Capturing Jack The Ripper: In the Boots of a Bobby in Victorian London

by Neil R.A. Bell

During the autumn of 1888 a serial killer stalked, brutally murdering his way through the East End of London. Some called him the Whitechapel Monster, while locals referred to him as Leather Apron, but to the world he was known as Jack the Ripper.The responsibility of capturing this murderous fiend fell upon the men of London s Metropolitan and City police forces. Capturing Jack the Ripper will investigate the working lives of these men, and see what it takes to become one of Queen Victoria s police constables, from recruitment to training and on to life as a bobby.This book provides an insight into police life, as well as an in-depth view of the investigation at the height of the Ripper murders; it provides a rare look at the men who protected the streets, who faced very real dangers every night, who often suffered severe physical injury and who sometimes died; men who faced life in the raw in one of the worst parts of London and who were the first on the scene after a killer had struck. Join the police as they go out into the dank, crime-infested, gas-lit abyss known as Whitechapel, and try to capture Jack the Ripper."

Genres: History, True Crime, Nonfiction, Crime

288 pages, Hardcover

First published October 19, 2014

Reviews

[Katherine Addison · Rating 5 out of 5]

[N.b., this book has two listings in Goodreads. NEITHER is under the author's name as it appears on the cover of this book: Neil R. A. Bell. One is under "N R a Bell" (which I rejected because (a) the sloppy capitalization made me dubious and (b) on the bio/copyright page, Mr. Bell is referred to as "Neil Bell") and this one, under "Neil Bell" . . . who (I note on his author page) died in 1964. Since this book includes discussion of evidence that was not discovered until 1987, I feel confident that this is, in fact, the wrong Neil Bell. A quick look at the list of books allegedly by "Neil Bell" indicates that there are at least two, and possibly more, authors named Neil Bell who have gotten lumped together. I'm sure there's somewhere on Goodreads to report this kind of thing, but I can't find it. So this note is the best I can do.]

Bell is not a graceful writer, but he conveys his information clearly. He is a sane and responsible Ripperologist--meaning that he assesses evidence logically, refers generally to "the Whitechapel murders" to avoid questions about which women are "canonical" Jack-the-Ripper victims and which aren't, and regards all letters, chalked messages, pieces of kidney, and other communications alleged to be from Jack the Ripper with healthy skepticism--and has done a great deal of research into the lives of ordinary bobbies, specifically in H Division (Whitechapel), but more generally in the Metropolitan and City Police. Questions about uniforms, about training, about what a constable's "beat" actually consisted of, about the likely career path (you could rise up steadily through the ranks as long as you didn't trip yourself up by getting sacked for being drunk on duty--which happened a lot), the procedure for interviewing witnesses, communications between Scotland Yard and individual stations, what happened when someone was arrested for drunk and disorderly, where the chinks were for corruption to creep in. He goes into detail about Sir Charles Warren's rise and fall (including some incidents I had never read about before), and throughout he presents the Whitechapel murders as much as possible as they were experienced by the police of London.

Highly recommended for anyone researching--for whatever purpose--the police of late Victorian London.

[Alessandro Mana · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very interesting book. This book help the readers and Jack the Ripper's students to understand exactly how the Metropolitan Police of London was structured and how Bobbies and Detectives works on their duty, particularly during the Autumn of Terror.

[Deana · Rating 5 out of 5]

Throughly enjoyable and unputdownable 👌

The detail and research for this trip back to Victorian London was fantastic. I particularly enjoyed the first part of the book on the procedures etc of our early bobbies. The Ripper murders were filled with detail and brought to life the policemen working on the case.... will be a much returned to resource, for murders set in the Victorian Age

[Phil Simpkin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Knowing Neil, I expected nothing less than the people, views, disagreements and struggles of Victorian Metropolitan Police to trace a man that has become a legend. Opens up lots of 'what if' perspectives and asks many more questions about who was or were Jack The Ripper

[J.F. Duncan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just the book I needed to read and at just the right time. Sets out to explore the policing of London t the time of the Whitehall murders and the ways in which an investigation would be conducted at the time. Full of very useful stuff.

[Matt · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent look at the policing of the time of the infamous murders.

[Perry · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great companion for serious Ripper enthusiasts Written from the police point of view, there is some interesting original documents shared from the Whitechapel murders