The Whitechapel Homicide

An entertaining speaking and listening activity.

  1. Select students to play the roles of:
  • Molly Bloom
  • Harry Bloom
  • Constance Hewett
  • Michael Finnigan
  • Thomas Armstrong
  1. Give these students the role-play cards, with plenty of time for them to read them through and get to grips with their characters. They should choose what information to reveal to the detectives and can lie if they want to, but should avoid being too misleading!
  1. Station these characters in different places around the room, with chairs for interviewers. Add an additional ‘station’ with the ‘scene of the crime’ card.
  1. Organise the rest of the class into small groups (four works well). Give each group a copy of the ‘Case Profile’.
  • Tell these groups that their job is to investigate the murder of Nicholas Basiljet, using interviews with the various suspects to piece together the means and motives behind the murder.
  • The groups should rotate around the suspects at their own pace. They will need to revisit some suspects once they have gained further information.
  • Set them off and see how it goes!

NB – usually it is a good idea for the teacher to introduce themselves as an additional suspect about half way through (I use ‘Mary O’Reilly’ – a friend of Molly Bloom) to push the detectives in the right direction with some extra hints!

  1. At the end, allow time for the detectives to make a decision on who they think the murderer is, then for each group to explain their ideas, and for the murderer to step forward and read out their character card to explain what happened.

Case Profile

Date: 9/9/1880

Suspected Homicide

Victim:Nicholas Jonathon Basiljet, 20, no known occupation or abode.

Body found:5pm, Wednesday 8th September 1880 by Mrs Constance Hewett, owner of Hewett’s Fine Jewellery Store, Whitechapel, East London.

Location:Alleyway between Hewett’s Fine Jewellery Store and the White Lion Public House, Whitechapel, East London.

Cause of death:Multiple stab wounds to the abdomen and chest.

Probable time of death:3am, Wednesday 8th September 1880.

Suggested leads for information:

  • Mr Thomas Armstrong (publican at the White Lion)
  • Mrs Constance Hewett
  • Visit pub and talk to regulars
  • Crime scene

Molly Bloom

Age: 31

Occupation: Barmaid (officially) / prostitute (in reality – try to drop some hints but you may not want to state this directly).

Place of work: White Lion Public House, Whitechapel, East London. Upper rooms in this pub are used as a brothel and opium and gambling den. Like all dens in this area, it is owned by Vincent Raven, the most important Criminal Master in East London. You know only that he is cruel, vicious and a high court judge!

Home:36 Staggerhouse Lane, Aldgate, East London – you occupy a small upstairs room in this crowded, decrepit house. Your landlady, Mrs Evans, is mean.

Family: One dependent child, son, aged 10, named Harry. You are devoted to him and worry about him and the life he may be sucked into in the Victorian criminal underworld. Last month you caught him talking to Michael Finnigan, a regular at the White Lion pub, and the leader of a gang of pickpockets and petty criminals. (Finnigan is 40-ish, lecherous, and is also a frequent customer at the upstairs ‘rooms’ of the pub – your illicit workplace).

Feel free to make up any other details about your son.

Attitude: You dislike being a prostitute, but see it as your only option. You feel scorn towards your clients – most of whom are local louts, but one or two of whom are wealthy, upper class men who enjoy ‘slumming it’. Your policy is to ask no questions about their lives, although you do hear details and rumours in the pub. You are jaded and sarcastic. Attention from the police is unwelcome. You have been doing this job since you were 14.

Your past: When you were 28, a corrupt policeman – Obadiah Heap – who was blackmailing Thomas Armstrong (the White Lion landlord), came into the upper room and whilst high on Opium tried to rape you. Your son was in the room at the time. You killed him in self-defence, by smashing a lamp over his head. The landlord then helped you to dispose of his body in the Thames (it later washed up in Gravesend). You know that killing a policeman is an extremely serious matter, and that if you were found out you would be hanged, and your son would be orphaned and inevitably swept up into the seedy lifestyle you are working so hard to get him out of.

Since your son was born you have been working extremely hard, saving as much as you can so that you can buy a ticket to America to live the American Dream and take your son away from the slums and vice of London.

Nicholas Basiljet, the victim, started coming to the White Lion a couple of months ago. He comes from an extremely wealthy family, and enjoyed the excitement of playing in the underworld of London. He has been using his parents’ money to fund his visits to the pub, his opium addiction, and his gambling addiction. You took a liking to him initially, and enjoyed getting drunk with him and talking long into the night about your plans and hopes.

Unfortunately, Nicholas had progressively lost more and more money, and has found himself cut off by his Father, who became sick of paying for his sordid lifestyle. Desperate, and fearful for his life, he threatened to inform the police about the murder you committed three years ago unless you gave him the money he knew you were saving for your ticket to the New World. You cried and begged him, at which point he struck you and told you to get the money by that night.

You went to your old accomplice, Thomas Armstrong, and asked for his help. He told you that there was nothing he could do, but that you could not let Nicholas go to the police.

When Nicholas came into your room, in the early morning of Wednesday 8thSeptember, you were waiting for him with a carving knife. You killed him, and Armstrong once again attempted to help you dispose of the body. However, in the back alley, behind the house, you were disturbed by Constance Hewett, the owner of the shop and house behind the pub, who had heard some noise and called out, suspecting burglars. Hearing a police whistle, you hastily piled some rubbish over the body and ran back into the pub.

Harry Bloom

Age: 10

You are the son of Molly Bloom. You know that your mother is a prostitute, and accept that as normal. You spend a lot of time at The White Lion, the pub where she works. She does not let you go upstairs anymore, after – when you were aged 7 – you witnessed her kill a corrupt policeman who tried to rape her, by hitting him on the head with a lamp.

Lately you have been talking a lot with Michael Finnigan, a 40-something year old regular at the pub. He is drunk a lot and you find him funny. He has asked you to try pickpocketing him for fun, and you’ve enjoyed lots of these games with him. Your mum doesn’t like you talking to him.

You can tell the investigators that something happened three years ago, after which your mum won’t let you go upstairs any more, but don’t directly tell them about the murder.
Thomas Armstrong

Age: 38

Occupation: Landlord of The White Lion Public House, Whitechapel, East London

Residence andplace of work: White Lion.

Your pub is legal enough, if seedy, downstairs, but upstairs it houses a brothel and opium/gambling den run by the area's notorious crime-lord, Vincent Raven. You have met Raven once, and do not wish to repeat the experience. Raven is upper class, a high court judge, but an extremely vicious, evil man.

Your regulars include Michael Finnigan, a small-time crook and leader of a band of petty thieves.

Molly Bloom has been a prostitute working at your pub for over 10 years. She is devoted to her 10 year old son, Harry, and has been saving money for them both to go to America. She is a favourite of yours, though you have never been a ‘client’ of hers.

Three years ago, you were being blackmailed by a local corrupt police officer, Obadiah Heap, who threatened to close down your illegal business. After he attempted to rape Molly upstairs in your pub, she killed him, and, not wanting an official investigation, you helped her to dispose of his body in the Thames.

Three months ago, a rich young man named Nicholas Basiljet began coming to your pub – spending his parents' money enjoying the seediness, opium, women and gambling. You knew that he had got himself into trouble, losing money all the time, and had finally been told to ‘settle up’ by Raven’s men.

On the evening of the 7th September, Molly came to you in tears, saying that Nicholas had found out about the earlier murder of Obadiah Heap, and was threatening to tell the police unless she gave him her savings. You told her that there was nothing you could do, but told her that she couldn’t let him go to the police or you would both be hanged.

You saw Nicholas enter the pub and go upstairs at 3am on 8th September. Shortly after, Molly came and told you that she had killed him. You agreed to help her dispose of the body. However, in the back alley, behind the house, you were disturbed by Constance Hewett, the owner of the shop and house behind the pub, who had heard some noise and called out, suspecting burglars. Hearing a police whistle, you hastily piled some rubbish over the body and ran back into the pub.

Constance Hewett

Age: 44

Occupation: Owner of ‘Hewett’s Fine Jewellery’ shop in Whitechapel, East London.

Residence: You own a small but decent flat above your shop, where you have lived alone since your husband, Jacob, died of a heart attack six years ago.

Your shop is behind The White Lion Public House. Knowing what kind of place it is, you have never been in. You have heard rumours of gambling, opium use and prostitution going on in the upstairs rooms. You have been suspicious of the landlord, Thomas Armstrong, for some time, thinking that he may be involved in criminal gangs. Over the past few months, you’ve noticed an exceptionally well-dressed young man going into the pub a number of times, more and more regularly (he has been there nearly every day recently).

You are a God-fearing woman, who works hard for a living, and whose life revolves round your job, and your local church (feel free to invent details). A couple of jewellery shops in the area have recently been burgled, so you are particularly anxious and have not been sleeping well recently.

On the night of 7th/8th September, you were tossing fitfully in your bed, fearing a break-in below. At around 3.30 am you thought that you could hear noises in the alley outside your house, and you opened your window and looked out. You thought that you could make out the shape of two people carrying something heavy. You shouted out loudly, hoping to stir the local night watchman. The police did indeed come, but found nothing (they did not look very hard, just shone a lantern around a bit).

After closing up your shop, putting the rubbish into the alley at the end of the working day (5pm), you discovered the body of the well-dressed young man. He had been stabbed a number of times, and rubbish had been tossed carelessly over his body. You informed the police immediately.

Michael Finnigan

Age: 43

Occupation: Petty thief – you lead a band of about five men and teenage boys who are career pickpockets. Recently, you’ve been more ambitious, and have been burgling local jewellery shops.

You are almost constantly drunk, and addicted to opium. At the moment, you are sitting in your local pub (the meeting house for your criminal band) The White Lion. You are rather drunk.

Upstairs in The White Lion there are rooms run by the local criminal Master, Vincent Raven. You avoid contact with Raven’s men, as they are dangerous to know, though you do occasionally pop up to visit the prostitutes or take opium. You avoid the gambling that goes on, though you know all about it.

You are acquainted with the pub landlord, Thomas Armstrong, and with one of the most long-serving prostitutes, Molly Bloom. You know that Molly has been saving for some time to try to buy passage to America for herself and her son, Harry. Harry is a clever 10 year old boy, and you have recently taken an interest in him, thinking of ways to use him in your petty crimes. You know that Molly does not want her son involved in any of this, but think it is inevitable.

You also know that Molly has spent a lot of time talking with a new regular at the pub, Nicholas Basiljet, a wealthy, upper-class young man who has been spending his parents’ money in the upper rooms. You’ve also heard that he’s got himself into trouble with Vincent Raven.

Being drunk, you will more than happily tell anyone this information, apart from the fact that you’ve been involved in robbing the jewellery shops.

If the investigators challenge you to tell them what happened upstairs three years ago, and if they threaten to send you to jail, you can tell them what you know of the following:

Three years ago, the landlord was being blackmailed by a local corrupt police officer, Obadiah Heap, who threatened to close down the illegal business in the pub. He was killed in one of the upstairs rooms – you suspect it was a prostitute though you’re not sure. The local police never found out it had happened in the pub.

Scene of the crime

The alley is overlooked by both The White Lion and Hewett’s Fine Jewellery (and the flat above the shop). It exits into a network of alleyways, and is used as a rubbish dump by the pub and the shop. It’s dirty and smelly, but there is little here other than rotting rubbish.

The body is dressed expensively, but the clothes look a little worn and there are no ‘gentleman’s accessories’ (pocketwatch, handkerchief etc). There is no sign of a wallet, but his name is stitched into his jacket. In the inside pocket of the jacket there is a scrawled note:

Your medic advises you that the state of the body suggests the victim was killed elsewhere and dragged to this location.

© 2006