Records in the Borough of Poole archive reveal details of the first policemen to be employed in the town, including their uniforms, expected conduct and rewards.
A paid police force
Organised crime prevention has existed for centuries, beginning with the early night watchmen and parish constables appointed by Justices of the Peace and other town authorities. The late 18th and early 19th centuries saw authorities increasingly set to work on improving policing. In Poole, a commission to provide for a nightly watch was established in the 1750s, along with efforts to improve the safety of the streets through the introduction of street-lighting.
In 1835, the Municipal Corporations Act, which overhauled the governance of corporations in England and Wales, required royal boroughs to establish new watch committees and set up a paid police force to keep the peace in the local area. On 1 January 1836, the Poole Borough Watch Committee was established.
The Watch Committee’s minute books (reference: DC-PL/B/1/6) provide a detailed and fascinating look at the nature and constitution of early policing, including the identities of many of Poole’s earliest policemen. On 1 January 1836, 19 men were appointed including Benjamin Inkpen as High Constable and Superintendent of Police and George Sitley Frampton as a Constable and Superintendent of the Police by Night. Their jurisdiction covered the Borough of Poole and seven miles into any adjoining borough or liberty in Dorset.
The uniform
The uniform is described in some detail. It is noted that ‘a Dress be provided for each of the Police Constables similar to that worn by the London Police’. Each man was furnished with a great coat, badge, cape, coat, pair of trousers, pair of boots, hat, a stock, an ’embroidery to collar’, a crest band, a staff and a rattle. One shilling per week was taken out of their wages to defray the expense of the clothing.
The ‘beat’
The first volume of minutes includes the initial rules and regulations governing the police and outlines the arduous shifts and even precise beats around the town:
‘The Police by day to consist of Three Policemen who are to come on duty at six of the clock in the morning and remain until eight of the clock in the evening……The Police by Night to consist of six Policemen and the Superintendent who are to come on duty at Eight of the clock in the evening and remain until six of the clock in the morning… distributed as follows namely Two on the Quays, one to patrol from Ham Steps round the West Shore to Hunger Hill and the other from Ham Steps along the Quay to the Gas Works, one other police to patrol Lag Land Street and the Strand, one other police to patrol High Street, one other police to patrol Market Street and one other police to patrol West Street and in patrolling the said streets each Policeman is to go halfway up the cross streets and return into the main street’.
At this time, Poole was equipped with six watch boxes and a Police Station House located in Hill Street.
Rules and rewards
The regulations outline the character and behaviour expected of a police officer:
‘Sobriety and good conduct must be always maintained by the Police themselves and no policeman will be allowed to frequent any Public House during the time that he is on duty unless he be required to do so in the performance of such duty, and no Policeman will be allowed to hold conversation with any person whilst on his beat except in executing his duty’
Unfortunately, many of these early recruits could not manage to resist the call of the pub for long. By 1840, there had been several dismissals: Handley for drunkenness, Henry Chesman for being intoxicated while on duty and Henry Harper for being inactive and unfit for service. Even the Night Superintendent, George Silley Frampton, was cited a number of times for his behaviour, ‘for neglect of duty and being found frequently in a state of intoxication’!
The pay of various police is also recorded. The High Constable and Superintendent of Day Police received £30 per year, with the average policeman receiving 13s a week. By August 1839, this had been raised to 14s in an attempt to encourage loyalty in what were clearly ever more dangerous and tumultuous times:
‘fourteen shillings per week be henceforth paid the policemen in order to keep them above the pay of journeymen tradesmen and to induce them to the more independent discharge of the duties of their office in the present times of disaffection and turbulence against Her Majesty, and her laws and government.’
My 3rd great grandfather was James Fall who was a Police Constable in Poole in the 1840’s and 1850’s. I was wondering if there is any mention of him in the minute books and whether he was one of the original 19?
Hi Simon, thank-you for your comment. If you send us an email – archives@dorsetcouncil.gov.uk – we can have a look into the collections for you.
James Fall was appointed as a constable at the meeting of the Watch Committee on 16th March, 1840, at 13 shillings per week. He was one of three policemen questioned by the Watch Committee in May, 1840, when Superintendent Inkpen complained that Capt. Frampton, the night superintendent, was intoxicated on duty.
In 1856, Constable Fall was appointed as office keeper at a wage of 10 shillings a week on account of him being ‘incapacitated from attending his duties’ having served for 17 years. The offer of this position was noted in a Watch Committee report as being ‘as a reward for his long and faithful service in the police’. (Poole & South West Herald 13th March, 1856)