Frederick Abberline
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Frederick George Abberline (January 8, 1843 – December 10, 1929) was an inspector for the London Metropolitan Police and was a prominent police figure in the investigation into the Jack the Ripper murders. He was not, as some have claimed, in charge of the investigation.
Abberline began his police career in Whitechapel, and was in 1873, transferred to Stepney for a long period, then to Westminster and finally to Scotland Yard in 1887. Following the murder of Mary Ann Nichols, Abberline was transferred to Whitechapel due to his extensive experience in the area. There he was placed in charge of the various detectives investigating the Ripper crimes.
Abberline at one time suspected Severin Antoniovich Klosowski (George Chapman), as being the Ripper.
He was subsequently involved in the investigation of the Cleveland Street scandal in 1889, and was promoted Chief Inspector in 1890.
Upon his death, Abberline was buried in Bournemouth at Wimborne Road Cemetery. Confusion sometimes arises because Montague Druitt, a schoomaster and barrister who had been named as a suspect in the Ripper murders, is buried at Wimbourne Minster Cemetery. Wimborne Minster Cemetery, however, is located in the town of Wimborne Minster, rather than in Bournemouth. As of 2005, there is a movement by some Ripperologists to raise money to erect a headstone for the grave of him and his wife. There are some other Druitt family graves at Wimborne Road Cemetery.
A fictionalized Abberline was featured as a central figure in Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell's From Hell. That character was portrayed in the film adaption of that work by Johnny Depp. Abberline was played by Michael Caine in a 1988 television film. Both portrayals quite substantially changed details of his life and the Ripper case for dramatic purposes.
External links
- [Brief profile from Casebook.org]
- [Casebook.org message board thread discussing the Abberline grave project]
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