Sir Edmund Henderson & Sir Charles Warren –

Champion or Incompetent?
Sir Edmund Henderson
Appointed as Commissioner in 1870 and forced to resign in 1886 following a string of scandals. He was
criticised for his perceived relaxed approach to discipline but also introduced some positive changes.
 Henderson abolished what he saw as “petty regulations” for police officers- such as a ban on facial
hair. He also allowed officers to have the right to vote in elections.
 He argued for a pay rise for all police officers- although he was unable to secure this raise.
 Under Henderson the number detectives, in the Metropolitan police force, was increased to 200.
 A register of Habitual Criminals was set up in order to track frequent offenders and recognise their
modus operandi.
 Henderson made efforts to increase the literacy levels of police recruits.
 In 1872 he successfully resolved a police strike over pension cuts and low wages. While the
reputation of the Met suffered, Henderson’s personal reputation remained intact.
 1877 the Trial of the Detectives damaged Henderson’s reputation when four of his senior officers
were charged with corruption.
 1883 Henderson ignored the ineffectiveness of key District Superintendents and left them to handle
the investigation into Irish Fenian terrorists. There was a wave of bombs across the capital- 70
people were injured at Paddington station and there were bombs at the House of Commons and CID
headquarters
 1886 Henderson mishandled the Trafalgar Square riot. He ignored warnings of potential unrest from
a left wing rally. Too few officers were deployed and the riot did considerable damage to property.
Sir Charles Warren

Head of Scotland Yard

Sir Charles Warren who had been appointed to

the post in January 1886. Warren was
undeservedly heavily criticised and ridiculed
most of which is based on several
misconceptions and inaccuracies about his
handling of murder cases. An ex-military man,
he took up office with high hopes of bringing
much needed discipline to the Metropolitan
Police, and appears to have won the respect and
loyalty of most of the rank and file officers.

The Times applauded him as being:

’…precisely the man whom sensible Londoners would have chosen to preside over the Police Force of the Metropolis… there are few
officials… who had more varied experience. He is at once a man of science and a man of action…’

Bloody Sunday – November 1887 During the summer of 1887 large numbers of destitute unemployed had begun camping
out in Trafalgar Square and using it as a meeting place. As a result the Square had become a hotbed of political agitation, and
Warren, fearing that this growing disquiet might soon place London at the mercy of the mob, requested that the Home
Secretary, Henry Matthews, ban all meetings in Trafalgar Square. Matthews hesitated to take any action for almost 2 months,
forcing Warren to send 2,000 policemen into the Square at weekends to maintain public order at the meetings. In early
November Matthews finally made a decision and authorised Warren to ban further meetings in the Square. Up until this point
the protestors had treated Warren with a certain amount of respect but they felt the ban was put in place by him and that it was
stopping their freedom of speech so the Metropolitan Radical Association decided to challenge it by calling a meeting in the
th
 Police Brutality As the protest ended, two protestors lay dead, a hundred people had been hospitalised, 77 constables had
been injured, and 40 protestors had been arrested.

By the end of the week, seventy five charges of brutality had been lodged against the police. But, as far as the authorities
were concerned, Warren was the hero who had made a decisive stand against both the mob and the threat posed to public
order by socialism.

The Times was fulsome in its praise and

commented how Warren’s decisive action
had undermined "a deliberate attempt… to
terrorize London by placing the control of
the streets in the hands of the criminal
classes." To the radicals, however, he had
become an autocrat, and from that point on
they sought any opportunity to attack and
undermine him. Consequently when the Jack
Questions to answer!
the Ripper murders occurred and the police
appeared unable to catch the killer, the 1. Who were Henderson and Warren?
radical press saw an opportunity to avenge 2. What were their roles and when were they
itself on Warren, and he would find himself significant?
vilified in many newspapers for his
3. Split your page in half and head up one column
mishandling of the investigation.
‘Champion’ and the other ‘Incompetent’ as you
read the sheet fill in evidence for each man under
each heading. You could colour code to indicate
whom you are talking about.