The Jack the Ripper Schools Tour.
See below how it matches the syllabus
The East End of London has always been a melting pot of the poor, the criminal classes, and immigrants fleeing persecution. By the late 1870s, the vast majority walked the streets, doing whatever they had to in order to pay for a bed for the night in one of the area's numerous common lodging houses - the 'Doss House'. This was the background to which the notorious Whitechapel murders of 1888-91 were committed.
This two-hour walking tour has been specifically created by crime and policing historian Adam Wood for GCSE History students, rather than adapting an existing 'Jack the Ripper' tour, so that they can understand the reality of life in the East End of 1888, and how Whitechapel was policed.
We visit important sites including:
* The renowned Home for Respectable Girls just yards along from the spot where many believe the first victim of the Ripper was slain.
* The building founded in 1719 as a church which later hosted readings by Charles Dickens, and Match Girls strike meetings during 1888, which stands almost opposite one murder site.
* The pawn shop where one victim was forced to pledge her partner's boots so that they could afford breakfast.
* The Police station where officers engaged in the investigation worked and lived.
* The tenement block which was one of the London's first social housing projects for the poor.
* The street of which one side quite literally meant life, the other death.
Along the way we'll hear how the story of the murders unfolded, and how the philanthropic worked tirelessly alongside the destitute.
All booked tours receive a free 40-page PDF of extensive research notes written by Adam.
This file is also available for purchase without attending the tour (see Resources).
The Jack the Ripper Schools Tour can be booked for any day or time to suit you. It runs for two hours. Start and end locations will be passed on following booking.
How it Matches the Syllabus.
WHITECHAPEL, C1870–C1900: CRIME, POLICING AND THE INNER CITY
● The local context of Whitechapel. The problems of housing and overcrowding. Attempts to improve housing: the Peabody Estate. Provision for the poor in the Whitechapel workhouses. Links between the environment and crime. Life in Whitechapel as an inner city area of poverty and discontent.
> We start the tour by describing the history of the area, from the successful 1700s to decline throughout the 1800s and displacement of the poor criminal classes. We stop at the first Peabody Building, and discuss how people lived from day to day: renting a room, the workhouse, the common lodging houses.
● The inhabitants of Whitechapel. The lack of employment opportunities and level of poverty. The prevalence of lodging houses and pubs creating a fluctuating population without ties to the community. The impact of changing patterns of migration: the settlement of migrants from Ireland and Eastern Europe, and the increase in Jewish migration during the 1880s.
> We discuss the impact of immigration into Whitechapel throughout the 1700s to 1880s, how the native Eastender responded, and the transient nature of the area due to the anonymity afforded by the lodging houses.
● The organisation of policing in Whitechapel. The role of the ‘beat constable’. The work of H division and the difficulties of policing the slum area of Whitechapel, the rookeries, alleys and courts. Problems of policing caused by crime and antisocial behaviour: alcohol, prostitution, protection rackets, gangs, violent demonstrations and attacks on Jewish people.
> We look at the set up of the Metropolitan Police, from the local Whitechapel uniformed officers to its detective branch, and how these officers operated in the face of drunkeness, violence, prostitution and petty theft. We visit the Police station at which officers lived and worked.
● Investigative policing in Whitechapel: developments in techniques of detective investigation, including the use of sketches, photographs and interviews; problems caused by the need for cooperation between the Metropolitan Police, the City of London Police and Scotland Yard. Dealing with the crimes of Jack the Ripper and the added problems caused by the media reporting of the ‘Ripper’ murders. The Whitechapel Vigilance Committee.
> As the sequence of murders are related, we discuss how the developing investigation saw the Whitechapel police working with Scotland Yard, and then the City of London Police. We look at the tools available to them, and how the decision not to inform the press of progress backfired.
● The national and regional context: the working of the Metropolitan Police, the quality of police recruits. The development of CID, the role of the Home Secretary and of Sir Charles Warren, public attitudes towards the police.
> We look at the development of the Metropolitan Police, and how it was initially set up to prevent crime rather than solve it after the event (the Detective Department was create more than a decade after the Met was formed). We discuss major events in the years preceding the Whitechapel murders, such as the Irish bombing campaign and then the Trafalgar Square riots of 1887, to determine the public's attitude towards the Police by 1888.