Charles Warren

• Following a series of strikes and demonstrations against the government, the home secretary appointed a former general, Sir Charles Warren, as Metropolitan Police Commissioner in 1886.
• This was not a popular decision and contributed to the view in London that the police were simply the ‘government in uniform’.
• On 13 November 1887, Commissioner Warren called in the army to control protestors in Trafalgar Square. It was a peaceful protest that involved many women and children. There were a large number of casualties. It became known as Bloody Sunday.
• His actions on Bloody Sunday added to a growing feeling that the police favoured the upper and middle classes against the poor.
• Warren was also widely regarded as a bully. He was later forced out of his job because of the police’s failure to catch Jack the Ripper.