replaced by Edward Jenkinson. In 1886, he was also removed from the Prison Commission. In 1887, Jenkinson resigned, and Anderson was once again the only man available with experience in anti-Fenian activities. He was asked to assist James Monro, Assistant Commissioner (Crime) at Scotland Yard, in operations related to political crime. In 1888, Monro resigned (although he became Commissioner later that year), and Anderson replaced him as Assistant Commissioner, the post he was to hold for the rest of his career. Anderson retired in 1901, and was appointed Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath (KCB) in the King's Birthday Honours List in November 1901, having been appointed Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB) in 1896. Jack the Ripper investigation The Criminal Investigation Department was then just starting the investigation into the Jack the Ripper murders, which he thought were grossly over-sensationalized. Almost immediately after being promoted, Anderson went on vacation in Switzerland on doctor’s orders, leaving the Metropolitan Police leaderless during the biggest challenge in its history. He was called back after a month because of increased bad publicity over the Ripper murders. About which, he later wrote, “When the stolid English go in for a scare, they take leave of all moderation and common sense. If nonsense were solid, the nonsense that was talked and written about those murders would sink a Dreadnought.” He also wrote that the victims “belonged to a very small class of degraded women who frequent the East End streets after midnight, in hope of inveigling belated drunkards, or men as degraded as themselves”. He did not lead the Metropolitan Police to capture the killer. Religion Anderson was brought up in a devout Christian home, but in his late teens, he had doubts about his faith. His sister Annie, later Lady Boyd, was influenced by the Irish Evangelical Revival of 1859–1860 and persuaded him to attend one of the services held in Dublin by the Reverend Joseph Denham Smith, but he was not particularly impressed. The following Sunday evening, however, he attended a service in his own church and heard the Reverend John Hall (afterwards of New York), who "boldly proclaimed forgiveness of sins, and eternal life as God's gift in grace, unreserved and unconditional, to be received by us as we sat in the pews. His sermon thrilled me," Anderson wrote later when describing the event, "and yet I deemed