Frederick Abberline

[saxy_jag]

Does anyone know of any reliable biographies of Frederick Abberline, the Jack the Ripper detective. I'm especially interested in his earlier life.

[Peaspeculiars]

Hi Saxy, Not sure of it's reliability, but this one gets a good review...

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15902324-ripper-hunter#other_reviews

'...Despite Abberline having tried to keep his life private the author has done a good job of unearthing facts about him. He then draws these together into one very interesting read...'

[saxy_jag]

Thanks for that. Hadn't seen this one on my search so I may give it a go. I see it's available on Kindle for a very small sum so I won't lose anything for a look.

The reason I want to know more about him is that his first wife, Martha, was one of my ancestors. Sadly she died two months after they were married but I'd still like to know what sort of man she married.

[Peaspeculiars]

Sounds intriguing, I am guessing you have already looked at pages such as these... for info on Martha:
http://forum.casebook.org/archive/index.php/t-209.html

I'll keep hunting around the web and see if I can spot anything biography-wise or character reference for Frederick Abberline though :-)

[Peaspeculiars]

Patricia Cornwell produced a book which has a description of Fredericks character which might be of some use 'Portrait of a Killer: Jack the Ripper, case closed' - but it could just be speculation based on his scrapbook (?)

http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=koQtyzqBOSIC&pg=PT117&lpg=PT117&dq=patricia+cornwell+frederick+abberline&source=bl&ots=dIH8LWVPSw&sig=4jvEulDm6euSvmrFslt89r4U8w4&hl=en&sa=X&ei=YJIbU9uvMcfMhAeujYHoAg&ved=0CC0Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=patricia%20cornwell%20frederick%20abberline&f=false

[saxy_jag]

The forum.casebook link I have already seen, but I had the information before I read that.

I'm wondering if I would be able to access any records in the police archives, given that he was already a sergeant at the time of their marriage. I will make some enquiries.

Thanks again.

[Peaspeculiars]

No worries and Good Luck! :-)