Metropolitan Police A hard working copper that lost his job over a bird!

[Insp43519]

1887 Metropolitan Police Jubilee medal: PC G. POYNTER H DIVISION (WHITECHAPEL)
1897 Metropolitan Police Jubilee bar to above: PC G. POYNTER H DIVISION (WHITECHAPEL)

GEORGE ELLIOT POYNTER ('GINGE') was born during 1866 at Birtland, Ringwood, Hampshire, the son of William Poynter a Police Constable. By 1881 George was living with family at 11 Mill Cottages, Freefolk Manor, Whitchurch, Hampshire, aged 15yrs he was employed as a paper maker.
On 9/7/1883 he joined the Metropolitan Police with the warrant number 68351 and was posted to R (Greenwich) Division, but by 1885 he had been transferred to H (Whitechapel) Division, and given the collar number H.206 He was a commended Police Constable in the Borough and his name appears in many London Newspaper articles, such as:

17/10/1885 - Arrest of a drunk unfortunate woman with 200 previous drunk charges, given 1 month hard labour.
25/12/1887 - Arrest of a man breaking into the White Swan Pub, Mansell Street, Whitechapel.
23/03/1890 - Arrest of a famous boxer 'Sugar Goodson' for disorderly conduct in Hanbury St, Whitechapel, when arrested he ripped the officer's cape.
19/07/1891 - Discovered a deceased unfortunate woman on the floor in Thrawl Street, Whitechapel.
16/10/1892 - Arrested a Royal Marine 'deserter' wanted in the Hue & Cry gazette.
13/03/1897 - Commended by court for brave arrest of man armed with pistol following a street robbery in Commercial St, Whitechapel.
20/03/1898 - Commended by coroner for saving lives from a house fire at 117 Hanbury St, Whitechapel.

He also gave evidence at The Old Bailey on 3 occasions:

08/09/1896 - Arrested suspect for robbery in Commercial St, Whitechapel (Referred to by the suspect as 'Ginge' in court).
08/03/1897 - Arrested suspect for robbery and recovered a loaded revolver in Church Street, Whitechapel, (Referred to by the suspect as 'Ginger' he clarified for the court he was known by locals as 'Ginge').
07/01/1901 - Gave evidence as an insurance clerk in a deception case (After leaving the Police).

On 08/01/1889 George married Julia Harris, a tailoress from Wellclose Square, Whitechapel, they married at the Whitechapel Registry Office. On his marriage certificate George gave his address as The Police Station, 160 Commercial Street, Whitechapel, London. Seeing as his 1887 medal has H Division on it, this proves he was a Policeman walking the streets of Whitechapel whilst 'Jack the Ripper' was actively killing prostitutes on his beat.
George and his wife went on to have 10 children whilst living in the Borough of Bethnal Green.

Sadly things went very wrong for George Poynter whilst on night patrol during 21/06/1898. He crossed over from his designated beat and went to Newman's Court, Cox's Square, Whitechapel. There he was seen by a witness to lean over a wall and steal a bird cage containing a canary. He took it home and when later challenged about the theft he claimed he found it and forgot to hand it in, due to being tired. He was charged with theft and breach of duty, he appeared at Worship Street Court on 02/07/1898. He was found guilty of breach of duty and fined 40s and 40s costs.
Inspector Taylor of H Division spoke on his behalf and stated that although Constable Poynter had some reports against him (3 serious, one on 12/05/1892), but during his 15yrs service he had been commended on 8 occasions and rewarded once.
Due to this, Poynter was dismissed from the Police on 25/06/1898 and his story made the front page of The Illustrated Police News, titled - THE POLICEMAN AND THE CANARY!

He remained with his wife and family living in Bethnal Green and had a number of jobs, such as a commission agent for an insurance company, a time keeper at the wharf and a night watchman for the Borough Council.
He passed away on 22/07/1925 at Cambridge Road, Bethnal Green, aged 59, whilst his address was registered at 1 Cordova Road.

Edited April 17, 2013 by Insp43519

[219PG]

You really uncovered a brilliant story with your research . So many good policeman have ruined a career by doing something stupid !!! , How many H Div medals have you in your collection ?

Alex

[Insp43519]

Hi Alex,

I have the above 1887/97, a 1897 trio to a career H Div Constable who joined in 1889, the 1887/97 & 1902 pair to a Station Police Sergeant who joined H Div in 1895, and my favourite which is a 1897 trio to a career Detective who served all his service on H Div with lots of research, he missed out on the 1887 medal by 2 weeks as he joined in 1887.

Always looking for others to add too

Jon

[Brian Wolfe]

Hi Jon,

Excellent post, thank you very much.

Regards

Brian

[paul wood]

the 40 shillings fine and 40 shillings cost was probably over 10 times the value of the canary and cage and probably a couple of weeks wages, that and dismissal was pretty draconian but the norm the times.

Paul

[NickLangley]

I bet the bird sang like a canary "dahn the nick".

Great research,

[paul wood]

Well at least he didn't have to do bird for it.

Paul