Henrietta Barnett On Whitechapel And The Jack The Ripper Murders.

Henrietta and Samuel Barnett arrived in Whitechapel in 1873 when Samuel was made the vicar of St Jude’s church on Commercial Street. Over the next twenty years, they were active in improving the lot of the poor, as well as the criminally inclined, of their parish. They, for example, established the Toynbee Hall University settlement in 1884 to encourage future political leaders to come to the East End and live amongst the poor of the district in order to gain an understanding of the causes of poverty, which, the Barnetts hoped, would aid them in tackling the social issues of the age in their future callings or vocations. In 1885, the men of Toynbee Hall formed a “Streets Parol Committee“ to monitor the streets of the parish by night, and to compile reports on suspicious or criminal activity. This was a forerunner of the later vigilance committees that were set up in the district during the Whitechapel murders. Henrietta got to know the women of the district, and was, theref