NormanW

Thank you Dave, I thought the same having looked at the London Gazette. But police medals are a specialist area I have little knowledge of. Norman

I have had a request for help from someone whose father was a Special in WWII. As far as I can tell, he was probably in the LNER police. There is nothing written about railway police specials, although from the LNER arm band, they numbered in the thousands! Would a member of a non Home Office police "Special Constabulary" unit have been eligible to receive the Special Constabulary Long Service medal?

Thank you. Most useful. The three stripes and crown was an actual rank of Station Sergeant. Earlier the Met had four stripes for the rank. Quite a number of forces had two stripes for an acting Sgt.

This postcard photo has been found in an office drawer. From the uniforms, duty arm bands, divisional letter on the helmet pates ,snake fastener belts, I believe they are Metropolitan Police. The Acting Sgt on the front row, 3rd right, is wearing the three 1st World War medals, so date is 1919 or there after. However many officers including the detective have a medal on a ring with an edge band and two central dark bands. On some the medal is preceded aby another with a light central band. The officer second left has the four banded medal succeeded by another which appears to have several clasps. Could anyone suggest what these medals might be please? This is the best quality scan I can get from the photo.

Thank you. There are no "slits" in the tunic and my thoughts re the same that the two elements have been brought together rather than ever having been paired properly.

I have received a late 19th Century City of London Police Inspectors uniform, together with a strange belt, supposedly used to carry the Hanger. The belt appears to be the same age as the uniform from the leatherwork, but the belt support loops would mean the Hanger was carried on the right side, not the left. I have never come across a soft cloth belt for carrying a sword/hanger before and I suspect that the belt is probably for a dress sword of some sort and the two piece "cross belt" are actually the two different length straps which would attach a sword to the belt. Does anyone know anything about swords, police hangers and their carrying belts, who could offer some insight into what it is that I actually have please? The uniform tunic, which is a "frock coat" style working rather than dress uniform, has no wear marks to suggest that the wearer ever wore a belt of any kind with it. The only photographs I have of police wearing hangers show leather belts and my enquiry with the CoLP was not answered because their museum has now closed.

Thank you for your help and advice.

I am looking for help with some police research into World War II. Do we have anyone who has researched or written about UK wartime policing, 1939 - 1945? Specifically when was regular recruiting stopped, when were retired officers called back as the Police War Reserve, was was being a police officer ever a reserved occupation? Were young officers called up, or was it just volunteers? The PAMS, Police Auxilliary messener Service was established in 1941, but it is known that police forces had been employing their own messengers before that date. I have found that the police was not listed in the 1938 Schedule of Reserved Occupations, but cannot find when it did become listed. The reason for my research is that hanging at the back of the main Magistrates Court in York, there is the memorial to three York City Police officers who died serving their country. Two I have traced and know their War service. The last on the list is PC 94 Thomas Watkinson, or is it Thomas W. Atkinson? There are two Thomas Watkinson's listed (CWGC) as killed in action. Neither from York but there is a Thomas William Atkinson, who was killed in 1944, aged just 23 (https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/2218429/thomas-william-atkinson). At face value, he would seem to be too young to have been appointed as a Constable. That is until I discovered a Thomas William Atkinson, living in lodgings in York, from a village just west of York, was in 1939 a police telephone operator/messenger. Not everything is online, for example the date of appointment of Gunner 14264800 Thomas W Atkinson to the Royal Artillery. Neither are the City of York Watch Committee Minutes. Sadly few York City Police records have been preserved and no one has written a history of the force. I believe that eight digit service numbers began to be issued sometime in 1942. Using the Civil Law standard of "on the balance of probabilities", I think Pc 94 T W Atkinson and Gunner T W Atkinson, may be one and the same, but I would like to know more about the process of appointing officers in the 1939 - 1945 period, if anyone knows.... It would be nice to be able to commemorate the service of PC 94, as we can with PC 82 John Gillard Cutt, of the Royal Artillery, killed on 3rd September 1942 at El Alamein, and PC 80 John Cappleman, of 48 Commando, killed on 6th June 1944, on Juno Beach.

Thanks Dave. Never seen a lot of those early badges and you are right, they look like the bullion wire cap badges. Digging further, Coventry City had very strong links with the RNLI pre WWI and I think the person with the crown is Chief Constable Charles Christopher Charsley. I have now contacted RNLI heritage to see if they have information on what may be "Lifeboat Saturday" and where the photo was taken.

I have been sent this postcard to try and identify which force it my be. The four gentlemen seem to be standing in front of a lifeboat, which makes it coastal. Enlarging the cap badge, it is a coat of arms, similar to Coventry City. But the uniforms seem wrong to me for police in the period (1910-1924 at a guess). Could they be a dock, port or private force? No medal ribbons, no rank badges except the crown on the Superintendent's collar and very little to identify who, when, where. Any suggestions would be appreciated

Thank you for your efforts. A suggestion from a retired colleague from St Albans is that it may be De Havaland (sic De Havilland) Police. The DH factory was at Hatfield, the next town. I'm aware that in WWII several aircraft companies involved in secret defence work set up their own police, like the GAC - Gloucester Aircraft Company. I wonder if De Havilland did the same?

Need help with some extra brain cells please.... Does anyone know of a Chief of a colonial force C WWII or later, something "****land police", whose name was Woodgate? I have this black and white photo of the first St. Albans police box, which was on the corner of London Road and Cunningham Street. So far, so good. The text is hard to read and faded: 1932 PC Woodgate ****** the force became Chief of ? ******land? Police The first police boxes, London rd. by Cunningham Hill Insp G Wright Self in sidecar L H Shipper Where did PC Woodgate become Chief of? There are few UK force names which end in "***land"; Northumberland, Sunderland, Cumberland & Westmorland, but only Sunderland was a police. He wasn't chief of Northumberland or Sunderland and I can't find the names of the Cmb & West'land Constab chiefs. I have been through my list of forces and can't find any others. Am I missing something obvious? Could it be Sudatenland or another colonial force by any chance? Photoshop doesn't help bring out any latent detail, it just makes the script even harder to read!

Thank you, and also thank you for adding the photo!

Another request for a Medal identification please. Photograph of a Metropolitan Police Constable from J Division, Bethnal Green. The uniform looks Edwardian. Can anyone identify the medals from the ribbons please?

Thank you very much everyone. Your help is much appreciated.