Detective Days: The Record of Forty-two Years’ Service in the Criminal Investigation Department
eBook“A volume of stirring interest” Sunday Times
“A cool corrective to the romanticism of crime” The Guardian
The memoirs of Frederick Porter Wensley, former Chief Constable of the Criminal Investigation Department at Scotland Yard. Wensley served in the Metropolitan Police for forty-two years from 1888 to 1929. He spent twenty-six of these years working in the East End of London, a highly populated and multicultural locality with high levels of crime.
This is a frank account of the realities of a detective’s life without vanity. Wensley dispels myths and gives an unromantic insight into the many murders and other crimes he investigated. He recalls in detail several well-known cases he was personally involved in, including the Siege of Sidney Street and the controversial conviction of Stinie Morrison for murder (which he stands over).
Wensley went on to become one of the ‘Big Four’ of Scotland Yard and was responsible for considerable reorganisation of the force. His service saw great changes in policing conditions, especially due to the growth of London and the increased ease of transport facilities including the motor-car. He established the famous ‘Flying Squad’ of mobile police.
Wensley’s long experience of crime did not leave him feeling bitterly towards those who commit crime. Rather, he is a thoughtful philosopher on both crime and punishment.
The War years were difficult for Wensley both professionally and personally. His two beloved sons died in France, one killed in action and the other dying of influenza.
First published by Cassell & Company, Ltd. in 1931. A popular edition followed entitled ‘Forty Years of Scotland Yard’. This special edition is published by Lewisham Press, 2020. Detective Days is a fascinating and important work for social historians and criminologists.
Frederick Porter Wensley was born in 1865 and died in 1949. His surviving child, a daughter, went onto donate the family archive to the Bishopsgate Institute in London where it remains today.
“Incomparably superior to the average book about murders.” Country Life
“It is a pleasure to follow the observations of one who is both successful and free from vanity.” Weekly Dispatch
£6.99