Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Pair: Police Constable J. Pinnock, ‘H’ Division, Metropolitan Police, who would appear to have been the first policeman to have arrived at the scene of “Jack the Ripper’s” second victim

Jubilee 1887, clasp, 1897, Metropolitan Police (P.C., H Divn.); Coronation 1911, Metropolitan Police (P.C.), the first with contact marks and polished, thus good fine, the second very fine (2) £200-300

John Pinnock was born at Standlake, Oxfordshire in June 1854 and joined the Metropolitan Police at Great Scotland Yard in July 1878.

Posted to ‘H’ Division at Whitechapel, he would appear to have been the first policeman to have arrived at the scene of “Jack the Ripper’s” second victim, Annie Chapman, on the morning of 8 September: so grisly was the nature of this discovery that Pinnock sent for assistance from nearby Commercial Street Police Station, and was quickly joined by Inspector Joseph Chandler. The latter eventually submitted a detailed report of the crime scene, no doubt having been ably assisted by Police Constable Pinnock - see The Ripper and The Royals for further details.

Interestingly, Pinnock’s service record notes that he resigned from the “Met” in October 1902, having always served in ‘H’ Division - a date that might account for the absence of a Coronation Medal for the same year; presumably he subsequently rejoined to qualify for the 1911 Medal.