Metropolitan police commissioner during the Ripper murders?

  Sir Charles Warren
• Who created a poverty map of Whitechapel and why was it significant?

  Charles Booth. It helped to demonstrate the link between higher levels of poverty and higher levels of crime.