Edmund Reid

Jack the Ripper: The Facts
Philip Holbrook
Kindle ebook
£1.99
Don’t bother with this book, even if you can download and open it and have the eyesight capable
of reading the tiny print. It’s another rip-off, this time it’s lifted the Wikipedia entry on Jack the
Ripper and lazy Philip Holbrook couldn’t be bothered to disguise the fact. It even includes the same
illustrations. And, perhaps the biggest sin, it pinches the title of my book.
Policing the Victorian Community:
The Formation of the English Provincial Police Forces, 1856-1880
Vol: 9 in the Routledge Library Editions: The History of Crime and Punishment
Carolyn Steedman
London: Routledge and Keegan Paul, 2016
www.routledge.com
First Published: London: Routledge and Keegan Paul, 1984
ISBN: 9781138943728
£90.00 Hardcover/£26.99 ebook
The very hefty price tag means that this isn’t likely to be a book you’ll buy for your personal
library, but it’s one you might want to source from your local library. Also, it’s worth noting that it
was originally published in 1984, so it might not be as up-to-date as you’d like.
As the cover price indicates, this is an academic book, written in an academic style, and
unfortunately for some reason printed in a typewriter typeface that I found frustratingly awkward to read. Nevertheless,
it was and remains an interesting examination of the development of provincial police forces following the passing of
the County and Borough Police Act in 1856, which made it compulsory for any county in England (and Wales) which had
not already established a police force to do so.
The book has two parts, “Government and Policing” and “Men and Policemen”, the latter being a particularly
interesting analysis of the places and occupations from which policemen were recruited, the possible reasons why some
men saw policing as an attractive opportunity, and how and why recruits very often failed to make it through their first
year on the beat.
At first the bulk of recruits were men in their mid-20s, but soon they were in their early-20s, and a good many had
worked the land before joining the police. Farm labourers worked hard for little pay, so police work seemed immediately
attractive, but many found the police to be less appealing than it had first appeared. Roughly half of those who joined
the police survived a year in the job and a mere 12% made it through to receiving their pensions. These figures remained
pretty much the same throughout the period covered by the book. Interestingly, of those who left in their first year, 47%
resigned and 53% were dismissed. The dismissal rate dropped quite dramatically as the years of service increased, but
the chance of dying whilst in harness increased.
What we often overlook is that policemen were almost exclusively working-class, whilst those they policed and over
whom they had to exercise a degree of authority were middle- and upper-class. It was therefore psychologically difficult
for a man to become a policeman, stepping out of his class, and having to deal with people who considered him his social
inferior. It’s something which may have had an unappreciated impact on the Ripper investigation.
I enjoyed this book. I can’t recommend that you rush out and buy it, but if you’re interested in the history of the
police you should certainly see if your local library can source it for you.
Ripperologist 147 December 2015 60