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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 life in the Metropolitan Police[]

Formerly a clockmaker from Dorset, Abberline joined the Metropolitan Police in 1862.[1] Starting as a Police Constable, Abberline was called when a body was found in the construction site of the world's first underground railway. Finding that the death was caused by a clean stab wound, he sent the body to Belle Isle for further inspection.[2]

Passing through the slums, he tried to avoid the curious street children who were trying to peek in the body. Eventually reaching the mortuary yard, he discovered that the corpse had been replaced by a body of a dead pony.[2]

With his 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]

After stroving for hard work, his efforts paid off with a promotion to Sergeant by 1865.[1]

Working with the Assassins[]

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Abberline meeting the Frye twins for the first time

By 1868, Abberline had become an associate of Henry Green, the leader of the British Assassins in London. In February of that year, he became acquainted with Henry's fellow Assassins, the twins Jacob and Evie Frye, and, trying to make a name for himself, enlisted their services to apprehend criminals who were part of the Templar-affiliated Blighters.[3]

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.[4]

After Jacob informed Abberline that the mastermind behind the plot was none other than the Governor of the Bank of England, 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.[5] 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.[6]

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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.[7]

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.[8]

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.[9]

Solving the Whitechapel murders[]

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.[10]

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.[10]

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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.[10] 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.[11]

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.[12]

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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 hte asylum.[13]

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. He later returned in the game's Jack the Ripper downloadable content, which features his investigation of the Whitechapel murders, for which the real-life Abberline is best known.

Gallery[]

Appearances[]

References[]

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