Five things to do in October
The Crime Museum Uncovered
Never-before-seen objects from the Metropolitan Police’s Crime Museum will go on show at the Museum of London this month. As well as considering how the nature of crime has changed since the Crime Museum was established in 1875, the exhibition will also examine how methods of detecting crime have improved over the past 140 years.
The objects, previously accessible only to police professionals and invited guests, include pieces relating to some of Britain’s most famous crimes, including a published memoir containing handwritten notes in the margin by Donald Swanson, senior investigating officer on the Jack the Ripper investigation during the late 1880s. In it he names Aaron Kosminski as the prime suspect in the case.
Also on show is a pincushion embroidered with human hair by a woman who was arrested more than 400 times for alcohol-related offences, and a violin, tools, false arm and folding ladder belonging to Victorian cat burglar and murderer Charles Peace. Known as a musician, Peace would return to the houses at which he had performed to rob the inhabitants of their valuables.
Other remarkable items in the exhibition include the masks used by the Stratton brothers – the first British men to be convicted of murder based upon fingerprint evidence – and objects relating to the ‘Great Train Robbery’ of 1963.