Open the app
  1. Home
  2. Lessons
  3. GCSE & IGCSE History
  4. Whitechapel, c1870 to c1900: crime, policing and the inner city

Whitechapel, c1870 to c1900: crime, policing and the inner city

🎬 The doodle video for this lesson is coming soon. Subscribe on YouTube to see it first.

Whitechapel, in London's East End, was poor, overcrowded and hard to police. The Jack the Ripper murders of 1888 put its problems in the headlines.

Life in Whitechapel

Housing was overcrowded; many people lived in cheap lodging houses. Narrow alleys and courts (rookeries) made policing hard.
The Peabody Estate (1881) tried to provide better housing. The workhouse was the last resort for the poor.
Migrants included the Irish and, especially from the 1880s, Jewish people fleeing persecution in Eastern Europe. There was tension and some anti-Jewish attacks.

Policing

Whitechapel was covered by the Metropolitan Police's H Division. Beat constables walked set routes.
Problems: alcohol, prostitution, gangs, protection rackets and violent protests.
Detectives used sketches, photographs and interviews, but there was no fingerprinting yet.
The Metropolitan Police, City of London Police and Scotland Yard did not always cooperate well.

Jack the Ripper, 1888

Five women were murdered between August and November 1888. One victim, Catherine Eddowes, was killed in the City of London, bringing in a second force.
Newspapers sensationalised the case and hoax letters confused the inquiry.
Local businessmen formed the Whitechapel Vigilance Committee. Police Commissioner Sir Charles Warren resigned in November 1888.
Useful sources: census returns, Charles Booth's poverty survey and maps, police and coroners' records, Old Bailey records, newspapers and Punch cartoons.
Worked example

Explain why the police struggled to catch Jack the Ripper.

  1. Narrow alleys and crowded lodging houses gave many hiding places.
  2. There was no fingerprinting, so evidence was limited.
  3. Two police forces were involved and did not always cooperate.
  4. Newspapers and hoax letters wasted police time.

Answer: Environment, limited forensic science, poor cooperation and media pressure.

Key idea

Whitechapel: overcrowding, lodging houses, workhouse, Irish and Jewish migrants. H Division, beat constables, sketches and photographs. Ripper murders 1888: cooperation problems, sensational press, Vigilance Committee, Warren resigned.

The interactive lesson includes the diagrams for this topic.

Check you have got it

Answer 6 quick questions with instant marking. If you get one wrong, GCSE-ready shows you why and gives you another go. It is free, and you do not need an account.

Practise this lesson free (6 questions)All GCSE & IGCSE History lessons