Greetings

George H. Hutt, known as "The Police Poet" was the gaoler of Bishopsgate Police Station within the area patroled by the City of London Police. As such, in the early morning hours of 30 September 1888, he let the shortly to be fourth Jack the Ripper victim Catherine Eddowes out of gaol before she was murdered in Mitre Square, Aldgate.

Hutt is known to have written numerous letters to the press, including one condemning the anti-semitism that grew out of the Ripper crimes, the East End of London at the time having a large immigrant Jewish population, and rumors circulated that the Ripper could have been a Jew.

Hutt wrote a poem called "Saved by a Dog" about a dog who saved a woman cook's life in Leeds in 1893 and another poem about the marriage of Princess Victoria Mary (May) of Teck and George, Duke of York (the future George V) that same year, for which he received an acknowledgement from the Royal family.

In the pages of Ripperologist we have been running a series on City of London policemen of the Jack the Ripper period, and George H. Hutt is one of them. He joined the City Police in 1879. He left the City Police in 1889 and then served as a constable for Smithfield Meat Market.

Best regards

Christopher T. George
Editor, Ripperologist
Ripperologist website
http://chrisgeorge.netpublish.net/