QUICK FACTS
  1. The Whitechapel murders were investigated by two police forces.
  2. The majority of the crimes fell within the jurisdiction of the Metropolitan Police.
  3. However, Mitre Square, where Catherine Eddowes was murdered, is in the City of London, so it was the City of London Police who investigated her murder.
  4. Contrary to what is often claimed, relations between both forces were cordial!

THE POLICE INVESTIGATION

Portraits of the officers who worked on the Jack the Ripper case.

THE MEN WHO TRIED TO CATCH THE RIPPER

There were two main police forces involved in the hunt to catch Jack the Ripper - the Metropolitan Police and the City of London Police.

Since the murders of Mary Nichols, Annie Chapman, Elizabeth Stride and Mary Kelly, took place in Whitechapel and Spitalfields, their murder sites came under the jurisdiction of the Metropolitan Police and it was they who investigated these four murders.

Catherine Eddowes, who was murdered on 30th September 1888, was killed in Mitre Square, which is in the City of London. As a consequence her killing came under the jurisdiction of the City of London Police and was duly investigated by the officers of this particular force.

This section on the police investigation of the murders provides information about the most important officers connected with the case and looks at both how the police handled their investigation and how their handling of it was perceived by the press and general public.

THE POLICE OFFICERS ON THE CASE


A portrait of Sir Charles Warren
Sir Charles Warren

SIR CHARLES WARREN
METROPOLITAN POLICE COMMISSIONER

Sir Charles Warren was the Metropolitan Police Commissioner based at Scotland Yard. Although he is often portrayed as being an incompetent Colonel Blimp like figure, he was in fact a very able officer.

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A photo of Dr. Robert Anderson.
Robert Anderson

SIR ROBERT ANDERSON
ASSISTANT POLICE COMMISSIONER

Sir Robert Anderson was the Assistant Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police and was in charge of the detective department. He was later emphatic that the ripper had, in fact, been caught.

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A portrait of James Monro
James Monro

JAMES MONRO
ASSISTANT POLICE COMMISSIONER

James Monro was the Assistant Metropolitan Police Commissioner up until August 31st 1888 when he resigned his position as a result of a personality clash with Sir Charles Warren. He later took over from Warren as the Metropolitan Police Commissioner.

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A photo of Major Henry Smith.
Major Henry Smith

MAJOR HENRY SMITH
ACTING CITY POLICE COMMISSIONER

The murder of Catherine Eddowes, Jack the Ripper's fourth victim, took place in the City of London which has its own police force. In 1888 the Acting City Police Commissioner was Major Henry Smith.

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A portrait of Alfred Foster.
Alfred Foster

ALFRED FOSTER
SUPERINTENDENT CITY POLICE

Superintendent Alfred Lawrence Foster, of the City of London Police, was one of the officers who investigated the Mitre Square Murder of Catherine Eddowes.

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A photo of Donald Swanson.
Donald Swanson

DONALD SWANSON
CHIEF INSPECTOR

In September 1888 Chief Inspector Donald Sutherland Swanson was given overall command of the investigation. His job was to read and assess all the information that was being gathered by the police on the ground. He had an unrivalled knowledge of the case.

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A portrait of Superintendent Thomas Arnold.
Thomas Arnold

SUPERINTENDENT THOMAS ARNOLD
HEAD OF H DIVISION

Superintendent Thomas Arnold was the head of H Division, Whitechapel, at the time of the Jack the Ripper atrocities, albeit he was away on leave during the earlier murders of Martha Tabram and Annie Chapman. He returned just prior to the murder of Elizabeth Stride, on 30th September, 1888.

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A sketch of Edmund Reid.
Edmund Reid

EDMUND REID
HEAD OF H DIVISION C.I.D.

Inspector Edmund Reid was the head of the H Division detectives who investigated the Jack the Ripper murders in the area where they occurred. He was a very able officer and was referred to by one contemporary as "one of the most remarkable men of the century."

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A sketch of Joseph Helson.
Joseph Helson

JOSEPH HENRY HELSON
HEAD OF J DIVISION C.I.D.

Inspector Joseph Henry Helson was the head of the J Division detectives who investigated the murder of Mary Nichols, which took place in their jurisdiction on August 31st, 1888.

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A sketch of Inpsector Frederick Abberline.
Frederick Abberline

FREDERICK ABBERLINE
LEAD DETECTIVE

The previous year (1887), Inspector Frederick George Abberline had been promoted out of the district where the murders occurred. However, his unrivalled knowledge of the area and its criminal underworld meant that he was sent back in September 1888 to take charge of the on the ground investigation into the murders.

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A portrait of Inspector Moore.
Inspector Henry Moore

INSPECTOR HENRY MOORE
LEAD INVESTIGATOR FROM 1889

Inspector Henry Moore was one of the officers who was sent from Scotland Yard to supplement the East End detective force who were investigating the Whitechapel murders in September, 1888.

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A sketch of Sergeant William Thick.
Sergeant William Thick

SERGEANT WILLIAM THICK
INVESTIGATING OFFICER

Sergeant William Thick - whose name was also spelt as Thicke in many press accounts and police reports on the murders - spent the large part of his police career in the East End of London, working for the Metropolitan Police's H-Division.

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A photo of Melville Macnaghten.
Melville Macnaghten

MELVILLE MACNAGHTEN
CHIEF CONSTABLE OF SCOTLAND YARD

Although not involved in the investigation in the autumn of 18888, Macnaghten would later become one of the most important officers involved with the case. Indeed it was he who made the emphatic statement that Jack the Ripper had "five victims and five victims only."

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