Frederick Abberline

"You know what your problem is, Freddie? You want everything to be black and white. You want answers all the time. And sometimes, you know, there just ain't no answers, and there ain't no black and white; there's just different shades of grey."

―Aubrey Shaw to Frederick Abberline, 1862.^[src]

Frederick George Abberline (1843 – 1929) was the Chief Inspector for the London Metropolitan Police Service during the late 19th century. He was also an ally of the British Brotherhood of Assassins, being an associate of the Assassin Henry Green and later of the twins Jacob and Evie Frye.

Biography[]

Early career[]

Formerly a clockmaker from Dorset, Abberline joined the Metropolitan Police in 1862.^[1] Starting as a Police Constable, Abberline was called to investigate a body found in the construction site of the world's first underground railway. Finding that the death had been caused by a clean stab wound, he sent the body to Belle Isle for further inspection. Passing through the slums, he tried to avoid the curious street children who were trying to peek in the body.^[2]

Eventually reaching the mortuary yard, he discovered that the corpse had been replaced with that of a dead pony. With this embarrassing failure, his fellow officers started to call him nicknames and puns. Eventually, Abberline decided to return to Belle Isle and bribe the children to discover the thief's identity: a robed man wearing a cowl, undoubtedly an Assassin.^[2]

Continuing his investigation, Abberline met in a bar with fellow constable Aubrey Shaw, who had been assigned to investigate the double murder of a thief named Boot and a little girl. As Aubrey's case also involved a hooded man, the two returned to the slums to search for clues and found a witness who revealed that the victim in Abberline's case and the killer in Aubrey's case were likely the same individual. Looking through a list of missing people, Abberline deduced the person he was looking for to be Robert Waugh, a pornographic photographer.^[2]

Arriving at the Waugh residence, Abberline and Aubrey met with Robert's wife but she did not know her husband's whereabouts. However, she revealed that, on the night of his disappearance, Robert had gone to the Crow's Nest and brought a gun with him, which deepened Abberline's suspicion that Waugh had been killed by the hooded man. Abberline also learned that Waugh had business with Boot, but before he could inquire more, a group of thugs working for the railway's director Cavanagh arrived to silence everyone involved in the Waugh case.^[2]

Fortunately, one of the thugs, an Indian man, intervened and saved Abberline and Aubrey's lives, knocking them unconscious while the others kidnapped Mrs. Waugh in a carriage. After the policemen awoke and left, the thugs returned to the residence and hanged Mrs. Waugh. Furious, Abberline went to confront Cavanagh and, in his office, discovered three thugs and an Indian worker, Bharat Singh, who was covered in wounds. Cavanagh claimed that Singh had been injured in a construction accident, but Abberline saw through the lie and prepared to arrest everyone present. However, his divisional sergeant stopped him and ordered him to leave the premises.^[2]

The Ghost[]

"I'm Ethan Frye. And it appears I owe you a favor. I will not forget this, Constable Abberline. The Brotherhood likes to pay its debts. Now, if you will excuse me, I have some pressing business to attend to."

―Ethan Frye to Abberline after he rescued him, 1862.^[src]

Several months later, Abberline noticed that he was being followed and confronted his pursuer, learning that he was Leonard Hazlewood, a private investigator hired to identify an Indian man who had attacked his client. Intrigued, Abberline brought Hazlewood to the division sergeant's office to support his case, before going to meet the client's bodyguard, who had witnessed the attack. Suspecting the assailant to be Bharat Singh, Abberline brought the bodyguard to the railway site to identify the Indian, but the bodyguard denied recognizing Singh and, a few days later, his body was found lynched.^[2]

With no progress in the case and disliked by his divisional sergeant, Abberline forgot his personal promise to never drink alcohol on duty and began drowning his sorrows in the bottle. He became a regular customer of the Green Man tavern, where he drank in the company of Aubrey, who tried his best to console him. However, Abberline regretted that he had no family to wait for him in the evening and pondered if Aubrey knew how fortunate he was to have a loving wife and children.^[2]

One day, when Aubrey went missing after having gone to watch a cricket match, Abberline became worried for his friend and asked around for his whereabouts, but no one knew where Aubrey could be. Eventually, Abberline found Aubrey when the man was delivered to his apartment in a carpet, severely beaten but still alive. Knowing Cavanagh's thugs to be responsible, Abberline decided to hide Aubrey in his apartment for the time being, denying him contact with the outside world, even his own family, to maintain the illusion that he was dead.^[2]

Meanwhile, Abberline continued to investigate the railway site in disguise, as his superiors had forbidden him from venturing near it due to the complaints against him. He also visited Aubrey's family from time to time, giving them gifts from Aubrey but concealing the fact that the man was still alive.^[2]

On 14 September 1862, Abberline attended the inauguration of the railway, where he spotted one of Cavanagh's thugs, Hardy, brandishing a knife and approaching a hooded figure in the crowd. Driven by a sense of vengeance for Aubrey, Abberline attacked Hardy and, though the thug knocked him down, the hooded man came to his rescue, killing Hardy with his Hidden Blade. The mysterious figure then introduced himself as Ethan Frye and thanked Abberline for saving him before venturing into the railway tunnel in pursuit of Cavanagh.^[2]

Working with the Assassins[]

"This is how it will work. I will give you the names of criminal gang members, you will bring them back to me. Quietly."

―Abberline to Jacob and Evie Frye, 1868.^[src]^-[m]

After stroving for hard work, Abberline's efforts paid off with a promotion to Sergeant by 1865.^[1] Around this time, Abberline became an official ally of the British Brotherhood of Assassins, after Ethan Frye introduced him to his apprentice, Henry Green, whom Abberline recognized as "Bharat Singh". Ethan also vaguely explained the nature of the Brotherhood's conflict with the Templars, of which Cavanagh had been a member, but Abberline was content to know that he had valuable allies outside the police force and did not ask further questions.^[2]

In 1868, Abberline married his first wife, Martha Mackness, but she died of tuberculosis two months later.^[3] He also maintained contact with Aubrey Shaw, who had since retired from the force to open a butcher shop. While meeting for tea one day, the two old friends caught up with each other and Abberline informed Aubrey and his wife of Martha's passing, prompting the couple to offer their condolences.^[2]

ACS Abberline We Presume 3 — Abberline meeting the Frye twins for the first time

In February 1868, Abberline became acquainted with Henry Green's fellow Assassins, the twins Jacob and Evie Frye, who had recently arrived in London. Seeking to make a name for himself, he enlisted their services to apprehend various criminals who were part of the Templar-affiliated Blighters. Doing so also benefited the Assassins' interests, as the capture of high-ranking Blighters left the territories they controlled open for the taking, allowing the Fryes' gang, the Rooks, to occupy them.^[4]

Sometime later, Abberline disguised himself as a banker named Dredge to gain information in the inner sanctum of the Templar Grand Master Crawford Starrick's financial sector. While undercover, he learned of a plot to rob the Bank of England, but his cover was soon blown by Jacob after the Assassin accidentally kidnapped him. Abberline revealed his disguise and reluctantly provided Jacob with confidential information of the supplier – Cockham Merchants – so that the Assassin could investigate the plot.^[5]

After Jacob informed Abberline that the mastermind behind the plot was none other than the Bank of England's Governor Philip Twopenny, the Sergeant reluctantly allowed the Assassin to act and provided information regarding the bank's possible access points. However, Jacob's assassination of Twopenny caused major turmoil among London's citizens and Abberline had to calm the rioters down.^[6] He met with Evie, who had once again come to fix her brother's problems, and tasked her to recover missing currency printing plates, as well as to destroy the counterfeit notes created with them, in order to avoid a financial crisis.^[7]

ACS Abberline Final — The Fryes and Abberline talking

Later, the Frye twins uncovered a plot by Starrick to eliminate Britain's heads of church and state during a ball at Buckingham Palace. Jacob met with Abberline to request that he smuggle their weapons into the palace, to which the Sergeant asked him to acquire a royal guard uniform, as only the royal guards were allowed to carry weapons on site. After Jacob delivered him a uniform, clearly stolen from a guard as it was still warm, Abberline told the Assassin to meet him on the roof of the palace during the ball.^[8]

As promised, Abberline waited on the roof of the palace to give Jacob his and Evie's equipment. However, having learned that Starrick's men had replaced the rooftop guards, the Sergeant informed Jacob, who assured him that he had the means to tell the impostors apart from the real guards. After Jacob eliminated the impostors and he, Evie and Henry killed Starrick and foiled his plan, Abberline informed Queen Victoria of the Assassins' deeds. He later took the trio to meet the Queen, who promptly knighted them into the Order of the Sacred Garter.^[9]

By 1872, Abberline had attained the rank of Inspector, and was transferred to Whitechapel.^[1] Around this time, he became acquainted with American author Mark Twain and Pinkerton agent Tommy Greyling, who were in London pursuing an American Templar, Alice, who had stolen several pages of the Voynich manuscript from the British Museum. Along with Evie and Henry, Abberline assisted the two with recovering the pages from Alice but ultimately failed when the Templar was able to flee the city and board a ship headed to the United States.^[10]

Solving the Whitechapel murders[]

"No you listen to me, I cannot cover for you much longer. All the evidence points to your brother, your 'Order', you... You need to deliver the Ripper's head on a spike soon, or I'm afraid there will be nothing to stop my men from arresting you in his stead."

―Abberline to Evie Frye, 1888.^[src]^-[m]

In 1888, a British Assassin who would soon become known as "Jack the Ripper" usurped control of Jacob's Rooks and committed a series of gruesome murders. These murders, coupled with the publishing of a number of letters, supposedly authored by Jack, in the local newspaper helped foster an atmosphere of fear within the city.^[11]

With the aid of Jacob, Abberline remained the public face of the investigation whilst the Assassins followed their own path in stopping the Ripper. Soon, however, Jacob disappeared, and Abberline was forced to enlist the aid of Evie Frye, whom Jacob had already summoned from India, in both stopping Jack and potentially locating Jacob.^[11]

ACS Autumn of Terror 3 — Abberline informing Evie of her brother's disappearance

Upon Evie's arrival, Abberline informed her of Jacob's disappearance, and that he had lodgings in Whitechapel near a brothel, sending her there to find clues.^[11] Unfortunately, when Evie returned after having located and assassinated Olwyn Owers, an associate of Jack, Abberline confronted her, showing a newspaper article of a massacre at Owers' Manor, implied to be Jack's handiwork, though evidence pointed to Evie. Stating that he was doing all he could to keep his men from outright arresting Evie, he told her she could find Arthur Weaversbrook, the publisher of the newspaper article, near St. Paul's.^[12]

Tensions between Abberline and Evie hit their breaking point, however, when Mary Kelly's body turned up. Abberline had to forcibly prevent his men from arresting Evie, but then confronted her. He stated that he could no longer keep the Brotherhood's existence in London secret, and that either Evie bring him the Ripper's head, or she risked being accused of his crimes. Evie swore to bring him the Ripper, or die trying.^[13]

ACS Live by the Creed, Die by the Creed 15 — Abberline agreeing to Evie's request

Much later, Abberline entered Lambeth Asylum, just after Evie had managed to locate both Jack and Jacob, killing the former while rescuing the latter from the asylum's undercroft. Evie begged Abberline to keep the secret of Jack's Assassin ties, and even his death, from the public. Abberline conceded to her request, however uneasy he felt, and went to drive away journalists who had also arrived at the asylum.^[14]

Behind the scenes[]

Frederick Abberline is a historical character introduced in the 2015 video game Assassin's Creed: Syndicate, where he is voiced by British actor Samuel Crane. Crane later returned to reprise his role in the downloadable expansion Jack the Ripper, which features the Whitechapel murder investigations for which the real-life Abberline is best known.