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While there is a lot of media coverage of the Whitechapel Murders, this podcast delves into something interesting - the real story behind the lead detective in the 'Jack the Ripper' case - Chief Inspector Frederick Abberline, starting with a visit to his town of birth in Blandford Forum, Dorset to on-loction broadcasts from Whitechapel and Shoreditch
The Detective Diaries podcast series not only examines the true stories behind famous Detectives in history but also provides an insight into the inner workings of a genuine Private Detective agency
Part 2 of the Frederick Abberline story is coming soon and will explore some of his famous cases including the Cleveland Street scandal and the Turkish Bond Robbery
Listen to Detective Diaries here
Hear Episode on Spotify
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Hear episode on Apple Podcasts
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Another story of a famous Detective - an account of Italian Detective Giuseppe Dosi
If you liked this podcast, hear more in Seasons 1 and 2 of Detective Diaries,
Back in the modern age, we interview Chief Superintendent Robert Hoblin
Profile of Narrator Nigel Parsons
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Welcome to Detective Diaries brought to you by Private Detective Answers investigation.
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If you are captivated by the art of deduction, the thrill of something unsolvable or the
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enigmatic word of private investigation, you have just found your new favorite podcast.
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Detective Diaries are where secrets are unraveled and the truth is always a clue away.
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Presented by private detective answers investigation, each episode contains off beat conversations about
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the real people involved in investigation. Enjoy.
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You join us for one of our occasional historic episodes where our resident geek travels
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back in time to examine some of the detectives of history, both fictional and real.
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Some of these have been the inspiration for our profession.
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Everyone has heard of Jack the Ripper, but Frederick Abberline was the lead detective involved
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in the investigation. There was much more to his life and story.
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So sit back and enjoy the tale of Frederick Abberline.
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Hello once more from Detective Diaries.
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I have been a private detective for a very long time.
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With an interest in history, my work has developed my intrigue to learn more about the detectives
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in history, who are the foundation of our profession.
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I hope you have listened to some of the other podcasts we have broadcast on famous detectives,
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including the very first one we recorded while working in Naples about the Italian detective
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Giuseppe D'orsi.
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Tonight we are stepping back into the dark heart of Victorian London, the world of
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gaslit streets and stark social divides.
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Our destination is the year 1888 and our guide is a man whose name is forever linked with
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one of history's most infamous unsolved mysteries.
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I'm referring to Chief Inspector Frederick Abberline, the real detective of the Jack the
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Ripper case.
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When you think of the Ripper investigation, the image that probably comes to mind is not
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one of a portly unassuming police officer.
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Thanks to decades of sensationalised books, films and TV series, Frederick Abberline has
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been fictionally portrayed as everything from a clairvoyant opium addict to a cynical,
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washed up drunk.
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But the truth is, the real Inspector Abberline was none of those things.
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He was a highly competent, well respected, and above all decent man, but thrust into the
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most chaotic and brutal investigation of his career.
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Born in 1843 in the quiet Dorset town of Blandford Forum, Frederick George Abberline's
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path to Scotland Yard was hardly a dramatic one.
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He began his professional life as an apprentice clockmaker, a detail that feels almost poetic,
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given his later career in meticulously tracking time and events.
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When I'm telling the story of a historical figure, be they fictional or real, I like to visit
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the places they lived and worked.
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It helps me to imagine not only their historic time, but the person themselves.
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A few weeks ago, I travelled to a friend's wedding in Bridport in Dorset near to where I grew
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up.
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It gave me the opportunity to visit nearby Blandford, where Frederick Abberline was born.
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Standing on the corner of Salisbury Street, I recorded this.
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Wherever I go to, I like to know the history of the place, which is why travelling through
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Blandford Forum in Dorset, I'm standing on the corner of Salisbury Street.
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This is where Frederick Abberline, a name synonymous with Jack The Ripper, was born in the early
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1840s.
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It's uncertain which house his parents, Hannah and Edward lived, but they are listed in the
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1841 census.
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And in the 1851 census, it lists Frederick as living around the corner in East Street, the
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other side of Market Place, just where I'm going to now.
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The sound of Sunday traffic is perhaps a far cry from the sounds of 1851.
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However, whilst streets have changed, many of the buildings seem to resonate with the architecture
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of the 19th century.
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I'm standing and looking behind me at Blandford Forum church, and the buildings
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in Market Place, which leads into East Street.
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And it's within East Street that Frederick Abberline lived.
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It's easy to imagine that 16 year old Frederick, leaving his house in East Street to work in his job
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as a clockmaker.
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And then in 1860, he left for London, which is where his history really begins.
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A 20 year old Abberline arrived in the chaotic metropolis of London and joined the Metropolitan
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Police on the 5th of January 1863, being appointed to N division in Islington.
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His warrant number, 43519.
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His diligence and his dedication were quickly noted by his superiors and he earned promotion
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after promotion, moving steadily up the ranks.
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He was promoted to Sargent after two years on the 19th of August 1865.
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On his promotion, he moved to Y Division Highgate, investigating Fenian activities as a plain
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clothes officer.
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On to 1878 and Abberline is transferred to H Division, the local inspectorate responsible for policing White
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Chapel, the very district that would, a decade later, become the Ripper's hunting ground.
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This wasn't some remote ivory tower position.
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Abberline spent 10 years on the beat, getting to know the Labyrinthine, Alleyways, the Crowded
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lodging houses and the people who lived in them.
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Roll on to the end of 1887, and Abberline's dedication and service were recognised with
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a promotion to Central Office at Scotland Yard.
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A farewell dinner was held for him by the White Chapel Station in commercial street in
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December, at the Unicorn Tavern on Shoreditch High Street.
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It was decided early on in the Jack the Ripper case that the local detective force would benefit
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from the involvement of experienced officers from Scotland Yard.
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Abberline's intimate knowledge of the East End and his reputation for honesty and hard
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work made him the obvious choice when Scotland Yard was scrambling to manage the storm of the
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White Chapel murders in 1888.
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When the Ripper murders began in August of 1888, the public and the press were in a frenzy.
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The police were overwhelmed by the brutality of the killings and the lack of concrete
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evidence.
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Abberline, now a chief inspector, was called in from Scotland Yard to take command of the
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on-the-ground investigation.
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The media, in particular, was relentless- criticising every single misstep and fueling
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a sense of panic.
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The police station associated with the Jack the Ripper murders was Leman Street Police Station,
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built in 1830 but sadly demolished in 2020.
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Abberline, however, was stationed at Commercial street police station.
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Sadly, the Unicorn Tavern, where Frederick had his farewell supper with his White Chapel
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colleagues before moving to the lofty heights of Scotland Yard, is long gone.
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While it closed as a police station many years ago, Commercial street police station still
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stands, albeit a residential block called Burhan Uddin House.
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In my custom of living the location, I decided to go and take a look.
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Walking out of Shoreditch High Street Station, on what is now the Windrush Line in London's
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White Chapel, we step onto Commercial street, the site of the Commercial street police station
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to which Frederick Abberline was assigned during the White Chapel murders.
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Now residential flats called Burhan Uddin House, the building is much as it was in the time
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of Jack the Ripper.
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Apart from the graffiti on the walls outside, which I'm sure would not have been tolerated
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in Abberline's day, boundaried by Elder Street and Fleur de Lis Street, there is an additional
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story which was added in 1906.
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To get away from the noise of the traffic, I'm stood in the original entrance from which
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one can imagine police officers of the day entering and leaving.
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The Commercial street police station was where many of the police officers, including Inspector
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Abberline were based.
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At the time of the White Chapel murders a very different investigation occurred in the
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case of Annie Farmer, the reason being that the victim of the attack survived and was able
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to give an account of what had happened to her.
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Annie Farmer was attacked at a lodging house in nearby George Street, which was very close to
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a previous murder scene.
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A man had attempted to cut her throat, but Annie Farmer was able to scream to raise the alarm
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and the attacker fled.
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She was taken here to Commercial street police station, where she was placed in a comfortable
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room and given time to sober up before being interviewed.
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The cut to her throat was only superficial, so once she had been attended to by the doctor
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she was able to give a description of her assailant, describing him as about 36 years old, 5
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foot 6 inches tall, with a dark complexion and no facial hair.
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The circumstances of the case gave the public reason to believe that the attacker could be
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Jack the Ripper.
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Although the police felt the attack was probably not the work of the prolific murderer they
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were desperately looking for.
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Walking a few hundred yards south, come to Fournier Street on the corner of which stands
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the Ten Bells pub.
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It's opposite Spittlefields market above which lies a plaque which reads 'Spittlefields market,
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rebuilt by Robert Horner during the year of Queen Victoria's Jubilee'.
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Which I think was 1893, so it really conjures up the image of the time.
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It's beside Christchurch spittle field, again, an iconic building of the era.
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Ten Bells itself is very much as it probably appeared during the time of the White Chapel
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murders, perhaps without the sign outside now saying 'beer and burger for 12 pounds'.
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Two of Jack the Ripper's female prostitute victims are supposed to have frequented the
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Ten Bells.
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Prostitution remained a feature of Commercial street until recently. Dorset Street which
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runs off Commercial Street to the West, and immediately south of Spittlefields market,
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was dubbed the worst street in London.
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It's too tempting, I have to go inside for a quick refreshment.
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Abberline's work, and that of his team was incredibly challenging.
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This was a time before modern forensic science.
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The technology we take granted today simply didn't exist.
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There was no DNA, no fingerprint analysis.
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Listen to some of the other episodes in our podcast if you wish to learn about fingerprint
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analysis and no centralised criminal database.
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Detective work relied on old fashioned methods.
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Questioning witnesses, gathering intelligence and following up on every single lead no matter
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how outlandish it might be.
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And there were countless outlandish leads.
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Abberline later spoke of feeling 'lost almost in theories', a sentiment that catches the
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impossible complexity of the task he faced.
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Abberline was first called in to give an opinion on the crimes in the immediate aftermath of
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the murder of Mary Nichols, which took place on the 31st of August 1888.
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The St James Gazette mentioned his involvement in the case in it's addition of Saturday, September
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1st, 1888.
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''So far the police have satisfied themselves but as to getting a clue to her murderer they
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express little hope.
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The matter is being investigated by Detective Inspector Abberline of Scotland Yard, and Inspector
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Helson, J. Division''. 42 years old at the time of her death, Mary Ann Nichols was a casual prostitute,
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who was residing in an lodging house in Thrawl street.
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Despite producing five children her marriage failed in 1880 due to her frequent over indulgence
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in alcohol.
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Just two years later, Mary Ann Nichols had begun working the streets in order to earn a living.
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Undoubtedly, this is what she had been doing on the night that she died, especially since
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it later transpired that she had been turned away from her doss house for failing to provide
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the sum of fourpence for her bed.
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Looking back, it was ascertained that she may have spent the money on alcohol as she had been
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seen leaving The Frying Pan Pub on Brick Lane, beforehand.
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PC John Neill was patrolling Bucks Row, a gloomy street in Whitechapel for what must have
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been the umpteenth time on the wet dreary night of the 31st of August 1888.
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As he approached the stable yard next to the Board school he noticed the body of a woman
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lying on her back.
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Upon closer inspection by the light of his lamp he found that the woman's throat had been
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cut.
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PC Neill noticed another policeman from passing at the end of the street, used his lamp to
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signal for assistance, and was swiftly joined by PC Thain.
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Dr Llewellyn's post-mortem revealed several injuries, including two deep cuts to the
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throat, both of which had penetrated down to the spine.
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The first cut was approximately four inches long and the second approximately eight inches
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in length, and stretched from ear to ear deep enough to sever the large artery.
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The cuts were framed by two small bruises to both sides of the jaw that were not unlike
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the impressions left by recent pressure of a thumb and finger, suggesting that the killer
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had held the woman's throat prior to slitting it twice.
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There were also a number of abdominal injuries thought to have been made with the same instrument,
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a strong bladed knife.
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One deep hacking gash had jaggedly torn the left side of the lower part of the abdomen
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and as far up as the sternum, leaving the intestines exposed.
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Similar cuts were found on the right side of the torso, including further slashes across the
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abdomen, but no internal organs had been removed from the body by the murderer.
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Initially, based on the visible injuries and mutilations, Dr Lewellen believed that the
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killer was left handed, and had attacked the victim from the front.
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He concluded that the murderer must have had some rough anatomical knowledge, and that
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the wounds would have been the work of a single killer, taking only a mere four or five
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minutes to inflict.
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By the time of the murder of Annie Chapman on the 8th of September 1888, Inspector Abberline
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was seen very much as the lead officer on the case, as is attested to by the following
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account which appeared in the Cambridge Chronicle on Friday 14th September 1888.
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Detective Sergeant Thick, Sergeant Leach and other detective officers were soon on the spot,
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the backyard of 29 Hanbury Street where Annie Chapman's murder had occurred, while a telegram
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was sent to Inspector Abberline at Scotland Yard, apprising him of what had happened.
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It will be recollected that this officer assisted in the inquiry concerning the murder in
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Buck's row'.
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The press began to focus on one particular individual as a potential suspect.
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This person's vicious habits have been recounted by several local prostitutes, who described
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tales of him stalking streets, threatening women with a knife, robbing them or even attempting
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to kidnap them.
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Due to his habit of wearing a leather apron he had been nicknamed 'leather apron'.
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'Leather apron' was believed to be of a marked Hebrew type, which set him apart as a member
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of a large Jewish community that had been growing in the East End over the previous decades.
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With this development the next few years would prove to be a highly dangerous time for
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these settlers, racism and resentment towards Jews was already rife, and before long they
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were being blamed for undercutting job markets and taking over local neighbourhoods.
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As such they would go on to provide the public, and many journalists, with an easy scapegoat
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for the killings.
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Leather apron proved to be an elusive character, but would eventually be identified by the police
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as John Pizer, however the police downplayed his role as a suspect.
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On Monday the 10th of September 1888, Abberline was the officer who headed to Gravesend to escort
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William Henry Piggott back to London.
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Piggott had been arrested the previous evening, at The Pope's Head tavern, in West Street, Gravesend.
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The central news agency reported...
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'His hand is badly bitten, and there are blood marks on his clothes.
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He answers somewhat to the description published on the man wanted.
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He admits to having been in Whitechapel on the Saturday morning, about the place where
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the woman's body was found'.
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After the murder of Elizabeth Stride, Abberline was being recognised as the lead detective
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on the case, albeit he was now sharing the burden of the murder's investigation with
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Chief Inspector Donald Swanson.
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In the aftermath of the murder of Mary Kelly in Miller's court, Abberline was soon on the
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scene, and one of his first actions was to give orders that no one should be allowed to
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enter or leave the court.
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Abberline also had the unenviable task of sifting through the ashes of the grate in Mary
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Kelly's room, to see if they could yield up any clues. In the grate were traces of women's
.
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clothing haven't been burned.
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One of the most famous leads involved a German Polish immigrant named Aaron Kosminski.
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Kosminski was identified as a suspect by a witness, but was never formally charged due to
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the witnesses refusal to testify.
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Abberline never publicly named Kosminski, but evidence suggests he privately believed the man
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to be a prime suspect.
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It's just one example of the dead ends and the frustrations that dogged the investigation.
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By 1889 Abberline had been removed from the white chapel murders investigation, no one actually
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knows why. and by July he had been replaced by Inspector Henry Moore as the officer in charge.
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Abberline would go on to investigate the Cleveland Street scandal.
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In many ways, while Frederick Abberline found notoriaty for the Whitechapel murders, and
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the media labelling of the Jack the Ripper case, the Cleveland Street scandal was the focal
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point of his career.
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Lesser known, than the infamy of the Whitechapel murders, it has been overshadowed by the populist
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legacy of Jack the Ripper.
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In part two of the story of Frederick Abberline we will examine the Cleveland Street scandal
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and it's devastating upheaval of Victorian society, as well as Abberline's second career with
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the Pinkerton detective agency.
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So why remember Frederick Abberline?
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Because his story serves as a crucial counterpoint to the lurid myth of Jack the Ripper.
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It's a reminder that behind every famous criminal case are the lives of the people who dedicate
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themselves to solving it.
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Abberline was no cinematic hero, but a diligent, hard working man, who did his duty to the
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best of his ability, under almost unimaginable pressure.
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His failure to solve the Ripper case was not a personal one but a reflection of the limitations
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of his time and the inherent darkness of the mystery itself.
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He was a good policeman, and he deserves to be remembered for that, not for the fictional
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ghosts that have haunted his story for over a century.
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Subscribe, like and listen to Detective Diaries.
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Defense cases, overseas investigations and the unconventional tactics no one talks about.
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Here at Answers Investigation we take on cases few ever see.
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So why not dive into our history, and explore the hidden world of criminal defence?
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Here, on Detective Diaries.
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We hope you've enjoyed this slightly different episode- stepping back in time to trace the
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shadow career of Frederick Abberline.
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Do keep with the story, as we have part two coming in the near future.
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If the stories buried in history and the minds that dare to unearth them draw you in, then stay
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with us.
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We'll be uncovering more stories from both the celebrated and almost forgotten figures
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who shaped the art of deduction.
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Looking ahead to season two? We'll be opening the door to fresh perspectives, from work experience
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candidates. Bringing you richer, more theatrical storytelling- courtesy of the brilliant Ellie
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Murton, from the Guildford Shakespeare Company.
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We'll then take a turn, exploring the darker corners of cyber psychology with Professor
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Emma Short. And as always- keep listening, stay curious and keep seeking the truth.
