View source for Frederick Porter Wensley

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'''Frederick Porter Wensley''', (1865-1949) was [[Chief constable]] of the [[Criminal Investigation Department|CID]] at [[Scotland Yard]]. Wensley was notable for his long (1888-1929) service, as well a for being among the first to rise all the way from lowly [[Police Constable|PC]] to the what was then the top post at the Yard. 

Wensley was born in Taunton, and cherished a boyhood dream of joining the police, which he realized in January of 1888 when he was attested as a Police Constable, Warrant number 73224.  He was first posted to L Division in [[Lambeth]], then moved to H Division in [[Whitechapel]], where he had some slight involvement in the notorious case of [[Jack the Ripper]].  After his promotion to Sergeant, he sought and soon obtained a posting to the [[Criminal Investigation Division|CID]], where he distinguished himself in a number of investigations, including the notorious gang of Bertha Weiner, as well as the [[Bloodie Belgium]] case, in which the only clue to the identity of a woman's torso found wrapped in a parcel was the phrase "Bloodie Belgium" scrawled on a slip of paper, and a laundry mark on the sheet in which the torso had been wrapped.

Hus success in these and other cases gained him a reputation as one of the original "Big Four" of Scotland Yard.  In 1912 he was promoted to Detective Chief Inspector, and not long after to Superintendent; in 1925, the rank of [[Chief constable]] was re-activated specifically for him.  He retired from the force in 1929.

After his retirement, he pursued a career as a private investigator, and played a role in the notorious [[Stavisky Affair]].