ABBERLINE, Frederick George
Born : 8 January 1843, Blandford Dorset. Son of Edward
and Hannah Abberline.
1863 : Jan 5 - Joins Metropolitan Police Warrant Number
43519. Described as being 5ft 9 and a half inches tall, with dark brown
hair, hazel eyes, a fresh complexion and a varicose vein on the left leg
below the knee. He had a wife named Emma. Appointed to N Division (Islington).
1865 : Aug 19 - Promoted to Sergeant. This was
very rapid promotion. Oct 30 - Moved to Y Division (Highgate).
1873 : Mar 10 - Promoted to Inspector.
1878 : Apr 8 - Moved to H Division (Whitechapel) and promoted
to Local Inspector.
1887 : Feb 26 - Moved to A Division (Whitehall). Nov 19
- Moved to CO Division (Scotland Yard).
1888 : Feb 8 - Promoted to 1st Class Inspector.
1889 : Investigates Cleveland Street Scandal.
1890 : Dec 22 - Promoted to Chief Inspector.
1892 : Feb 7 - Resigned from the Metropolitan Police after
29 years service. Lived at 41 Mayflower Road, Clapham. He continued to
do some private detective work.
1929 : Dec 10 - Died Age 86 at "Estcourt", 195
Holdenhurst Road, Bournemouth. Buried at Wimbourne Cemetery, grave number
Z259N. (This appears to have been in the same cemetery as Montague Druitt).
In interviews with the Pall Mall Gazette in 1903 Abberline put forward
the idea that George Chapman may have been the Ripper saying "...I
cannot help feeling that this is the man we struggled so hard to capture
fifteen years ago." However, he also said that "Scotland Yard
is really no wiser on the subject than it was fifteen years ago."
In an article first published in the Evening News (June 26, 1976) and
later reprinted in "The Ripper and the Royals" Nigel Morland
recalled visiting Abberline when the Inspector was living in retirement
in Dorset. Morland claimed that Abberline told him that the case was shut
and that "I've given my word to keep my mouth permanently closed about
it." Abberline went on to say that "I know and my superiors know
certain facts."and that the Ripper "...wasn't a butcher, Yid
or foreign skipper...you'd have to look for him not at the bottom of London
society at the time but a long way up." Given Abberline's other known
statements about the case this should be treated with considerable scepticism
and caution.
Source:
Begg, Fido, and Skinner. The Jack the Ripper A-Z.
Photographs of Abberline's final residence in Bournemouth
Photographs courtesy of Scott
Chapman
An informational pamphlet on Inspector Abberline, produced by the
Bournemouth Council in 2001, can be found here (PDF format).
