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<\/p>\nThe Dorset County Constabulary was formed in 1856 and at the Dorset History Centre we hold the general order books dating back to the very beginning of the force.<\/p>\n
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These handwritten books are small handwritten volumes that would take a long time to look through, but on our searchroom shelves is a transcript of the books dating up to 1888 which allows you to follow the fortunes of the earliest policemen in the county. The transcript was created by Maurice Hann, the author of Victorian Policing in Dorset<\/em>.<\/p>\n The general order books record where policemen were stationed, when they were transferred and when they pass exams and get promoted. They also record when they are disciplined or fined.<\/p>\n There are a records of policemen being fined or demoted for offences such as being drunk, being found in a public house or beer shop when they were supposed to have been on duty and failing to report crimes. There are also several who were forced to resign after being found in compromising situations with prostitutes, married women or on one occasion a female prisoner.<\/p>\n There are also records of good conduct. In 1885 PC John Trowbridge obtained Merit Class for his courage in arresting poachers near Chettle House and in 1871 PC Richard Hann, the ancestor of the man who created the transcript, was commended for not drawing his truncheons at Cranborne in a violent assault.<\/p>\n In 1873 there is a record of the policemen who received a monetary reward from the Board of Trade for the saving of lives during the wreck of the Royal Adelaide, an iron sailing ship that was wrecked on Chesil beach on 25th<\/sup> November 1872. All but 7 lives were saved.<\/p>\n —<\/p>\n Felix Bealing, PC number 32, had a very eventful career. He was reprimanded 3 times between July 1869 and September 1870, twice for being absent from a conference point and the third time for being drunk when he returned to the station when he was fined a week’s wages.<\/p>\n In 1876 the general order book notes that he was being absent from the station on sick leave but was found at a cricket match in Litton Cheney!<\/p>\n Finally, in 1877 it is recorded that he was placed at the bottom of the second class for allowing a prisoner to escape from headquarters.<\/p>\n Despite all these missteps he retired in 1880 due to ill health when he was given a gratuity of \u00a350.00 for 13 years\u2019 service.<\/p>\n —<\/p>\n Are there any police in your family’s history? Let us know in the comments below!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Dorset County Constabulary was formed in 1856 and at the Dorset History Centre we hold the general order books dating back to the very beginning of the force. These handwritten books are small handwritten volumes that would take a long time to look through, but on our searchroom shelves is a transcript of the… Read more The First Dorset Policemen<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1892,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[10],"tags":[82,446,447,109],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3078"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1892"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3078"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3078\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3083,"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3078\/revisions\/3083"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3078"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3078"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3078"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/files\/2022\/05\/IMG_20211230_135935_212-e1652366009185.jpg\")
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