Metropolitan Police and London Social Investigation

By the 1880s the Metropolitan Police had developed specialist detective functions and a broad urban presence, but its authority was contested. Investigations depended on informants, surveillance, railway travel and the credibility assigned to witnesses across sharply divided social classes.

Public concern about police corruption existed alongside campaigns against trafficking, prostitution and other forms of exploitation. Women who entered poor districts or challenged male officials risked reputational damage as well as physical danger.

A Lady in Disguise combines a disputed police record with covert social investigation, allowing costume and performance to expose the gap between respectable institutions and the abuses concealed beneath them.