Metropolitan Police Met Police numbered Divisions?

[bigjarofwasps]

Ladies/Gents,

Can anyone confirm for me which numbered Divisions equate to which area? I believe that the numbered Divisions are related to the various London docks, but which is which?

[Tom King]

1st Division: Woolwich

2nd Division: Portsmouth

3rd Division: Devonport

4th Division: Chatham

5th Division: Pembroke

6th Division: Rosyth

[bigjarofwasps]

On 1/21/2015 at 20:34, Tom King said:

1st Division: Woolwich

2nd Division: Portsmouth

3rd Division: Devonport

4th Division: Chatham

5th Division: Pembroke

6th Division: Rosyth

Due to the fact that these Divisions came under Metropolitan Police, is the research potential for their officers  the same for them as regards, service papers, etc. Where all the officers trained in London and then posted to these divisions or where they trained locally. 

 

Why did the East End docks not have their own number force?

 

 

Edited May 2, 2016 by bigjarofwasps

[Dave Wilkinson]

Can't comment upon the first part of your question. However, the Docks in London were owned by the Port of London Authority and were policed by their own non-Home Office police force.

Dave.

[bigjarofwasps]

On 5/2/2016 at 15:10, Dave Wilkinson said:

Can't comment upon the first part of your question. However, the Docks in London were owned by the Port of London Authority and were policed by their own non-Home Office police force.

Dave.

Thanks Dave, that is very interesting. Curious how the docks within the Met area weren't covered by the Met but ones as a far a field as Wales were? 

[Tom King]

Thats because the London Docks were commercial docks.

The docks that the Met were responsible for were all were Royal Navy dockyards.  So they were responsible for the security and policing of naval dockyards, not commercial enterprise.

[bigjarofwasps]

17 hours ago, Tom King said:

Thats because the London Docks were commercial docks.

The docks that the Met were responsible for were all were Royal Navy dockyards.  So they were responsible for the security and policing of naval dockyards, not commercial enterprise.

Cheers Tom makes perfect sense now!!!!

 

Can you or anyone else answer my other question?  

 

"Due to the fact that these Divisions came under Metropolitan Police, is the research potential for their officers  the same for them as regards, service papers, etc. Where all the officers trained in London and then posted to these divisions or where they trained locally"? 

 

 

[Odin Mk 3]

The Met Dockyard Officers have the same records as Met Officers working in London.  So men with Warrant Numbers between 74201 and 97500 will have service sheets in the MEPO 4 series (4/361 - 4/477).  Also those who served through to get pensions will have pension papers which give a very brief career summary.  Some men joined and were sent straight to Dockyard Divisions but many appear to have served in London first before being appointed to a dockyard later in their careers.  In fact when men attested they swore oaths and these covered the London Divisions, the Royal Palaces and the Dockyard / Military Divisions (1st Div was primarily Woolwich Arsenal).  Originally new recruits only swore the oaths that were relevant to their first posting London/Royal Palaces or Dockyards.  So if you look at the rear of the older attestation registers you will see men re-attested when they were moved to Dockyard Division.  This is useful if you don't have a service sheet and the man didn't stay long enough for a pension as it gives you the rough date when they moved to the dockyards. Later new recruits swore all three oaths together on joining so there was no need for re-attestation. 

I have noticed a number of men who came from places like Portsmouth, Plymouth and Pembroke who joined the Met, possibly hoping to get appointed to their home town.  Often this didn't happen but I have some medals where(after several moves) the men finally made it back home - one example is Station Sergt Charles Palmer (58711) who was born just across the border in Cornwall.  He started in W Div in 1875 and moved around quite a bit before going to 1st Div then 4th Div and finally 3rd Div (Devonport) in 1891.   

Regarding your query on training - the role in the dockyards was different to the policing in London so I suspect elements of training were done locally - remember the dockyards also had fire brigade and water police roles - so they would have needed to cover this at the dockyard.

 

 

[bigjarofwasps]

Thanks Jim!!!