NickLangley

You have to feel an awful lot of sympathy for collectors in years to come. Nowadays UK police forces are quite happy to issue generic insignia of an incredibly low quality - usually little more than stickers on the ubiquitous high visibility jackets.

Nottingham County Special Constabulary certificate of service.

County Councils didn't receive official coats of arms until the 1930s so in this instance they made one up. This didn't go down very well with the College of Arms and they subsequently ordered the police authority to desist.

As a stop-gap (until 1937 when Nottinghamshire Council received its official grant) the county constabulary used the chairman of the police authority's personal coat of arms - often called the peacock crest.

I had a root around amongst my stored stuff and dug out a Nottingham County Special Constabulary certificate of service.

How do I upload a photo?

RE :- Grimsby. During my rooting around yesterday I came across an intriguing piece of information relating to the town. The images relating to this topic were, unfortunately, copyrighted so I will attempt to explain the content.

There is in existence at Grimsby the original Roll of Honour for Grimsby County Borough Fire Brigade 1914 - 1918.

The Roll lists numerous firemen under the two headings 'Regular Firemen' and 'Special Firemen'.

A few questions come to mind on which members might perhaps give me guidance. Was Grimsby Fire Brigade run by the Borough Police during the Great War? This was very common practice in urban areas prior to WW11 but I can find no definitive answer in relation to Grimsby.

If this was the case, were the 'Special Firemen' sworn in as Special Constables for the conflict and then used exclusively to work alongside the regular 'fire bobbies'?

Are there any other examples from other parts of the Country?

I have not come across this term before and would welcome any commnet(s).

Kevin

Prior to WW2 there were some 1,600 fire brigades in Britain. In some areas - such as Nottingham City - the police force was also responsible for the local fire brigade.

Nottingham City Police Fire Brigade

In 1938 the all volunteer Auxilliary Fire Service was established to provide a back-up to the various local brigades. In 1941 the National Fire Service was set-up by amalgamating the AFS the local brigades.

In 1947 the NFS was abolished and fire services returned to local government but with only County Borough and County Councils having responsibilty.

January 1st, 1915!

The Allied and Central Powers' armies are eyeball to eyeball on the Western Front and we have a Chief Constable still planning for some fantastical invasion across the North Sea.

I suspect the Chief had a bit too much of the Captain Mainwaring in his psychological make-up.

Absolutely rivetting stuff. Can't wait for 1918's evacuation plans!

They clearly didn't have much confidence in the 150-odd ships of the Royal Navy's mighty Grand Fleet to prevent a German invasion.

Up to amalgamation Newastle also favoured a much-larger-than-usual other ranks' cap badge which - when combined with the "zebra stripe" cap band - gave the city's force a very distinctive style.

Davepol do you have a pic' of the cap badge?

Looks like City of Newcastle Police.

The force dropped the traditional helmet from its uniform in the 1950s. Helmets we re-introduced upon amalgamation with the various county borough and county forces to create Northumbria Police.

Any thoughts as to why a Malta Police sola topee should be marked with a War Department broad arrow?

Has the badge been fitted to a military helmet to create something more collectable?

Judging by the coat I'm going to suggest that this SC was involved in driving a vehicle during his duties and so wore his duty armband so that: 1) it didn't snag and 2) was visible from outside the vehicle.

Indeed, I am from Nottingham originally.

It's telling that fifty years after his resignation Captain Popkess still has better name recognition in and around the city than the current Chief Constable.

During his thirty years as city Chief Constable he was responsible for a whole slew of policing firsts and it was said that the Nottingham force was generally five to ten years ahead of any other force in Britain.

Here is a link to a couple more videos about the "famous Captain Popkess".

BBC Nottingham

Nick

Another excellent clip, thanks, would your favourite Force have anythhing to do with where you live?

Love the Chief Constables medal ribbon by the way.

Simon

Indeed, I am from Nottingham originally.

It's telling that fifty years after his resignation Captain Popkess still has better name recognition in and around the city than the current Chief Constable.

During his thirty years as city Chief Constable he was responsible for a whole slew of policing firsts and it was said that the Nottingham force was generally five to ten years ahead of any other force in Britain.

Here is a link to a couple more videos about the "famous Captain Popkess".

BBC Nottingham

No, I'm not ex-job, though I've always had an interest in the history of policing. As a youngster I used to collect insignia from English city, county borough and borough forces and I'm thinking of resuming collecting after a thirty year hiatus.

If you enjoyed the previous clip here's an even better one from (IMHO) the finest police force in Britain.

Pathe News

Which reminds me! The Met' introduced a smaller version of their helmet plate to go on the lower profile Noddy helmets.

And if you're interested here is the Velocette in action.

Pathe newsreel

At the time the Metropolitan Police introduced the Velocette - as a low-cost way of providing motorized transport for officers - constables were still expected to follow military custom and acknolwedge more senior officers with a salute. Easy if you are on foot but astride a motorbike ... problematical.

The solution was to allow PCs to acknowledge their superiors with a nod instead. Hence Noddy bike.

If you compare this with a typical Special Constable's lapel badge it is of a very poor quality. It has all the hallmarks of the type of badge issued during the General Strike (1926) when thousands of Specials were sworn-in at very short notice because of fears of revolutionary activities around the UK.

I would hazard that the SC is little more than a motif to fill the centre of the badge and could be from anywhere.

Here are some examples of the kind of insignia issued by various Scottish burgh and county forces in the early part of the 20th Century. Look at the sheer quality.

Scottish force insignia

Stirlingshire had its own force until 1949 when it was amalgamated with the neighbouring Clackmannanshire Constabulary.

Staffordshire County Police wore the Met-style helmet until the force's amalgamation with Stoke on Trent City Police in 1967. The new force was named Staffordshire County and Stoke-on-Trent Constabulary. The force adopted the City's coxcomb helmet but with a County-style oval helmet plate. In 1974 the name was changed to Staffordshire Police and a Guelphic Star plate was adopted.

So the two helmets are not contemporaneous.

Nepal was never part of the British Empire so the Imperial Crown is totally wrong..

I take the point about the Newfoundland Constabulary and NP rather than NC on the button. If it isn't a Newfie's uniform item I'd tend towards it being from a Canadian municipal police department.

This is definitely not a UK piece of uniform. Off the top of my head I'd go for Newfoundland Police.

A quick check confirms that the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary currently wears a cap with a light blue band.

Thomas Fattorini - well known family of badge manufacturers with branches in Birmingham and Bradford. Judging by the style of the badge much more likely to be WW2.

And they are still in business

Fattorini