The War ~ars, 1793-1815 95contained growing slums -St Giles, Soho, Covent Garden - while others
were more genteel-Hackney and Bloomsbury. In all of these, local author-
ities had been grappling with the problems of policing for some time but
sometimes lacked the funds needed to expand or improve their forces.
Finally, there were three parishes that had superior night watches:
St Marylebone, St James, Piccadilly; and St George, Hanover Square.
These parishes had the resources and experience needed to create and
maintain larger and better police. They had multi-ranked forces of well-
paid employees and used both patrols and watchmen, often in two or more
shifts, especially in winter. While these parishes felt the pinch of wartime
inflation, they were better able to raise revenues once prices moderated. In
December 1811 these differences in levels of policing were highlighted when
the public spotlight was turned on the night watch in the wake of the
murders of seven people in the East End.On 7 December 1811, a linen draper named Marr, his wife, child, and shop
assistant were all murdered in their home on Ratcliffe Highway, Shadwell.
1\velve days later, on 19 December, another family who lived ju8t off Rat-
cliffe Highway was similarly murdered. A pubkeeper named Williamson, his
wife and their maid had their throats cut, apparently with a carpenter's
maul.^73 Homicides like the Ratcliffe Highway murders were very unusual.
Because a coroner's inquest was required to investigate all suspicious deaths,
murder was hard to hide. J.M. Beattie has found in the urban areas of Surrey
only one conviction for murder every three years. 'The pattern of prosecu-
tion suggests that there was a reduction over the century and a half following
the Restoration in the number of deaths in quarrels, of murder in the
furtherance of robbery, and of deliberate and planned killing.'^74 When
someone was murdered, killer and victim usually knew each other and
more often than not were related by ties of blood or marriage?^5 The
shock, then, of seven brutal murders committed by an unknown assailant
in a short period of time was considerable.
The fear and outrage generated by these murders spread well beyond
Ratcliffe. The Home Secretary received letters from as far away as Birming-
ham expressing the horror and alarm felt by many and offering suggestions
on how to track the murderer down. Rewards were offered by both local and
national authorities for information leading to a conviction, from £50 offered
by St George-in-the-East to £500 offered by the Home Office. After suspi-
cion had fallen on many people, often for the flimsiest of reasons, John
Williams was detained for questioning. He had had access to carpenter's
tools, and a knife and bloodstained clothes were found among his posses-
sions. Williams was detained at Cold Bath Fields House of Correction where