Victorian Crime & Police

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Victorian Crime and Police

The readers of Victorian England loved the detective genre. This is in part explained by the historical and social context of the time.

Historical context

The first official police force in England was not established until 1829.
This meant that Victorian readers saw the growth of the police force and police detection itself.
- This was something interesting and new to society.

New police force

The new police forces had blue uniforms.
- The colour was supposed to represent that they were civilian officers, rather than military.

Prevention vs detection

At first, the police were only focused on crime prevention.
It wasn’t until 1842, when they took 10 days to find a murderer, that it became clear that they needed to learn the art of detection as well.
- This would enable them to actually solve crimes, as well as preventing further offences from happening.

Working classes

Working-class readers disliked the police force.
- They felt that the police only really protected the middle-classes, and did not feel protected themselves.
This meant that, at first, the working-classes did not really care about fictional detectives either.

Growing interest of the working class

Slowly, as more and more middle-class, fictional detectives appeared in literature, the working-classes began to become more interested in fictional detective stories.

Jack the Ripper

Sherlock Holmes was introduced to Victorian London in 1887, only a year before the first Jack the Ripper murder. He was presented as the perfect detective because of his use of science.

Sherlock Holmes

In 1887, Sherlock Holmes was introduced to Victorian London as the perfect detective:
- He used his intelligence and understanding of science to solve any and all crimes.

Jack the Ripper

In 1888, Jack the Ripper surfaced as Britain’s first serial killer.
The Whitechapel Murders (committed by Jack the Ripper) shook Victorian Britain.
The murders were unnecessarily vicious and brutal.
- Even worse, the London police force could not catch the killer!
In fact, the identity of Jack the Ripper remains unknown to this day.

Number of victims

It is believed that Jack the Ripper murdered at least five women (all prostitutes) between August and November 1888.
- But the exact number cannot be confirmed and many people think that he killed more than this.

Mutilated victims

Although his real identity was unknown, Jack the Ripper was given this pseudonym because of the horrific ways in which he mutilated his victims:
- All but one of his victims were horribly disembowelled. This is when a victim is cut open and their organs are removed.
- One of his victims had her throat slit and had her jaw sliced open.
- Another had her abdomen cut open.

Butcher or doctor?

Because of the ways in which he mutilated people, some people have suggested that Jack the Ripper might have actually been a butcher or doctor.

Corruption in the Victorian Police

Corruption and incompetency characterised the Victorian police force. This was especially apparent during the rampage of Jack the Ripper.

Classism

Corruption was rife in the police force.
They refused to interrogate members of the upper classes, meaning they refused to investigate whole social classes about their possible involvement in crimes.
Lower-class people felt that this was unfair, which increased a lack of trust (and belief) in the police.

Jack the Ripper

The Victorian police force was seen as especially incompetent in the case of Jack the Ripper.
- The whole police force fought together to find one man and failed.

Inspector Jones

In The Sign of the Four, the incompetency of the police force is shown through Inspector Jones when he jumps to conclusions with no evidence in Chapter 6:
- ‘You see that I am weaving my web round Thaddeus.’
He decides that Thaddeus is the criminal and tries to fit the evidence around him instead of investigating the facts in an unbiased way.

Response of Holmes

Holmes, being the better investigator, responds sarcastically:
- ‘On which the dead man very considerately got up and locked the door on the inside’.
Conan Doyle uses Holmes to mock the idiocy of the police force.

Incompetent police

For the first time, the media had widespread, in-depth coverage of a crime like this (Jack the Ripper's murders).
- This meant the crime caused widespread fear and panic and it was clear that the police were making slow progress in the case.
- This led to the widespread belief in Victorian England that the police were completely useless.