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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
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
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Chief Inspector Frederick Abberline investigates the Cleveland Street Scandal, which rocked Britain in the 19th century, and the notorious 'Turkish Bond Robbery' - the 'Italian Job' of the 19th Century, ending with a visit to his home of retirement in Bournemouth and the story of how his grave was finally marked 75 years later - recorded on location
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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.
