Britishers: talk to me.

[DisasterSoiree]

I'm working on a sort of history project for the forum about London, but I don't really know anything, well, about London.

That's very vague, so let me break it down into what I need to know:

1. I understand that, at least at some point in the past - I have no idea if it's still this way today - the "London police" were broken up into two jurisdictions: the Met and the CID ("the City"). But not being very familiar with the geography of the City, it's hard for me to tell what regions fell in which jurisdiction, and if it's changed since, oh, 1888. Anyone able to enlighten me on this? My impression is that "the City" consists (or consisted) of something like ten square kilometers and encompassed mostly of the administrative district, but oddly enough I can't seem to find an exact description of their territory and, besides, I'd rather pick your brains about it.

2. If my reference to '1888' didn't give it away, I'm working on a Jack The Ripper-related project, in the hopes of piquing the forum's interest in the subject and possibly drawing some new blood into what has become a pretty stale subject of research - and no, that Goddamned shawl did not prove a Goddamned thing. I presume that any single one of you probably knows more about the subject than I do, just by virtue of cultural osmosis. What sorts of things would you look for in a project like this? For that matter, are there any of you with an active interest in the case who'd maybe want to work on this with me?

 

[Hoplon]

nope to both,

The City of London police [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_of_London_Police] have been around since 1838. the city, also called the square mile is not near whitechapel at all.

CID is the Criminal investigation department [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criminal_Investigation_Department], in all the police in the UK. it dates from 1858.

Honestly the best thing on the ripper cases i have ever read is the addendum to Alan Moores from hell, which is a semi essay on resectioning the phenomenon of the gull catchers.

 

[DisasterSoiree]

Aha!

Granted that it wasn't near Whitechapel - the geography of London is frankly bizarre - it seems there was some jurisdictional overlap; Inspector Swanson claimed a City policeman was patrolling near Mitre Square(!) when Eddowes was murdered.

Am I right in assuming that the 'square mile' is basically Buckingham and a few governmental buildings and apartments and little else?

 

[Hoplon]

That's Whitehall (government offices) and Westminster (parliament), the City is where the stock exchange is, lots of banks. Aldgate to the east in one of the old city wall gates, White chapel is just beyond it. So a lot closer than I thought, totally could have been out that way, my apologies.

This map [https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/39/Map_of_London%2C_1300.svg] gives you and idea of what is now called the square mile. it's literately everything that used to be inside the city walls when they where still up.

London is massively dense and very confusing, always take an A to Z even in this day and age of smart devices.

 

[Albino Boo]

The square mile is the area of the original Roman settlement. When the Roman period ended Roman London was abandoned and the Saxon built in what's now the East End. The Roman city was ruins inhabited by thieves, bandits and the odd viking left over from a raid. Alfred the Great refounded London inside the Roman walls during the mid saxon period. Large chunks of central London still follow the medieval street plans. The square mile is still governed under a medieval charter, the electoral system is different in that business have a vote. Thats why the square mile has a different police force to the rest of London. The Lord Mayor of London is next in order or precedence after the Royal family. Assassinating the Lord Mayor of London was treasonable but assassinating the Prime minister wasn't.

 

[Eleuthera]

Here's a video that basically says what albino boo just said.