My Whitechapel

• Environment of Whitechapel

  Very mixed population

  Poor sanitation

  Badsweage

  Smog
• Housing enviroment of whitechapel

  Overcrowding in rookeries

  About 30 people per house

  Lodging houses where homeless people could sleep in eight hour shifts
• Housing improvements by Barnardo and Peabody
• Work environment in Whitechapel

  Casual labour - workers employed a day at a time

  Sweat labour/shops - work in illegal cramped dust and unhealthy shops for low wage
• Workhouse conditions

  For poor to live in and work for food

  Families separated

  Punished if communicated with each other

  Inmates wore uniform and do tough manual labour

  Bad food

  No privacy
• Irish immigrants were disliked for drunkenness

  and violence
• Who were fenians

  Irish terrorist group
• Why were Eastern European/jews disliked

  Different religions

  Different culture

  Jewish shops were successful because they were sweat shops

  Jews unlinked due to socialist and anarchist political groups
• What were anarchists

  Anarchists wanted a revolutions were all authority would be gone, did many political assasinations
• What were socialists

  They wanted to bring down the capitalist system, SDF growing which authorities saw as dangerous
• Crimes in Whitechapel

  Prostitution - around 1200 vulnerable to rape

  Alcohol/ drunkenness = violence

  Protection rackets/ gangs - intimidate businesses and ruin them

  Immigration - whites hate literally anybody else
• Who was Charles warren

  Commissioner of metro police- had a shit reputation for using army

  Bad relations with home secretary
• What was walking the beat

  Regular foot patrol

  Truncheon handcuffs whistles and lamp

  Constables kept diary and regularly met with Sargent
• Police Methods used in JtC

  Post mortem and coroners

  Follow up leads from journalists

  Witnesses

  Police questioned 2000 lodging house residents

  Police in disguise's

  Bloodhounds

  Posters and leaflets
• Problems faced by police

  Media - newspapers, Penney dreadful- dear boss letters , press

  Rivalry from police- messages washed off the wall

  White chapel vigilante committee- George Lusk - group went out at night searching for killer with weapons

  Reliance on witnesses- only want money vague descriptions

  Lack of forensics

  Communications- only through whistles
• Follow up source for poverty/ workhouses

  Government census

  Workhouse records

  Booth poverty map

  Press

  Drawings and photographs
• Possible sources for "Follow up question"

  • Whitechapel H division police station records
  • H division police officer reports
  • Witness statements
  • Coroners reports
  • Post mortem reports
  • Police officer memoirs
  • 1881 Census
  • Charles booth poverty map
  • Freedom licences- release papers for criminals
  • Old Bailey court records
  • Official government records
  • Local newspapers
  • National newspapers
  • Penney dreadful
  • The police review paper
• Problems in Whitechapel

  • Prostitution and unemployed women
  • Unemployment
  • Poor wages, sweatshops
  • Workhouses for the poor
  • Environment bad
  • Orphan children
  • Violence and tensions- Fenians, jews
  • Rookeries, slums, coffin beds and hangovers- two penny hangover
• There were 200 lodging houses in Whitechapel for more than 8000 people.
• What were coffin beds and hangovers?


  Rent a bed or pay for the rope.
• Who was Peabody?


  in 1881 Peabody, an American philanthropist opened the p estate flats with rent of 3 shillings a week
• What were some places of help for the poor?

  Work houses. Peabody estate. Charities