We've
determined above that out of the London Metropolitan Police H Division police stations, only the headquarters at Leman Street Station are likely to matter in play anytime soon. They, in turn, are extremely likely to come up at a moment's notice, just as soon as the PCs have a few extra minutes to drop by at Leman Street in search of more stout men to recruit for their society of survivors at the Aldgate.
I've been watching the first few episodes of BBC One's
Ripper Street as 'research' and in case I can't find a real-world source with an answer for something for H Division, I think I'll use information from the TV show, at least if it's not obviously faulty or stupid.
H Division Strength
To begin with, then, the strength of the H Division of the London Metropolitan Police at the start of play, excluding temporary reinforcements still drawing pay from other divisions and exclusing also any special constables, is 587 men divided into the following ranks:
1 Superintendent (Supt. Thomas Arnold)
1 Chief Inspector (CI John West)
11 1st class Inspectors
14 2nd class Inspectors
2 Sub Inspectors
19 1st class Sergeants
4 2nd class Sergeants
14 3rd class Sergeants
219 1st class PCs
114 2nd class PCs
173 3rd class PCs
and on CID -
1 Local Inspector (DI Edmund Reid)
1 1st class Sergeant
1 2nd class Sergeant
6 3rd class Sergeants
5 1st class Constables
1 2nd class Constable
TOTAL = 587 Police Officers
Station Commanders and Inspectors
From what I can gather, Chief Inspector John West, in addition to being the senior uniformed man in H Division under Superintendent Thomas Arnold, was in charge at Leman Street HQ, where he was assisted by an Inspector Charles Pinhorn. There will have been more Inspectors based at Leman Street, as well, as it was the CID HQ for the division and the administrative headquarters of all police work. In charge of the CID of Division H, based at the HQ in Leman Street, was Detective Inspector Edmund Reid.
In charge at Commercial Street station was Divisional Inspector Ernest Ellisdon, assisted by Inspector Walter Beck.
I can't find out why was in charge at King David Lane of the Shadwell station and at Arbour Square of the Stepney one. No doubt a uniformed Divisional Inspector (who would have been a 1st Class Inspector) had the job, probably assisted by another Inspector.
H Division had 14 first class uniformed Inspectors, after all, which is enough not to need to assign Sergeants as the senior officers at any station. There is a reference to a Divisional Inspector Pimley in a period newspaper, which might refer to the CO at either one of these police stations.*
CID Officers
The odds are that the 1st Class Detective Sergeant in H Division was DI Reid's second and the CID chief administrative officer, who had the responsibility for keeping the paperwork in order and administratively assigning plain-clothes officers to investigations. I have not been able to find conclusive proof who that man was in 1888, but it is likely that either Detective Sergeant William Thick, DS William Smith, DS Eli Caunter, DS Albert Pearce or DS Stephen Leach** was the 1st Class Sergeant and one of the others the 2nd Class one.
Unless I find evidence suggesting something else, I lean toward making DS Stephen Leach or DS Eli Caunter*** the 1st Class Sergeant of the CID in H Division, on the theory that the day-to-day running and administration of CID required at least one experienced officer
not involved in the Ripper investigation and DS Pearce and DS Thick were clearly working closely with DI Reid on that case from the start.
DS Leach travelled some distance from Whitechapel to make an arrest at the time, which argues against him having an important administrative role, but on the other hand, he appears to have been senior to DS William Smith and DS White, at least.
DS Caunter and DS Thick were active investigators who spent quite a lot of time in front of magistrates and strolling the streets of Whitechapel, judging from period sources. This argues against them being the 1st Class Sergeants, as does the fact that neither made Inspector later on, while the 1st Class Sergeant role was usually considered a jumping-off point for that position.
Officers in Charge at Leman Street Station
The supernatural event that transformed a part of the East End into the campaign setting took place just after 3 o'clock on a Friday, the 2nd of November 1888. At that time, the day shift would be on duty, which means that just a part of the 25% of the manpower of H-Division assigned to day shift would be at the stations.
Senior officers are likely to have worked bankers' hours or as close to it as they could manage. Given the stress of the Ripper scare, that might not be all that close and it is certain that the officers directly assigned to the Ripper case, i.e. DCI Swanson (of Scotland Yard), DCI Moore (of Scotland Yard), DI Abberline (of Scotland Yard), DI Nairn (of Scotland Yard), DI Reid and DS Pearce, DS Thick, DS Godley (J-Division liason) and DS M'Carthy (unknown division) worked long hours.
As Superintendant Thomas Arnold lived with his wife next to the Stepney station at Arbour Square, however, I have decided that when no urgent business prevented him, he liked to make a circuit of his four stations on Fridays. Ending at Arbour Square allowed him to dine at home at 2 o'clock without needing to walk far to go back to work and then to go directly home from the Arbour Square station once the workday finished for him a few hours later.
This means that Supt. Arnold is not at Leman Street station and the most senior officer likely to be met there is Chief Inspector John West. It seems that the next most senior man at Leman Street would be Inspector Charles Pinhorn, who is
almost certain to have ranked as Divisional Inspector for Leman Street station, and then an unknown number of Inspectors (1st Class) who may have held their rank longer than Detective Inspector Reid.
As both a practical and customary matter, however, DI Reid would have a very free hand how he ran his CID shop and on any matter touching on ongoing investigations or requests for support, reinforcement or assistance to the CID, DI Reid would outrank any ordinary uniformed Inspector who was not a Divisional Inspector of a police station. This makes him number three at Leman Street HQ in all practical terms.
In addition to these, the men from Scotland Yard assigned especially to the Ripper investigation are likely to have had working space at Leman Street station. This includes the on-the-ground commander of the investigation, Inspector Fred Aberline, and his subordinate DI Nairn, as well as any Detective Sergeants or ordinary Detective Constables that they might have brought along. Anyone from J Division or the City of London Police would also be likely to get offices at Leman Street.
I know John West joined the London Metropolitan Police in 1865 and in our reality, he retired in 1891. This suggests a man of advancing years, at least middle-aged and possibly more. I know literally nothing else about the man. This leads directly to my first question:
1) Does anyone have information about Chief Inspector John West, that I can use to flesh him out as an NPC in my campaign?
2) Does anyone have any information about Divisional Inspector Charles Pinhorn?
Leman Street Station had a section house attached, where single officers had lodging. This was run by a Section Sergeant, as would the other section houses, in particular the one at Mile End Road which did not have a police station attached. There would also be a Station Sergeant at each of the four stations.
3) Does anyone happen to know who would be the Station Sergeant at Leman Street and who would be the Section Sergeant?
4) Does anyone have information, intuition or an opinion on who ought to be 1st Class Detective Sergeant of the H Division CID?
By all means, if you have something to add, questions, suggestions or ideas related to the use of the Leman Street station of the H Division of the London Metropolitan Police, post away.
*Though, if so, it is odd that he was assigned to plain-clothes duty during the Ripper scare.
**The older men among the CID in H Division.
***Because I find both men to possess the requisite age and apparent experience and gravitas for such a position.