NickLangley

The Cheshire connexion sounds very plausible. As for the fish/dolphins: the Lord Mayor of Chester is also Admiral of the Dee.

Many thanks for the link Nick

Thread drift I know. Here is a short film about the City of Plymouth Police's signing-off parade prior to amalgamation with the Devon & Exeter and Cornwall forces to create Devon & Cornwall Constabulary.

Take a look at www.britishpolicehelmet.co.uk

The shield was introduced as part of fashion designer Hardie Amies's revamp of the traditional tunic. Having a top fashion designer working on a uniform design is a bit of a contrast with the committee of ACPO members and civil servants who came up with the quite appalling (and poorly made) fleece and cargo pant combination that is now on issue.

With the old shields the uniform manufacturers never got round to the idea of having a proper badge keep so they did tend to fall off. Thames Valley continue to wear a shield but after twenty plus years officers are still attaching the badge to their radio loops because there is no proper badge keeper on their uniform shirts.

As for plastic insignia I believe that Hertfordshire also had one though they had the good sense to go for a slightly more upmarket Stabrite version. Still tacky though

Dorset and Bournemouth merged 43 years ago. At the time the County Borough of Bournemouth was in Hampshire - the border was moved as part of the 1974 local government reorganisation.

From memory it was Dorset Constabulary pre-amalgamation; then Dorset and Bournemouth Constabulary until 1974 and Dorset Police post 1974.

D&B was one of the few forces - along with Kent and GMP - to adopt a chest shield with the officer's serial rather than having collar (sic) numbers. Alas, as with Kent and GMP, this was not the kind of high quality shield worn by US law enforcement but a very cheap item that would not have looked out of place in a Xmas cracker. I am pretty sure that the shield had an all blue centre rather than black.

Again from memory a number of UK forces - including Merseyside, GMP and Essex - adopted these tatty looking coloured cap, badges in the early to mid 80s and I'm pretty sure GMP still wear them. Horrible.

As always I'm open to be corrected!

Harold J Pearce married Vida M Weymouth at Plympton, Devonshire in 1937.

Vida was born in Plymouth in 1914.

Harold was born in Liskeard in 1913.

And they had a daughter, Angela, in 1946.

Why on earth would a tiny force like Chester City have a four digit serial?

This is a photo of a Chester City constable from the turn of the century.

Photo

This photograph shows Manchester officers wearing both styles of the belt buckle.

This photograph shows Manchester officers wearing both styles of the belt buckle.

Manchester officers

While this photo, though rather earlier, shows the buckle in slightly better detail

Manchester officer

Looks like everyone thinks the same about these caps and I must add my praise as well.

Nice addition Paul.

Regards

Brian

The Italians always do things stylishly.

Yet if the Italians can consciously design a smart cap the corollary to that must be that British uniform committees deliberately select cap styles that owe more to Fred Scuttle - and for a reason.

With a four digit collar serial it's unlikely to be a small borough force. Here is a link to a picture of a City of Manchester constable whose uniform and belt buckle are very similar.

Manchester constable

And here is another photo of two Manchester officers from 1910. It looks as if there is a large collar badge on the RH officer holding the suffragette.

Manchester constables

Looks like a City Of Manchester uniform from around the turn of the century

Nick - as late as the 1930's a constable on a lonely or, dangerous 'Beat' could request a firearm be issued. I am not trying to be dogmatic, but the simple truth is that the Specials were closely supervised in those days - and could not just decide to issue their own weapons. There will be exceptions to everything and no doubt a photo will be found of a Special holding a rifle - but, it won't mean he was issued one. As for Ireland and Ulster - I never even considered writing about them in the book - just too far removed from the mainland style of policing. Did you see the interesting posts and discussions on this sub-forum some time ago - covered RIC and RUC ?

Kevin - the origins of the Edinburgh Specials go back to the Edinburgh High Constables - a guild or, Association of leading citizens who banded together to protect their City and Property. They go back to the 18th C. - also Perth, Holyrood Palace and the Port to Edinburgh.

Mervyn, I agree 100% that SCs would never be issued with fireams. My view is that it isn't impossible to imagine SCs deciding to carry their own (legally held) weapons without sanction from higher-up the chain of command.

Imagine my shock when I once saw a police poster from WW2 bearing the stark warning "LOOTERS WILL BE SHOT". Unthinkable today.

The gun shown is a percussion cap - however, I don't recall a British weapon with a shaped stock. I think this is probably US and mis-quoted for ebay. With regard to firearms - unless shown proof I would not believe .303 rifles would ever be issued to untrained Specials. For emergency use - yes. Extra stocks were kept at main stations for Regulars in an emergency - i.e. a landing.

Mervyn, private individuals could own pistols, rifles even machine guns without restriction in Britain until the mid 1920s. So an SC could have carried his own weapon rather than an officially issued one.

Off thread, I know, but still pertinent to the difference between the Dixon of Dock Green image of policing in Britain and the reality before the modern era.

Look at the newsreel coverage of the General Strike and the authorities were not shy about putting on shows of strength. In the modern era it would be unthinkable to have armoured cars rumbling through the streets of Britain as a precaution against industrial unrest.

And, in 1958, Nottingham City Police deployed firehoses to break up the "race riots" in the St Ann's area of the city. The force subsequently acquired a secret stock of colonial-style wicker riot shields and long staffs though these were never used. The Home Office would have had kittens at the very idea.

I fully agree with Leigh on the rifles - the two items were never together. Rifles would never be used for Police - only in the event of a SC unit being formed within a military unit - and then the badges would match.

Very fine and comprehensive post, Kevin. I hope we will see the other SC collectors now add to any missing ones.

Mervyn, I wouldn't totally discount the possibility of SCs having crossed rifles insignia. There are a number of SC badges on this thread that have been issued (Rowley Regis for example) by boroughs that never had a regular force of their own.

The British police's squeamishness about firearms is very much a post WW2 thing. There were no restrictions on firearms ownership in Britain until the middle 1920s, so it's not beyond the bounds of possibility that during WW1 SCs decided to arm themselves "just in case".

The modern, woven patches are unspeakably naff. I'm really enjoying your collection.

The Cosham SC badge is an interesting one. There never was a Cosham force per se as it came under the jurisdiction of the Portsmouth Police. I presume it was some kind of unofficial insignia worn by SCs in the area.

Alan, I had the great pleasure of seeing Keith's collection and he very kindly let me have a few of his extras. Many, many years ago now that I think about it.

Hello Nick, Many thanks for the link. What a charming photograph! I wonder why they landed on that particular solution to providing insignia in that part of the country. Oh for the need of proper records!!

kevin

Kevin, the bowler plate was a jolly sensible idea. It made the SC easily identifiable and every adult male wore a titfa'.

Why Nottingham City and the county came up with this solution I can't say but I do know of someone who may. An ex-city officer who specialized in SC insignia (KH) who you might have come across in your own collecting activities.

Here is a link to a photograph of Nottingham City Special Constables resplendent in their bowler plates.

Photo

Allan,

Another thought. The attached is currently up for auction on Ebay and is a Nottingham City basdge remarkably similar to the Nottingham County. Is this badge also a 'bowler hat' badge? It has the elastic still attached that you described. You comments would be very much appreciated.

Kevin

Yes that is a Nottingham City bowler plate. I have a photo, somewhere, of city special constables wearing the badge. I will try to dig it out.

re: post #250.

What is the significance of the three heraldic devices on the badge? The top one would seem to be from City of Exeter (the Exeter force used a castle as a collar dog) but that was a separate force until the formation of the very short-lived Devon & Exeter force in the late sixties. The other two emblems I can't place but neither is City of Plymouth.

That's a superb tipstaff.

the Superintendent, as head of the Town Constabulary, would have been in constant attendance on the Queen at all State functions.

The precincts of Windsor Castle are, and since the force's establishment, have always come under the Metropolitan Police's jurisdiction.

Even more interesting than the former Windsor Borough police was Eton College's very own police force. I don't know anything much about it but I presume it had a similar type of jurisdiction to the former Oxford University Police - the Bulldogs.

Here's a link to a picture of the Eton College Police badge.

Eton Colllege Police