Metropolitan Police Photo 1929 Part 1

[Odin Mk 3]

Following on from an earlier thread where I posted the commemorative photo taken in 1929 to mark the 100th Anniversary of the Met Police, I have now broken it down into 5 sections and named most of the individuals.

Some general notes which will help explain the ranks etc. In 1929 each Division in the Met was headed up by a Superindent. Then his rank insignia was a crown and a pip (as now worn by Ch Supt). There were also a number of Supts in Scotland Yard (CO Div) - the majority of these were detectives.

The Divisions were grouped into a number of geographical areas (N,S,E & W), these were lead by a Chief Constable plus one Chief Constable was responsible for the detectives. Then above these were a number of Assistant Commissioners and the Commissioner - all these posts were filled with direct appointments of ex officers from the services. The first officer to rise through the ranks to reach Assistant Commisioner (and ultimately deputy to the Commissioner) was Sir James Olive who had retired in 1925, a few years before this photograph was taken. He had joined in1872 as a PC. Sadly for his replacement they reverted to type of appointing a top tier man from the armed services. There are however some Chief Constables in the photo who have risen through the ranks.

Here is part 1 - working from the left hand side

[Mervyn Mitton]

Odin - you have done a fantastic job with this 100th year photograph - very professional. Did the photo have a 'key' - I am curious about how you identified each person ? The people who are shown as Chief Constables - do you know if they were from adjoining Forces ? I am aware that the title of Chief Constable has been used on a few occasions within the Met. - but, to my knowledge the rank was earlier and not a very senior one.

This is a large number of the most senior officers for the main British Police Force - and taken to mark the first Centenary. I, personally, think that enquiries should be made with the Metropolitan Police Museum to ensure that they have this photo and the identifications on file. Should this not be the case , then I think - with your permission - that our Chairman should have a copy made and presented from GMIC.

I was interested to see that the Chief of the Special Constables was given such a prominent position - and the other man you point out as his possible deputy, is wearing a similar uniform. Just a personal observation - the five CO supts. all look a bit shifty - must be the light...........

Thankyou for taking the trouble to make this post possible - I can assure you that it has been a valuable exercise. Mervyn

[Odin Mk 3]

I got a copy of the photograph from a Met Officer who was serving in Scotland Yard so I supsect the museum already has a copy. I do have it as one file but it is pretty large (over 1.5MB) so some fairly drastic surgery was needed to get it down into 140K chunks.

There was a key to identify the names of the officers but I then went through the Police Orders to identify where each Supt was serving.

At that time the Met Police were getting ready to give up policing the Dockyards. As a cost savings measure the role was passed to a new force - The Royal Marine Police (which later became part of the Admiralty Constabulary). This new force was staffed by ex- Royal Marines who were in receipt of an RM pension (and so they were able to get away with paying them less salary than Met Officers). The Supts of 2nd Div (Portsmouth) and 3rd Div (Devonport) are in the photo. There is no Supt shown for 1st Div unless perhaps Richie was in this role (I couldn't find him in the Police Orders). The last Supt for 4th Div (Chatham) was Supt C Sly - he retired 1/05/1929 and is not in the photo (not sure of the date it was taken in 1929). Supt Sly was replaced by a Ch Insp (J Kane). Ch Insp Cane oversaw the closure of Met policing at Chatham on 31st Jan 1932 with the majority of officers returning to London - Kane went to Devonport - probably to help close that force down.

The Chief Constables were in charge of Districts. In 1910 there were 5 Chief Constables in the Met

Northern - Divisions D E S X and Y

Eastern - Divisions G H J K N and Thames

Southern - Divisions L M P E V and W

Western - Divisions A B C F and T

Criminal Investigation Dept

The Chief Constables were later replaced by the Deputy Assistant Commissioner Rank. Other ranks were also introduced above the Supt rank, these are still in use today despite efforts to simplify the rank structure - the Commander rank and Ch Supt rank.

In 1929 the Commissioner had a number of Assistant Commissioners with one nominated as his Deputy (at this time it was R Adm Royds - who had been a polar explorer in an earlier life). There was no Deputy Commissioner rank as such.

In the modern Met Police the police areas have been rationalised to align with the London Boroughs. Many divisions are headed up by a Chief Supt as the Borough Commander but some of the larger ones (eg City of Westminster) are headed up by a Commander.

The Special Constabulary force in the Met would have been quite large and Sir Walter Allen, as its head, held quite a senior position. He took on that role in 1925 and served through until 1943. So he was probably seen as important enough to feature in the photo (and his unknown colleague). The one man who doesn't really fit is the Bandmaster - I have no information on him.

Edited August 5, 2011 by Odin Mk 3

[Odin Mk 3]

Sorry forgot to add - the majority of Chief Constables in the Met were recruited directly into the force from the services although a few came from the well educated upper classes. Many had no previous involvement with civilain policing and therefore had not served with other Police forces. The service ranks of some Chief Constables were not that high, in 1915 all four district Chief Constables were Majors (Parsons, Douglas, Lafone and Tomlin - the later appears in the photo). This almost implies that a Superintendent was seen as ranking below a middle rank army officer.

[Mervyn Mitton]

Even more interesting ! I remember that they brought Ch. Constables in during the Victorian period - but, I was not aware that they were District Commanders at this time. One day - someone should trace back all of the different ranks that have been in use and the periods. You mention DAC rank - this had gone into abeyance and if I remember was brought back in the 1970's - one of my friends was an asst. to the DAC for the East London area.

I still think we should check that there is a copy in the Met. museum - they've been moved about so much in the past 30 years. When I was at Hendon we were taken to Bow St. to view the Museum and our history - I wonder if they have started these trips again for new recruits ?

Odin - I am going to print these photos out to go with the commemorative certificate - adds a lot of interest. Mervyn