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Aspects of Social Deprivation in Whitechapel in The ----~--------------.--- - ASPECTS OF SOCIAL DEPRIVATION IN WHITECHAPEL IN THE LATE NINETEENTH CENTURY by RAYMOND SIBLEY, B.A. A Master's Thesis Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the award of Master of Arts of the Loughborough University of Technology September, 1977 Supervisor: I.J.E. Keil, B.A., Ph.D., Department of Economics CS> Raymond Sibley, 1977 CONTENTS Page No. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS iii INTRODUCTION 1 ChaEter No. 1 EAST LONDON, 1888 6 2 SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC ENVIRONMENT 22 3 HOUSING 44 4 SANITATION 66 5 VOLUNTARY BODIES 82 6 METROPOLITAN POLICE 103 7 CONCLUSION 128 Appendix A THE PERIOD OF THE MURDERS 146 Appendix B THE WHlTECHAPEL UNION 164 BIBLIOGRAPHY 169 between pages 1 Tower Hamlets iii - 1 2 Whitechapel (The Area of the Crimes) 5 - 6 3 Mitre Square (The Murder of Catherine • Eddowes) 155 - 156 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I owe a great debt to my supervisor, Dr. I.J.E. Keil, for his wise and kindly guidance, his clear and discerning criticism and for many suggestions based on his extensive knowledge of source material. The staffs of various institutions have given assistance and they are acknowledged either in the bibliography, together with a list of the kind of material provided, or in footnotes at an appropriate point in the text. I am grateful to Mrs. Gloria Brentnall for her typing expertise and her experience of this kind of work, which has proved of considerable value in dealing with inconsistencies in presentation. My final acknowledgement is to my wife for her tolerance and patience throughout the period of study, for a variety of help willingly given and for her constant encouragement. iii. Tower Hamlets - ONI. MILE. _ SllortEl>lTCJI CllY LONDON CrrtEENWIUI Wk,l~th"pel Uni""" $howl'\ above C<5 on.. <If th,. fwe ra.:Jistr"tion di ... t .. icJs of Tow~r H",,,,,lets Sc.hool Boo.rcl Sp"tto\fiddS, Whitech",~1 a.nd G-oodmo.n '5 gelcls. INTRODUCTION This study looks at the effect of a series of murders on the socially deprived district of IVhitechapel. The crimes received such publicity that the conditions, already known to some, were soon (1) revealed to a wider range of people. In the main, the study will be concerned with the last months of 1888, in the area between Spitalfields Market and Brick Lane, bounded to the north by Hanbury Street and to the south by IVhitechapel Road, containing such districts as Dorset Street, Fashion Street, Flower and Dean Street, Thrawl Street and their attendant alleys and courts. An initial description of the area deals in general with its physical, social and economic environment. Two pOints have to be stressed. Firstly, the misery, destitution and seeming falalism of East Londoners; secondly, the apparent apathy of some of the authorities to, and the ignorance among the general public oi, the problems of the area. 1. Most newspapers and periodicals had heavy coverage of the IVhite­ chapel murders throughout the last four months of 1888. There was constant repetition of reports and inquests of similar content. Leading articles on the crimes appeared in The Times on 10th September, p.9; 19th September, p.7; 27th September, p.7; 1st October, p.9; 12th October, p.7; 10th November, p.ll. Many other reports were in The Times and are all listed in the Index to The Times for that period. The Pall Mall Gazette also gave saturation coverage. All the material and articles are listed in the Index to The Pall Mall Gazette for that period. The Illustrated Police News and Weekly Record had a report on the crimes in every issue from 8th September to 8th December inclusive. See also The Daily Telegraph, The Daily News, The Penny Illustrated Newspaper, The Star and The Daily Chronicle, all of which had continual commentaries on the crimes and also on the inquests, 3rd, 4th, 11th 13th, 14th, 18th, 20th, 24th and 27th September, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 12th and 24 t 11 October and 13th November. 1. It is a common view that at the time of 'Jack the Ripper' Whitechapel was an area of almost total neglect and had been so for many years. Criminologists who have written about the crimes and the area tend to perpetuate this overall impression, usually because their observations are limited to considerations of motive, method or identity. Their background material sometimes depends On selected examples of destitution and degradation in Whitechapel life, often with passing reference to well-known figures like Dr. Barnado, William Booth and Canon Barnett. It is essential, therefore, to correct and modify this view, so that the \vhi techapel murders may be seen in a more realistic setting. In the period from August to November, 1888, the pattern of life in East London underwent some changes. A series of murders perpetrated by 'Jack the Ripper', on destitute Whitechapel prostitutes, not only baffled the police and inflamed public opinion, but eventually helped to effect the resignation of Sir Charles Warren (Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police) and almost forced the resignation of Henry Matthews (the Home Secretary). The murders were also the subject of a special Cabinet Meeting called by the Prime Minister, Lord Salisbury, after pressure for action from Queen Victoria.(l) These crimes must be taken severally and jointly to illustrate the change in the climate of opinion during the period of the murders, and the mounting pressure for the reform of the East End. Sir Melvil1e MacNaghten (Head of C. LD., 1903-1913) wrote in his memoirs, 1. G.E. Buckle, The Letters of Queen Victoria 1886-1901, Third Series, Vo1.1 (John Murray), 1930, p.447. 2. - --~ ----------_. - "No one who was living in London that Autumn will forget the terror created by these murdersH~ It was at this time, when the squalid conditions were publicly exposed, that the attitude of sympathy and the feeling for reform was most keen. George Bernard Shaw in a letter to The Star wrote, tlWhilst we conventional Social Democrats were wasting our time on education~ agitation, and organisation, some independent genius has taken the matter in hand, and by simply murdering and disembowelling four women, converted the proprietary ." Cl) press to an inept sor t 0 f commun1sm. A Daily Telegraph editorial commented on the murder on 8th September of Annie Chapman that the victim "will effect in one way what fifty Secretaries of Sta te could never accomplish". The murderer and the murders need be considered only as far as they influenced events connected with social problems. Much, therefore, must be excluded. Theories on the identity of the anonymous killer; an analysiS of his possible motives; a consider- ation of his correspondence; or an examination of his psychopathic character, cannot be included, except where such a reference is directly relevant. There are strong reasons for this research. It gives an insight into the difficulties of social reformers, at an extreme and concentrated level. The area itself is sufficient. It was as if every problem connected with poverty, unemployment, homeless- ness, low wages, crime, violence, drunkenness and prostitution had 1. 24th September, 1888. 3. been collated, intensified and aggravated and put within a small geographical framework to fester; an example of wholesale destitution built up by in-breeding and total neglect. No normal methods of social reform seemed quick or adequate enough to alleviate the situation. An impression is formed of some Victorian standards, mentalities and methods of reform. Much can be learned from the ways in which the Victorians attempted to handle problems which they often linked with their own feelings of guilt. (1) There were many varied agencies of social control at this time, not only the government but in some Situations the police. Other 'socialising agencies' such as churches, education and poor relief were influential as were those concerned with environmental regulations like housing and sanitation. It is impossible to separate the murders from the environment in which they were committed. Possibly this unity points to a . (2) reform motIve, for Bernard Shaw was not alone in contrasting the conditions before and after the coming of 'Jack the Ripper' in Whitechapel. In The Lancet it was written that the murders "served a good purpose to awaken the public conscience", and it also pointed out that the crimes had been committed in the precise districts in 1. See G. Stedman Jones, Outcast London (C1arendon Press), 1971; Peregrine Books, 1976, pp. 290-295. 2. T. Cu1len, Autumn of Terror (Fontana Books edition), 1966, pp.210-2ll and 243-245. 4. which sanitary reformers had asked for action.(l) The Reverend Samuel Barnett, Warden of Toynbee lIall (and Vicar of St. Judes, Whi techapel), said that, "The Whitechapel horrors will not be in vain if at last the public conscience awakes to consider the life (2) which these horrors reveal". His wife, a devoted social worker, went further. She believed that the murders had been a powerful stimulus for housing reform. Afterwards, she wrote theatrically but sincerely, "Verily, it was the cruxifixion of these poor lost souls which saved the district". (3) 1. The Lancet, 6th October, 1888, p.683, and 13th October, 1888, p.728. 2. Letter to The Times, 19th September, 1888. 3. Mrs. 11.0. Barnett, Canon Barnett: lIis Life, Work and Friends (John Murray), 1921, p,696. 5. The Area of the Crimes I Y+ MIl.. f Iil .... It " R r·0 0 T S S 'E I> 'a. s " .,. '"'l ~"""-l> POSITION OF MPlRTAA TIlRNE R '5 BDIf'(. M"IR'I' NICHOu.s' 801>'1'. ANNII< C.IIAPMI\NS 801>'(. £:l..IZA5£TJ{ SrRlbE'.s 80bY. CATtiER/NE Ebl>OWES' Bob'f.
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