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PMCC - Magazine 322 Friday 24th September 2021 |
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Uncovering our past to preserve for the future
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PMCC - Magazine 322 Friday 24th September 2021 |
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Editor - Norman Woollons |
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James Treversh - Design |
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Click on article title |
Editorial | Silver Braid Award | ||
| Puttees | ||||
| Old Police House |
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The Air Beat Have you explored the website recently? |
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Norman |
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From: Gloucester Journal, April 10, 1937 |
Retirement, Chief Constable Stanley Clarke Gloucestershire Constabulary |
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Chief Constables Farewell
The Chairman (Sir Frederick Cripps) reminding the Committee that the retiring Chief Constable was appointed in November, 1917, said he he did not think he would be exaggerating when he stated that the period during which he had held the post had been extremely difficult. He was appointed at a time when the Police Force was considerably depleted in numbers because of the calls made by the War and at the termination of hostilities he was faced with the task of re-creating the Force.
He had to train large number of new constables and he had hardly completed that before he had to deal with the local aspects of the General Strike in 1926. It. was a matter of great satisfaction to the Committee that his work in that connection was recognised the following year he was awarded the O.B.E.
Largely through Major Clarke’s efforts, the Gloucestershire Police Force reached high standard of efficiency.
Many changes had taken place with the passing of the years and one of the most apparent was the introduction of motor patrols and the increased use of mounted police. In voicing regret that for reasons of health Major Stanley Clarke had sent in his resignation, he knew he would be expressing the feelings of every member of the Committee and of every member of the Police Force.
He was happy to say that Major Stanley Clarke’s health was better than it was, and they all hoped it would continue to improve.
Sir Frederick said it was a matter of satisfaction to them that Major Stanley Clarke would continue to reside in the county.
Greatest Feather in Cap His work in Gloucestershire had given him reason for pride.
Perhaps the thing that he would regard as the greatest feather in his cap was the encomiums which followed the lean to a neighbouring county of number of Gloucestershire police on the occasion of a strike.
The officers who went performed their duties with efficiency and tact that was not displayed by the members of the Force in that county, and they did much to ease the situation that developed.
The commendations which followed the work of the Gloucestershire officers represented the highest praise that could given to the efficient training of the Chief Constable.
Sir Frederick moved that the Committee’s warm appreciation of Major Stanley Clarke’s work should be recorded on their minutes.
Sir Russell Kerr, seconding, remarked that Major Stanley Clarke’s work at the end of the War was particularly difficult because they had lost their former Chief Constable and a large number of men during hostilities. Changes in the types of crimes committed gave the police anxiety, and for a time the police fought a losing battle until they became equipped with the appropriate means of dealing with the trouble.
The Chief Constable did much to bring the County Force up-to-date in its methods and equipment, and although he made great demands on the Committee, it was recognised that his sole idea was of benefitting the Force and of advancing the interests of that Committee.
"We tender to Major Stanley Clarke our warm thanks for what he has done, and it will be a matter satisfaction to him in his retirement that he has done much to make the Gloucestershire Force one of the best in the country.”
Capt. J. H. Trye and Mr. T. Hannam- Clarke respectively added tributes on behalf of Cheltenham Borough and Gloucester City, and other members spoke in similar strain.
Sir Frederick’s motion was heartily carried.
Sterling Body of Men Acknowledging, Major Stanley Clarke said it was a matter of regret to him to sever his connection with the Committee, and he assured them that had his health permitted he would have continued until he reached the age limit.
He thanked the Committee for the way they had treated him during the long period he had been Chief Constable, and said he was especially grateful to the Chairmen under whom had served - first Mr. Colchester Wemyas, then Sir Francis Hyett, and afterwards Sir Russell Kerr and Sir Frederick Cripps. All of them had been extraordinarily good to him. He was also grateful for the way the people living in the county had helped him in the performance of his duties.
He recognised that he had had to do many things which were not always liked by different branches of the public, but everyone seemed to have recognised that he was obliged to do his duty.
Remarking that the strength of the Police Force was now 483, Major Stanley Clarke said all but 100 of those had passed through his hands. "I can assure the Committee that they are a sterling lot of men" said Major Stanley Clarke, "and I could not ask for a better body to command. They do their duty splendidly, and have backed me up extremely well.” Before concluding, Major Stanley Clarke expressed thanks to the County Highways Committee, the officials at the Shire Hall and others.
(Major Stanley Clarke was Chief Constable of Gloucestershire from 1918 to 1937) |
Gloucestershire Constabulary Chief Constable’s Silver Braid Award for Gallantry |
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Chief Constable, Major Stanley Clarke wanted to ensure that acts of bravery by members of the Gloucestershire Constabulary were recognised. He introduced the Chief Constable’s Silver Braid award to be worn as a silver ribbon on the right breast of the tunic. It would appear that such awards, were given between 1918 to 1955.
A list of officers who have won such awards can be found on the Gloucestershire Police Archives. [Click on this Link]
One such award was given to Constable Walter Lafford, in 1937:-
COUNTY POLICEMAN'S BRAVE ACT REWARDED FOR RESCUING NURSE
The constable - P.C. Walter J. Lafford of the Wickwar station - attended the meeting to receive his reward and to hear an expression of appreciation from the Chairman (Sir Frederick Cripps).
Sir Frederick said he felt proud of the duty imposed on him to present the reward, because it was given for very notable act of gallantry. In October last P.C. Lafford was informed that house in Wickwar, occupied by the District Nurse, Mrs. Fitzgerald, had caught fire. Before proceeding to the house, he telephoned the Wotton-under-Edge Fire Brigade. Reaching the house a few minutes later he inquired where Mrs. Fitzgerald was, and was told that she was still in the house. He went in and called for her and as he could get no reply he went upstairs but could see nothing as the room was full of smoke.
Found Unconscious P.C. Lafford, continued the Chairman, thought he felt some movement and groping about he found Mrs. Fitzgerald and carried her out of the house.
She was unconscious and the constable was m a fainting condition. As soon as he had to some extent recovered he took charge of the persons present and arranged for them to form a human chain to pass buckets of water to the house until the Brigade arrived.
"He undoubtedly saved Mrs. Fitzgerald from being burned to death,” observed the chairman. The Chief Constable highly commended P.C. Lafford and awarded him the silver braid for gallantry.
The Finance sub-Committee of that Committee had considered the matter and had recommended that a monetary reward of £5 should be given to P.C. Lafford. However much he might value the reward, it was certain that he would treasure more highly the Committee’s expression of appreciation of his act. Committee commended him most warmly for what he had done and they regarded it as a further indication of the readiness to do duty, even when it is dangerous, which had always characterised the Gloucestershire Constabulary. Quite number of instances of that kind had come before the Committee in recent years, and the value of such acts was quite beyond monetary considerations. They were a standing credit to the Force.
After shaking hands with P.C. Lafford and handing him the reward, the Chairman warmly congratulated him on his action. |
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What would you like to see? |
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What would you like to see in the club magazine or on the website? Don't keep it to yourself. Let Norman or Jim know and we will do our best to publish your request. |
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Ministry of Defence 50th Anniversary |
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This year the Ministry of Defence Police (MDP) celebrates its 50th anniversary, after it was formed following the amalgamation of the Army Department, Air Force Department and Admiralty Constabularies on 1 October 1971.
For a short history of the MOD Police click [HERE] or on the below image.
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Police Bands - Part One |
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After featuring the Humberside Police Band in the last issue of the PMCC magazine. We did some research to establish which British Police Forces still had their own bands. In this issue we feature fifteen of those bands, with a second helping next month.
Bands have always been a feature of the Modern Police Force dating back to the 1850s, they were (and still are) a way of creating good publicity for the force they represent. Sadly the number of Police Bands has gradually reduced. All of the Bands men and women are volunteers, with most of the funding coming from voluntary subscription. The Bands also represent a good area of collecting, some of which have their own uniform and Insignia.
Band and Drums of the Cheshire Constabulary
Cleveland Police Community Band
Durham Constabulary Brass Band
Essex Police Band
The Band of the Gloucestershire Constabulary
Greater Manchester Police Band
Band of the Hampshire Constabulary
Humberside Police Band
Kent Police Band
Merseyside Police Band
Nottinghamshire Police Band
Nottinghamshire Police Pipe Band
South Wales Police Band
South Yorkshire Police Band
West Mercia Police Band
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Police Band Badges |
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Following on from the police bands, photographed above, we thought it might be nice to also include the badges, where known, from UK forces.
There are two types of band. Many Scottish forces, before the
various amalgamations had Pipe Bands, with one or two in England as
well. Many large borough forces before the 1974 amalgamations
also had Brass Bands. These often then came under the post 1974
county force.
Police bands wear a variety of uniforms, according to where they are playing. Most uniforms are provided by their host force and a few wear a shoulder title, or an embroidered bullion wire lyre at the bottom of their right sleeve. The Liverpool Police Band was formed in 1868 and the Liverpool City Police website has a page dedicated to the band's history. The force is now the Merseyside Police.
The Pipe BandsPolice pipe bands exist in many parts of the world where British influence once, or continues to exist.
The Abu Dhabi Police pipe band performing in Berlin - Abu Dhabi was part of the Trucial States before independence and had several British Officers help set the force up in 1971.
More traditional police bands would be those found today north of the border, like the Police Scotland and Federation Pipe Band, or the City of Edmonton Pipes and Drums.
The piper’s “No.1 Full Highland Dress” was originally worn by pipers of the historic Highland regiments of the British Army, following the Act of Union.
“No.1s” were then adopted first by the Govan Police Pipe Band. When pipe bands became very popular in the early 20th century, this uniform style was adopted by numerous other police, colliery and civilian pipe bands.
Indeed, the No.1 Full Highland Dress was worn by virtually all Scottish pipers and pipe bands until the 1980s when the Strathclyde Police Pipe Band adopted “Day Dress” as their bagpiper uniform due to the No.1 dress being so heavy, impractical, and not to mention very expensive to purchase and maintain.
However, as practical as Day Dress is, it provides nowhere near the visual spectacle as a piper dressed smartly in No.1 Full Highland Dress. This is why bagpipers wearing No.1 dress are highly sought after to play at prestigious events.
There is great symbolism attached to the pieces of uniform worn by members of the various pipe bands.
The Edmonton Police Pipe Band have a dedicated page to describe in detail all the various components of their uniforms, but although the badges may differ, the unifom items are the same, throughout the world.
Perhaps some of the rarest badges are those used by police pipe bands of the past. Items like the crested Cantle Plates, worn at the top of the Sporan, from Edinburgh City and Glasgow City Police Pipe Bands.
These photographs below are courtesy of the Edmonton Police Pipe Band.
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BBC Repair Shop |
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John Pank sent us these TV screen shots from a BBC programme on the 15th September called Repair Shop.
This is a programme where members of public take in items to be restored.
A retired female officer from Northumberland took this murder box which she has saved, in for restoration. There is a before and after shot plus the interior and an inventory which had been fastened to the inner lid.
What a lovely job the restorers have made of the outside. What is especially interesting is that the forms are still in place in the inside of the box with an inventory.
From the 1950's it was the usual practice when there was an involved murder in a city, borough or rural force, for the Chief Constable to immediately request the help of Scotland Yard - Telephone Whitehall 1212.
An experienced Detective Superintendent with his "bag man", a Detective Inspector or Sergeant would be dispatched to "help" the local force to solve the crime.
The number of murders by year in England and Wales through most of the 20th century can be found on the Murdermap website.
Murder was an unusual crime and the Met had built up considerable expertise in investigating and solving complex and unusual murders. The so called 'murder bag' would travel with the two officers to the force and the Met officers would lead the enquiry.
This wasn't to say that local forces, especially the larger forces, did not have experienced detectives, fully capable of investigating homicides, rather it was all about money. There had been regional detective training schools since 1949.
When a small force called in Scotland Yard within 48 hours of the crime being discovered, the the Met would bear the cost of the investigation. There was always pressure from the Watch and Standing Joint Committees for their local forces to reduce costs and a murder investigation could quickly deplete the coffers.
So simply calling in the "Yard" was often a sensible financial decision.
It wasn't until the 1980's when the Home Office introduced a national, standard admin support system for major crime "incident rooms". The HOLMES system became operational in 1985 (Home Office Large Major Enquiry System), which would do most of the work of indexing and cross referencing that was done manually with index cards under the Scotland Yard System.
HOLMES 2 was rolled out to forces between 2002 ans 2004.
What other interesting and unusual pieces of police equipment have members saved and restored for posterity?
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A history of policing in objects Puttees |
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Puttees consist of a long narrow piece of cloth which wound tightly, and spirally round the leg, from the ankle to just below the knee, and serving to provide both support and protection. From c.1920 to 1937 Puttees and Breeches were worn by a number of British Police Forces.
Our thanks to Peter Hinchliffe who discovered a New un-opened Pair of Puttees in the Devon and Cornwall Police Museum at Oakhampton.
Perth and Kinross Constabulary, 1937. (Photograph: The Courier)
Kincardineshire Constabulary, 1932 |
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Restoring a VERY old photograph When do you leave well alone? |
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Some of us have photographic prints, some slides, some negative strips and there are probably a few glass plate photographs of police subjects in the hands of collectors too.
Although untitled, I recognised the image immediately. I have the original.
This is the earliest photograph I have in my collection and it is also perhaps one of the most damaged.
The image shows the yard at the rear of the Sessions House in Beverley, c1855. The Sessions House became the headquarters of the East Riding Constabulary in 1856. The photograph shows the East Riding Reformatory and Workhouse, sadly the Treadmill which is recorded as also being on the site is not in the image.
Alfred Shepherd was the governor of the prison from 1845 until its closure in 1877. He is believed to be the man in uniform on the left in the photograph.
I suspect that the gentleman with the white hat, leaning nonchalantly on the hand cart might be the Chairman of the Quarter Sessions Court, which had oversight of the Reformatory.
The taking of a photograph in 1850’s Beverley would have been a momentous event.
This is a Google Maps and StreetVview link. http://goo.gl/LVqYzV
Click on the link, then when Google Maps opens to the map showing Norfolk Street, click on the Street View icon, the little yellow person in the bottom right corner of the page..
When StreetView opens, the workhouse is the tall, thin red brick building, behind the police vans.
The building on the right in the original photograph with the barred windows is the reformatory, still used by the police today and known as the 'Convent Building'. There can be few police buildings in the UK today that have been in continuous police use from 1856.
After the reformatory closed, it was converted into a Convent. before being sold to the East Riding Constabulary.
This is almost as I was given the photograph. I say almost because it came wrapped in a 1950’s plastic material, that had discoloured and become brittle.
The photograph
is cracked and has slipped, there is one corner missing and judging
from the position of the eyes and rings on the back, this is not the
original frame, as the eyes are positioned to hang the frame in
portrait not landscape fashion. The solid wood back support has
dried and separated along the grain too. This type of backing was
used before plywood. Then there are the rusty one inch Brad nails
that hold it all together!
The workflow
I like to use a large cutting mat on my desk. This allows for small things that may come out of a restoration project, not to get lost.
First of all, get the right tools for the job. In this case a pair of curved needle nose pliers to gently remove the 6 rusting Brad nails from the rear. I put them to one side, as I wanted to replace them into the frame when I had finished, for historical accuracy.
With the nails removed, the two pieces of wood back easily lift out. Nothing was attached to them.
Behind them there is a piece of thin glossy black paper. I gently
peeled this away in case it was sticking to anything. It
wasn’t. But what also came away were two pieces of pressure
sensitive adhesive tape, both with what I thought were elements of the
image attached.
Now I can see the back of the photograph clearly for the first time. It has been painted with a layer of black lacquer of some kind. This immediately made me think that I am dealing with a very old type of glass negative.
Identify what you are trying to restore
The negative is fixed onto glass and it is lit by light reflected off the black backing that makes the image visible. It was probably taken between 1853 and 1865 using the wet Collodion process and is what is called an Ambrotype.
The early Ambrotype photographs had black glass fixed to the glass negative. This photograph has a black painted backing to the negative, probably Black Japanning, a common process used in the mid 19th century.
Because of the difficulties of practical photography, especially outdoors, using the wet process, by the early 1860’s it was being replaced by newer, less difficult dry plate photographic techniques for photographers.
The individuals dress in the photograph suggests the mid to late 1850’s and that is as close as I can get to an accurate date.
This is a good website to help you identify the type of any very old photographs you might have:
There had been an amateur attempt at some time in the past to repair the photograph by trying to hold it together with a long line of adhesive tape along the length of the crack and four pieces across the crack.
This adhesive tape had dried out completely, but not before lifting away the black backing of the photograph. However because fortunately it is an Ambrotype, it has not destroyed the negative image, which is on the front of the glass plate.
My next concern was that the glass plate that held the negative would be stuck to the glass of the picture frame. First I needed to get the two pieces of glass out of the frame.
Lifting the frame off the cutting mat I gently eased the front glass back, keeping the two pieces of glass level. It came away without a problem and I was able to lift both out and slide a piece of thick card under the front of the glass to act as support and a means of lifting it, without a problem.
I carefully measured the negative glass – precisely 10 inches by 8 inches. Next I cut a 10” x 8” piece of black art cartridge paper, and put it across the back of the negative glass, with the remaining adhesive tape underneath.
With a pair of rounded tweezers (ex-eyebrow tweezers, courtesy of the Domestic Gold Commander) I lifted the smaller of the glass pieces, it came away without a problem. Nothing was stuck to the front glass, so I tried the same with the larger piece. It also was not stuck. With a piece of card on the back, I sandwiched the two pieces of glass and inverted them, before lifting away the front glass.
The front protective piece of glass was filthy on both sides, another reason my first attempts at scanning failed.
There was a well defined rectangle in the centre, where the previous picture had been, so clearly when the frame was reused, there was no attempt made to clean the glass!
The glass appears to be 19th century and has a couple of manufacturing flaws in it. So the frame is a similar age to the photograph, but is not the original one used.
The next stage was to clean the front of the Ambrotype. It always helps to understand what you are dealing with when you attempt a restoration.
This Ambrotype glass negative was made in a wet process consisting of several stages.
A scrupulously clean glass plate was covered with a thin layer of Collodian before being dipped in a solution of silver nitrate and placed in the camera, still wet.
The negative was then exposed for anywhere between 10 and 60 seconds before being developed and fixed. You can see the prison governor is indistinct as he has moved while the shutter was open.
I have never cleaned one of these before, and I could find no advice on the internet.
Logic says, don’t use chemicals or solvents, so it is back to one of two options, de-ionised water, or distilled water. I decided to try the latter first.
Always, always try a small corner first when you try and repair something, where if there is any damage it will not be seen.
With a cotton bud dipped in distilled water I cleaned a small corner. It came away very brown, but not black and I could see underneath that the negative was visible. So very gingerly I tried a larger area.
It was also filthy but immediately detail that was not visible before could be seen. With a soft lint free cloth soaked in distilled water, I cleaned all of the front of the Ambrotype, changing the cloth regularly so as not to scratch the surface of the negative.
When held against the light, the layers of chemicals that were swilled across the surface of the glass, some 170 years ago, are clearly visible.
Although the negative seems quite strong, to prevent finger prints, I only ever handle negatives, and especially glass prints, wearing white cotton gloves. I also use the gloves when I am scanning film.
Scanning and restoration
After cleaning the scanner platen, I gently positioned the two sections of Ambrotype negative on the scanner. I had considered scanning in two section, the two halves, but I thought as a first try, I would line them up and scan in one single pass.
I set my scanning software to 600 dpi (dots per inch), which would give an output file size of 256 megabytes. I would liked to have scanned at 800 dpi, but the resulting file would be over 1 gigabyte. I scan in 28 bit colour, with autosharpen enabled. After the pre-scan, I adjusted the brightness up and the contrast down, then scanned.
The result was OK, but even though I had used black art paper as a backing, there was a very distinct mark where the adhesive tape had been, along the length of the crack and the pieces at right angles. Next I tried a scan with a dense black glossy photo paper.
This was created on a laser printer, set to print a text box of 100% black on photo paper. The image was better but still not good. I wondered about replacing the black japanning, so first I tried a small corner of the back with a black spirit marker. The improvement was dramatic.
Just to make sure, I used the black marker on the Frock Coat and trousers area of the prison governor. The results speak for themselves.
Rather than try and remove the old black varnish, I decided to very carefully replace the missing areas after first removing any lifting varnish. The picture was then rescanned at the same settings.
Placing the glass face down, on soft lint, on a light table helped identify large and small areas where the Japanning was missing. This is before, where the missing and light areas are clearly visible:
And after painting with glass paint:
The face at the window
Earlier I mentioned about latent information, which only becomes visible after scanning.
Because of the dirty glass, it was only when the Ambrotype had been scanned, that I saw there was a face at a window – a window today that is bricked up, but that room is currently part of the Humberside Police colour lab.
Almost ghost-like in appearance, someone was watching the group, and the photographer recording them for posterity. I wonder who the person might have been and what he/she was thinking? He or she would have no conception that 170 years into the future, people would be looking at him/her, wondering what their story was.
At this magnification, which is 260 times, you can just make out the faint mark on the face of the gentleman with the white hat, where the crack runs. But at 100%, the digital restoration renders the crack invisible. Notice the clarity of the man on the right who could obviously stand perfectly still.
Reassembling the photo and frame
Cleaning up the picture frame and glass was an easy task.
The glass was washed in mild washing up detergent, then rinsed under running water before being allowed to air dry. Finally it was cleaned with a window glass cleaning solution.
The frame was cleaned with a damp cloth. The outer part is an oak frame, with a gilded inner section. A light cleaning of the glided portion brought back the luster and a good quality hard beeswax polish has restored the wood.
The broken sheetwood back was stuck with Cascamite wood glue and clamped until it was dry.
I needed a means of holding the Ambrotype in place. As the frame is slightly larger than the 10”x8” Ambrotype, I made a very thin inner frame, with card the same thickness as the Ambrotype, 2.5mm, so that the Ambrotype would just fit into the frame.
I drew in pencil round the Ambrotype onto the card and then round the frame glass. I cut the inner section out first and tried it for size. Then I cut the outer frame out, a much more fiddly task, and again tried it for size.
Then I fitted the picture glass and card frame, before gently placing the two pieces of Ambrotype back into the picture frame.
This is the result. However, the missing piece of glass negative cannot be replaced. But I am happy with the result.
This is where Photoshop – or your favourite software some into play.
I will not bore you with the various layers and techniques I used, as they are only relevant if you use Photoshop, but here are the before and after images.
And this is the digitally restored image, restored through the wonder of Photoshop, the finished image really shows off the detail.
Lessons Learned
Go slowly and carefully. Stop when you are unsure, and use the resources of the internet to try and find answers. Finding the answer often taken longer than actually using the knowledge gained to effect the repair.
Before doing any restoration procedure on a large area, ALWAYS try the procedure on a small, inconspicuous area first.
Scan photographs and negatives at the highest resolution you can and in full colour, even when they are black and white.
If a black-and-white photo is scanned in colour, you can better distinguish between a mole and Mould. Mould frequently has colour in it when viewed at the pixel level (the viewing level at which most restoration is done), and this gets lost if you either scan or save a file as black and white.
My photos are kept in albums or in frames, or acid free archive boxes. How do I preserve them?
Scan photographs separately but in the order they appear in an album. Make a note of their positions . Take a digital photograph of the full page/frame before you remove the individual photographs.
As you disassemble something for restoration, take photographs of each stage. It makes it immeasurably easier when the time to reassemble them comes.
Photographs should then be stored separately, together with any notes. Photo albums are not made of archive friendly material. The paper pages will have acids in them. Adhesives can discolour and mark photographs. If they have to be replaced, put them back in the order (which can sometimes help with their later identification).
Knowing when to stop
I am happy with the result. I could have used a glass glue to try and joint the two pieces of the Ambrotype together, but there are risks with old glass. The card frame works just as well.
The chips to the edge of the glass around the crack could be repaired and then the image touched in, but I judged that that is a skill I don’t have, so on the original they remain. On the digital copy, they are easy to clone away, to make them invisible.
Care needs to be taken, to make sure that what you do will not damage the image in the future.
Remember things like making sure there are no residual chemical traces from the cleaner, on the glass facing the Ambrotype. That acid free card is used for the mount.
That nothing that will be inside the paper backing is likely to make the delicate negative deteriorate. I also put a barrier paper under the wooden backing when I reassembled the frame.
I did use the old Brad nails, but have covered the back with modern paper and masking tape to keep the worst of the dust out and have included some small sachets of desiccant.
I suspect that the well meaning person who effected the first repair with adhesive tape probably did so some 60 or more years ago.
I am pleased he or she tried, rather than just writing off the photograph as having been broken.
Perhaps in another 60 or more years, someone after me will decide that the picture needs a bit of a clean. When they open the back, they will find an envelope with a copy of this document inside, attached to the wooden backing........
Some further reading links:
This article originally appeared in issue 231, as part of a longer piece on photo restoration Click on this link to view the magazine. |
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Help Wanted Merionethshire Constabulary |
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How many of our members actually live in a Police house? Probably not that many!
At the end of July Sean Adcock put a message on the PMCC forum asking for help to research the history of his new home, a former Merionethshire Constabulary police house in the village of Trawsfynydd, near Blaenau Ffestiniog. Here he asks for members help and tell the story, as far as he knows it, of the house...
"We recently bought an old Merionethshire police house in Trawsfynydd, built in 1871 and decommissioned in the 1960s when part of Gwynedd Constabulary."
"We are restoring one of the cells and hope to establish a small museum/memorabilia section in the cell corridor. To this end we are collecting any historical information on the house, the Merioneth force, and gathering any Merionethshire/Gwynedd/general contemporary North Wales memorabilia we can find."
"We are looking for material from the former county forces in our area, Caernarvonshire, Anglesey, KC Flintshire and Denbighshire. Any help/leads/info will be greatfully received."
"This photos is of the old police house in Trawsfynydd just after we purchased it."
"The frontage has 2 front doors. The left hand one was for the cells hence the lack of a window on that side, the right hand one is for the police house."
"This photo shows the building corner with the 2 cells and 1 barred window... We have found the bars from the second window, partially buried alongside the house and will be reinstalling them."
"The interior shot is the cell with the bars, the barrel vaulted brick roof has been consolidated (it is long gone from the second cell) a new floor laid using the original 16" x 16" x 2" floor tiles. They were just set on soil when we pulled them up."
"This cell will be an office. We have acquired an old cell door due to arrive this week as there was no door at all when we purchased it. The second cell is being converted into a bathroom/cloakroom and will have a false vaulted ceiling one day.
Alongside the cells is a 1m wide passageway running from the front to the back of house and it used to lead into the exercise yard with its 10 foot high stone walls.
"We hope to use the hallway to exhibit memorabilia, excerpts from cell record etc. We have a copy of the original invoice for the building from 1880... £369.10/- plus £88.17/6d for extras."
"Based on a police constables salary I did a very ad hoc and rough calculation of that being around £250k plus extras in today's money. The exercise yard has been roofed over with corrugated iron which we will be removing and turning the area into a courtyard garden."
"The photo of the courtyard corner is as when purchased, now used for
storing building materials it has been sandblasted to get rid of the
awful paint. Excavating drains show that the floor level has been
built up by 12-18" from original... My assumption is that the
'squinch' in the corner was to make it harder to attempt escape!"
oOo
Merionethshire Constabulary was formed on 30th September 1857 and on 1st October 1950 joined with Caernarfonshire Constabulary and Anglesey County Police to form the Gwynedd Constabulary.
Merioneth was always a small force. In 1900 there were just 36 officers in the force, in three divisions. Bala had 7 men, Festiniog had 12 men, Dolgelley had 16 and the HQ in Dolgelley had just one, the Chief Constable.
Trawsfynydd was in the Festiniog Division in 1900.
The first Police and Constabulary Almanac lists Trawsffynnydd in the Bala Division, so there seems to have been a policeman there from the establishment of the Constabulary in 1856. This suggests that Sean's house was the second police house as the deeds show it was built in 1880.
What happened in many country areas when the county forces were established was that the Standing Joint Committee rented suitable property for the policemen to live in, until such time as police owned properties could either be purchased or built.
Looking at the Almanac for 1967, what sticks out is the telephone numbers of all the police stations and houses. They are almost all "222".
What has been forgotten, especially in these days of the national 101 number for your local police in the UK, is that from long before the 999 system was established in 1937, the number 222 was allocated for the local police house or police station in rural areas. The idea was that a stranger had only to go to a telephone box and dial 222, or 2222 to reach the local police.
The PMCC has no record of any written history of the Merrionethshire Constabulary. The Open University Guide to Police Archives, published in 1989, records that North Wales Police hold no historical records. They refer readers to the two local records offices for the force area:
(i) Clwyd County Record Office The Old Rectory Hawarden Deeside Clwyd CH5 3NR
(ii) Gwynedd County Council County Offices Caernarfon Gwynedd
The Archives Hub records the following information about records that are held locally:
This material is held at Gwynedd Archives Service. Meirionnydd Record Office / Gwasanaeth Archifau Gwynedd, Archifdy Meirionnydd.
Reference GB 220 Z/H
Dates of Creation 1858-1959
Scope and Content Records of Merioneth Constabulary, 1858-1959, including Police Constables' journals, 1861-1939; cell books, 1885-1959; general order books, 1880-1941; Petty Sessional registers, 1858-1943; occurrence books, 1883-1954; court registers, 1903-1945; registers of charges, 1875-1951; letter books, 1871-1921; crime books, 1924-1941; Chief Constable's records, 1870-1949; pay books, 1933-1948; and photographs, 1919-1933.
Administrative / Biographical History The Merioneth Constabulary (or Merionethshire Constabulary) was formed in c.1857, to replace the existing parish constables in enforcing the law. The Constabulary was arranged into divisions, including Aberdovey, Bala, Barmouth, Blaenau Ffestiniog, Corris, Corwen, Dinas Mawddwy, Dolgellau, Dyffryn, Harlech, Llwyngwrill, Maentwrog, Pennal, Penrhyndeudraeth, Towyn and Trawsfynydd. Divisions maintained records including crime registers, summons books, registers of charges, accident books and visits books. In 1950, the Anglesey, Caernarfonshire and Merionethshire police forces were amalgamated under the Police Act 1946 to form the Gwynedd Constabulary.
Please post a message in the Forum if you can help Steve, or send him an email: sean.stonewaller@gmail.com
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Merionethshire Constabulary Established, 30 September 1857 1 October 1950, Became part of Gwynedd Constabulary |
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Constable Charles Ashton, 1894 Police Review and Parade Gossip
Merioneth Constabulary, Corwen, 1919
Final Force photograph, 30th September 1950
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Photo gallery (click on photograph to enlarge) |
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The small and rather primitive police station at North Bersted, 1905 (Sussex Police, Facebook)
Exeter City Police. (Submitted by: Peter Hinchliffe)
Constable 566 Hunt, Leeds City Police, c.1905 (Submitted by: Garry Sewell) (Note: The Balltop Helmet, Jim)
Metropolitan Police, Victory Parade, London, 8 June 1946. (Submitted by: Nigel Albright) Send your photos to Jim admin@pmcc-club.co.uk |
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Jersey Police Vehicles By Brian Homans |
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This month we have Part two of some pictures of police vehicles from some of the islands that surround our coast - in this issue we feature Jersey. From the registration plates of these island forces it is not possible to accurately place them in chronological order, so the order they are listed in is approximate and may not be fully accurate.
These photographs are from a multitude of sources, but in particular I am grateful to Bob Chambers, Colin Chipperfield, Paddy Carpenter, John Oliver, Colin Dunford and Shaun Henderson, to name but a few.
Brian
Jersey, Jowett Javelins, 1950's
Jersey, Jaguar Mk 2, 1960's
Jersey, Ford Cortina Mk 3 GT, Crime Car, 1970's
Jersey, Montego Saloon, 1980's
Jersey, Montego Saloon, 1980's
Jersey, Vauxhall Vectra
Jersey, St Jean Honorary Police, Subaru Forester
Jersey, St Helier Honorary Police, Ford Sierra Sapphire 1.8 GLX
Jersey, BMW 218
Jersey, Mitsubishi Shogun
Jersey, BMW, 'Drive Safe' Event - BMW promotional car
Jersey, Ford Transit Connect
Jersey, BMW electric, J143832
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Finishing off with some humour from Pam's postcards . . . . . .
Hover your mouse pointer over a postcard to enlarge it
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WANTED |
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Your news, views, stories, pictures from your collection. Any item that you think will be of interest to other collectors. |
Next PMCC Magazine: 1830hrs Friday 29th October 2021
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©PMCC
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In this Issue 
Have you had a look around the PMCC website recently?
Gloucestershire
Standing Joint Committee said farewell on Tuesday to the retiring Chief
Constable (Major Stanley Clarke), who appeared before the members for
the last time in his official capacity.
How
a policeman dashed into a burning house, groped about in thick smoke,
and, although almost overcome, rescued a district nurse from being
burnt to death, was described at the meeting of the Gloucestershire
Standing Joint Committee at the Shire Hall on Tuesday, when
presentation was made to the officer concerned.
