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Andrew Spallek
Chief Inspector
Username: Aspallek
Post Number: 832
Registered: 5-2003
| | Posted on Sunday, May 22, 2005 - 1:55 am: | 
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Does anyone know just when Abberline first moved to Bournmouth? I know that he was from nearby Blandford originally.
It strikes me that he could not help but be acquainted with the Druitt family. If Abberline had been convinced of Montague's guilt but reluctant to expose the Druitt family to embarrassment, perhaps he would come up with the almost ridiculous idea that Chapman was the Ripper -- just to throw the press off the trail. Was Abberline living in Bournmouth when he was interviewed by the Pall Mall Gazette in 1903?
Andy S. |
Robert Charles Linford
Assistant Commissioner
Username: Robert
Post Number: 4432
Registered: 3-2003
| | Posted on Sunday, May 22, 2005 - 3:54 am: |
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Hi Andy
The Sourcebook says Abberline retired to Bournemouth in 1904.
Robert |
Andrew Spallek
Chief Inspector
Username: Aspallek
Post Number: 833
Registered: 5-2003
| | Posted on Sunday, May 22, 2005 - 5:15 pm: |
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Hmmm. Interesting. Still, he might have known the Druitt's from his earlier Dorset days. Apparently Abberline did keep ties to Dorset over the years since he chose to retire to Bournmouth. Perhaps he even did private detective work for the Druitt law firm.
There is no evidence to this effect, but it would explain what I have always considered a puzzling conclusion on Abberline's part in identifying Chapman as JtR.
Andy S. |
Phil Hill
Police Constable
Username: Phil
Post Number: 8
Registered: 1-2005
| | Posted on Monday, May 23, 2005 - 2:15 am: |
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Andy - people in the UK don't and didn't always retire to places where they had connections.
Bournemouth was long (maybe still is) regarded as a place to retire too and I have heard it referred to as "God's waiting room" given the number of old people living there approaching death. I seem to recall reading that it was much favoured by ex-Army officers, so a policeman might have felt at home there.
The author JRR Tolkien retired to Bournemouth, but did so because (again as I recall) his wife favoured the place. When she died before him, he quickly returned to his beloved Oxford and a flat owned by his old college.
So i don't think we can assume (without specific evidence, which may exist) any prior link between Abberline and Bournemouth or Abberline and the Druitts. It might have been his wife who longed to live in a posh town by the sea, or Abberline who thought he'd meet congenial types there.
Sorry,
Phil |
Andrew Spallek
Chief Inspector
Username: Aspallek
Post Number: 835
Registered: 5-2003
| | Posted on Monday, May 23, 2005 - 12:23 pm: |
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Hi Phil,
I hope I wasn't too overly enthusiastic about my suggested possibility. I don't mean to suggest it is likely that Abberline had connections with the Druitts. But it is a possibility and I do think it is likely that he would have been acquainted with this prominent family.
If I was enthusiastic it was due to the possibility of finding an answer to a question that has long puzzled and troubled me -- why Abberline seemed so certain that as unlikely a character as Chapman was the Ripper. If his statement to the press was a "red herring" to throw the press off the Druitt trail, then that comment begins to make sense. Of course we don't have any evidence to that effect.
As to retirement, it is also true in America that people often retire to places where they had no prior connection -- Florida or Arizona, for example. But when someone returns in retirement to a place near where he grew up it could be an indication that he kept up ties over the years. But as you say there are plenty of other reasons why Abberline might have retired to Bournmouth.
Andy S. |
Phil Hill
Police Constable
Username: Phil
Post Number: 10
Registered: 1-2005
| | Posted on Monday, May 23, 2005 - 12:56 pm: |
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Andy, I only noted after i'd posted that he was back close to his roots. But even so, Bournemouth was such a retirement centre that I think it would be too dangerous to infer to much from that.
As always though, your posts are thought-provoking. Thanks,
Phil |
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