An East End detective’s notebooks, 1902–1909 Fact file
The notebooks of the first celebrity detective bring Edwardian London vividly to life, the Bishopsgate Institute’s Stefan Dickers tells
T he first British police force was established in London in 1829, when the Metropolitan Police Act passed under Sir Robert Peel, the home secretary at the time. This was followed by the County Police Act in 1839, which allowed the creation of police forces across the country. Fred Wensley was one of the first celebrity detectives, investigating notorious crimes in London in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He kept a detailed record of his career in his notebooks, now held among his papers at the Bishopsgate Institute. Stefan Dickers, special collections and archives manager at the institute, solves the mystery for us… The Bishopsgate Institute was founded in the City of London in 1895. It has a library holding collections on the history of London and socio-political movements, which is open weekdays from 10am to 5.30pm, and visitors don’t need to make an appointment or supply any identification. View the online catalogue and more information at bishopsgate.org.uk.
Who exactly was Fred Wensley?
Frederick Porter Wensley (1865– 1949) was a British police officer from 1888 until 1929, reaching the rank of chief constable in Scotland Yard’s Criminal Investigation Department. Earlier in his career he was head of ‘H’ Division in the East End of London, and was involved in several high-profile cases.
Wensley was the first detective to ‘tell his story’ after retirement in 1929 and there were various serialisations of his major cases, particularly in the Sunday Express in 1930. These contained wonderfully sensational headlines such as ‘How we trapped “The Spider”’ and ‘The murder in Room Thirteen’, all detailing the cases of “the greatest living detective”. Wensley also penned his own successful memoir, Detective
Days, published in 1931.
What crimes did Fred Wensley investigate?
The two most notorious crimes Wensley was involved in were the siege of Sidney Street and the case of Steinie Morrison. The siege of Sidney Street of January 1911 was a gunfight in the East End of London between a combined police and army force and two Latvian revolutionaries. It ended with the house in which the anarchists were stationed being set on fire, and both were killed. The case of Steinie Morrison resulted from the murder of Leon Beron on 1 January 1911. Beron was found with ‘S’ marks carved into his cheeks and forehead, indicating that he may have been a police informant. Morrison, a known associate with a long criminal record, was arrested and sentenced to death for the murder, although his sentence was later commuted to life imprisonment.
What documents have you chosen?
The documents I’ve chosen are Wensley’s own handwritten notebooks, entitled Record of Apprehensions, for the period 1902–1909. Written meticulously in his own hand, each notebook records everyone he arrested for that year including the date of apprehension, the name of the criminal, the offence they were arrested for, the court they appeared at and the sentence they received. The notebooks are totally full, providing a fascinating insight into crimes and criminality in this area of London and proving that Wensley was kept on his toes. They might also be of interest to family historians who suspect that a long-lost ancestor operated on the wrong side of the law!
What criminal cases do they include?
I am always amazed by the wide array of crimes that the notebooks record. There are those serious crimes that unfortunately you might expect like murder, violent offences, housebreaking and theft, but also many entries for running illegal gaming houses, stealing alcohol, street-betting and safe-breaking. The notebooks also record sadder cases of convictions around abortion and child stealing, along with entries for the arrests of infamous East End gangsters. The most notable of these is Arthur Harding, one of the most active East End criminals of the time, whose life story was captured by social historian Raphael Samuel in
Fred Wensley’s notebooks highlight the nature of justice and law and order at the time
his seminal book East End Underworld in 1981.
What do the notebooks reveal about society?
The notebooks give us a fascinating glimpse of preFirst World War East London, highlighting the crimes that were most prevalent and the nature of justice and law and order at the time. Some of the sentences passed may seem very harsh to modern sensibilities – there are crimes that would now be looked on more leniently. Sentences of hard labour are regularly given, along with several instances of deportation and the death sentence.
The notebooks also reveal the diverse social demographic of the East End with a broad mixture of Jewish, Irish and other names, demonstrating how the area around Spitalfields and Whitechapel became a home to immigrants from Eastern Europe and elsewhere at the turn of the 20th century.
Do you have any other documents about Fred Wensley?
The Wensley Family Archive was donated to the Bishopsgate Institute in 2010. It contains two wonderfully compiled scrapbooks of cuttings and photos from Wensley’s career, detailing all of the cases with which he was involved from the late Victorian period to obituaries after his death in 1949. There are also Wensley’s diaries, certificates and photographs.
Alongside this, there are records relating to the family including extensive correspondence and memorabilia. Of particular interest are the items relating to the tragic deaths of Wensley’s two sons during the First World War, and the social life and career of his daughter Edie. These paint a wonderful and captivating picture of a family living in Stepney during this turbulent and important period of British history.
Tell me a bit more about the institute.
The Bishopsgate Institute’s Special Collections and Archives are a treasure trove for any London historians out there. We have approximately 100,000 books and pamphlets, maps, trade directories, oral histories and guidebooks, and an evergrowing number of archives of individuals and organisations.
We also hold substantial printed and archival material about protest and campaigning, socialism, the co-operative movement and LGBTQ [lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer] history, so do pay us a visit any time!