Victorian tragedy

My February issue of HistoryExtra magazine arrived today and I was fascinated to see the cover image informing readers of "Lucy Worsley's hunt for a London serial killer".

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The image (below) itself seems simple enough; a couple of men in a rowing boat recovering a woman from the water. However, as the saying goes, "Every picture tells a story".

The image dates from around 1890 to 1900. The location is the river Thames just a few yards up-river from John Rennie's Waterloo Bridge.

Through the bridge arch (top left of the image) can be seen the twinkling lights of the old Waterloo Pier Police Station situated on the Victoria Embankment, immediately in front of Somerset House.

The two men in the rowing galley are officers of the Metropolitan Police's Thames Division, both dressed in their distinctive and traditional uniforms with reefer jackets and tarred boaters.

The galley itself is worthy of comment.

It would have been known as the 'Jump Boat'. Police galleys would usually operate with a crew of three officers. However, in this case there are just two. These officers would have been based at Waterloo Pier specifically to rescue people such as the lady in the image, and a 'roller' can be clearly seen at the stern of the galley to aid the rescuing officer in recovering casualties from the river.

This, then, was sadly not an isolated occurrence and similar incidents continue to this day.

Robert Jeffries, Hon. Curator, Thames Police Museum, Wapping

Forgotten front

In his article on the history of malaria (Q&A, January), Jonny Wilkes mentions the significant deaths caused by the disease among British troops serving in the Balkans, presumably the Salonika campaign in the First World War.

Mention could also have been made of the losses caused by the disease in the Mesopotamian campaign.