Piecing together the clues of Ripper detective's life

DONALD Sutherland Swanson was a Thurso boy who became the top detective in the country. But his career as a police officer might never have happened, according to author Adam Wood, whose 650-page biography on Swanson will be published later this year.

Wood, who has been researching his book for the past six years, gave an illustrated talk on the life and work of the detective to almost 100 people at the Royal British Legion club in Thurso on Friday night.

He told the audience that Swanson, whose family lived at Geise and latterly in Durness Street in Thurso, was a pupil teacher at the town's Miller Institution for three years but decided to move to London in 1867 when he was 19.

He had family there and got a job as a clerk for merchants Meikle & Co. The work was routine and dull but when the firm closed Swanson found himself unemployed.

He was faced with a choice: find another job in London or go back home to Caithness. He decided to stay, and by chance spotted an advert for the Metropolitan Police which was recruiting officers in response to a bombing campaign by Irish republicans.

Swanson applied, was accepted, and the rest is history. He was a bobby on the beat for a time but after six months was unsettled and found it difficult to cope with the strictness of the Met. He was fined on one occasion for being late for a roll call.

However, he overcame these initial difficulties and in 1876 joined the Criminal Investigation Department, was despatched to A division at Scotland Yard, and became a detective sergeant.

Two years later he married Julia Ann Nevill. The couple had six children.

He was promoted to detective inspector and was involved in a number of high-profile cases, including the theft of £250,000 of jewellery belonging to the Countess of Bective. Swanson solved the case and received a £200 reward – equivalent to £10,000 in today's money – from a grateful countess.

The detective also took on fraud cases, unsolved murders and the disappearance of the body of the Earl of Crawford in Aberdeenshire, and investigated bombings in London carried out by Irish republicans. His capture of the railway murderer Peter Lefroy Mapleton in 1881 brought him to the attention of the head of the CID.

By now, Swanson was a chief inspector and, when the notorious Jack the Ripper murders took place in Whitechapel and Spitalfields in the East End of London in the late 1880s, Met Commissioner Sir Charles Warren was determined to catch the culprit. He put Swanson in charge of the investigation and stressed he must see every paper, telegram and document relating to the case. He was to become "the eyes and ears of the commissioner".

The Ripper case is usually associated with the brutal deaths of five women – Mary Ann Nichols, Annie Chapman, Elizabeth Stride, Catherine Eddowes and Mary Jane Kelly – but Martha Tabram, Frances Coles and Alice McKenzie could also have been victims.

Swanson worked long hours – often from 8am to 11pm and sometimes even longer. He and his team had to sift through mounds of evidence, carry out countless interviews, take statements and read letters, including many forgeries. There was no fingerprinting or DNA then so it was a long, laborious process.

Despite all the hard work the Ripper was never caught, although there was a list of suspects.

But that case was not the end of his career. He was promoted to superintendent of the CID – the top detective in the country – and was involved in many other well-documented cases, including the arrest in London of the Jameson Raiders who carried out a botched raid against the South African Republic.

In 1902, at the age of 54, Swanson retired from the police after a distinguished career which had lasted over 35 years and had seen him travel to Cairo, Boston and Toronto. He received a pension of £280 a year.

Swanson never forgot his roots in Thurso where his character had been forged. He spent many happy holidays in the town, visiting family and friends and enjoying some fishing. He was highly regarded by his colleagues and the media and described as an unassuming man with a kindly disposition. He was "mild but firm" and never sought the limelight.

Swanson died on November 25, 1924, at the age of 76 and was buried in Kingston cemetery in south-west London. He did not write his memoirs, as some other top detectives did. Instead, he lived quietly with his wife and family to the end of his life.

He did, however, leave some clues as to who he thought was the Ripper in notes he wrote on the memoirs of Sir Robert Anderson, the Met's assistant commissioner, and they are being explored by Wood in his biography.

An abridged version of the book was on sale at the talk on Friday night. Wood also signed copies at Thurso Library the following morning.

The talk was hosted by Thurso Heritage Society. Its chairman, Alan McIvor, who helped Wood with the local research, said the author's work is helping to give "a quite remarkable man the long overdue recognition he deserves".

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