PMCC Magazine 330

PMCC - Magazine

330

Friday 31st March 2023

The Air Beat

Maintaining your collection

It's spring! At least it is in the northern hemisphere.

It's a time when we think of renewal, as the buds burst, the spring bulbs show and blossom is everywhere. It's a time for spring cleaning too...

This is a good time to dust off the collection and decide what needs a spring clean, a quick whip round with a cloth, or perhaps a complete remount.

Maybe there are things in a drawer, a shoe box or cupboard which really should be mounted or displayed.

A little further on in this magazine, there is an article by a collector of Ariel police motorcycles. At this point I must make a public information disclosure: Amongst everything else, I have some police motorcycles too.

Spare a thought for everyone who has or collects police vehicles, fire appliances, ambulances or other modes of transport, because their "spring cleaning" is a lot more involved than just a quick whip round with a feather duster.

There is what is known as the "POL's" - petrols oils and lubricants. For newer old vehicles, the MOT, for the older old vehicles, getting the various exemptions from DVLA. Then there is all the planning for the shows which the vehicle will attend during the summer.

There is an appetite from the public to see the retired emergency service vehicles. But to keep them looking immaculate takes a bit more work than just brushing the dust of a few helmets and caps.

You really need a well equipped workshop for a start!

But how did we reach the point that so many of these old police vehicles are still around? Perhaps the most numerous by make are the Velocette LE's. probably because there were so many made. The Facebook Register of Historic and Classic Police Motorcycles has a list of 43 known LE's, but there are probably many more.
longer dipstick
The answer is because they were all well maintained. This month Brian Homans is looking at police workshops in his "Motor Patrolling" photographs.

A large part of every police driving and riding course I was fortunate to attend (except probably the VIP escort training) was not just about driving/riding your charge with care and to the "system", but also the mechanics of the vehicle, be that motorcycle, car or HGV.

It wasn't just about where the oil and water went either!

Lancashire Constabulary Motor Driving School - Mechanical training room

Up to the 1960's you could often find police officers working in police workshops. The Metropolitan Police had posts of "Garage Sergeant", often of Station Sergeant rank, before the rank was abolished.

A bobby may well have been a vehicle mechanic before joining in the force. Then at some point, perhaps after an injury, being no longer fit for outside duty, his knowledge and experience was put to good use.

In the Hull city workshops, there were several police officers. One in particular was an expert panel beater and sprayer. Many a young bobby was pleased when an embarrassing "door ding" in a panda car was removed, for a donation to a drinks fund, with no sergeants or inspectors involved.

It is a testament to these unsung heroes in the garage workshops, up and down the country and in all the services, that there are now so many of these former operational vehicles in the hands of collectors.

So it doesn't matter whether you collect buttons, or SC badges, or traffic cars. there is a place for you.

A few years ago, I almost came home with a retired police helicopter..... It wouldn't fit in my garage though, but that's another story!

Norman

From Police Review and Parade Gossip, June 12, 1893

The Ex-Chief Constable of Birmingham

Mr George Glossop

Mr, George Glossop, whose genial features accompany this sketch, was formerly Chief-Constable of Birmingham.

For more than 16 years he has been on the retired list, in the enjoyment of a pension of £400 a year. He had served 37 years in the Birmingham Police, and prior to his connection with that town he had been an Officer in the Bristol Force, and a tide-waiter attached to the Bristol Custom House.

It will be gathered from the arithmetic of this brief record of his career that Mr. Glossop is approaching a patriarchal age, even for a pensioner from the public purse. But for his slight stoop and his whitened hair he might be taken for a man of fifty.
CC George Glossop He trips along with a light, elastic step, his eyesight is as keen as ever, and his cheeks glow with the ruddiness of an old farmer.

For some years he has resided at Weston-super-Mare. "I have nothing in front of my house," he says, " for three thousand miles except the Atlantic. I am up at six every morning to groom my three horses. No one touches them but myself, I do my own gardening, and have plenty of riding and driving."

While revisiting the scenes of his official activity recently, Mr. Glossop was interviewed by a representative of the Birmingham Daily Mail, from whom we learn that Mr. Glossop settled in Birmingham at a time when the town was in great disorder.

The Bull Ring riots had just been suppressed, and the public were bitterly incensed against the London Police, who had been sent down to quell the disorder.

There can be no doubt whatever that they exercised their authority with a savagery seldom witnessed. The Duke of Wellington, in a speech in Parliament, admitted that grossly unjustifiable brutality had been resorted to.

In Birmingham the Londoners were denounced as an "unconstitutional and bloodthirsty Force." No sooner was quietude restored than the Birmingham people demanded the removal of the visiting Force, and a Police Force of their own.

Commissioner Burgess, who had been sent down by Government in charge of the London Police, was instructed to remain for three years to organise the new Birmingham Force and place it upon a sound working footing.

His offices were in Union-street, just below the Library, and in October, 1839, the first batch of recruits were sworn in.
The Commissioner had a salary of £800 a year, and his deputy, Mr. Shaw, £300. Mr. Glossop was not in the first batch, but he arrived a few days after they had been sent to Beardsworth's Repository to drill. He thought, from the experience he had gained of Police work in Bristol, that he would be able to start at least as a Sergeant in Birmingham, but he found that nothing but a Constable's position was open to him.

Rather than go back to Bristol he accepted it. A Constable's pay in Birmingham at that time was 16s. a week, and out of that he was expected to find the white "duck'" trousers which were worn during the summer.

During the two weeks he was drilling at Beardsworth's Repository Mr. Glossop only received half-pay, or the sum of 8s. a week. When he first received this munificent allowance from his superior officer, Capt. Atkins, the Superintendent of the Cardigan-street Division, he was unable to stifle a loud grumble.

This Capt. Atkins, though only a very little man, about five feet high, was a tremendous martinette, and had served with the Spanish Legion. On hearing Const. Glossop's remonstrance against the 8s. a week and the heavy drills, his martial discipline of spirit asserted itself, and he declared he would order anyone who used mutinous language to be shot. "I thought I had joined the Police Force and not the army," Const. Glossop mildly ventured to suggest.

Constable Glossop's prospects at this period were not the brightest in the world.

The new Police Force numbered nearly 400 men, and was divided up into four divisions. Superintendent Stephens, who had formerly been an Inspector at Bristol, took charge of the first division, whose headquarters were at Beardsworth's; Captain Maturin, who had also been out with the Spanish Legion, commanded the 2nd at the Sandpits, the 3rd division had its station at Staniforth-street, under Superintendent Rolfe, and the 4th, under the fiery Captain Atkins, was located in Cardigan-street.

The Superintendents of divisions received about £150 a year. The men had no uniforms to Start with, and a motley group they looked as they paraded for duty.

Constable Glossop performed his first night's duty in an old-fashioned top hat and overcoat, and as it rained all night he presented a nice bedraggled aspect when he returned to the station. At length the uniform arrived. The headgear consisted of a canister hat, covered at the top with patent leather, and with a strap and a bit of whalebone down each side.

Anything more unsuitable for Police duty could not have been devised, Imdiately a Policeman got into a street scrimmage - and there were rows at that time, for the people had by no means forgotten the rough treatment that had been dealt out in the Bull Ring - off would go the Policeman's helmet, and the Officer's defenceless cranium would immediately present a target for brickbats and bludgeons.

It was not until Prince Albert suggested the shape of a serviceable helmet, on the principle of the one at present in use, that Policemen were properly protected about the head.

There are plenty of people still living who can remember those awful white trousers which the Birmingham Police used to wear in the summer during the first few years of the existence of the Force.

Those who do not recollect them can easily picture the appearance of Policeman X, after struggling with an obstinate prisoner in a slushy street.

The men, as we have said, were compelled to provide these choice habiliments out of their wages. They used to buy the material and take it to a tailor to be made up. As may be imagined, some choice specimens of sartorial art were to be seen in the streets.

Commissioner Burgess engagement was only for three years, and at the end of that time he returned to London. The Corporation then advertised for a Chief Superintendent, and the choice of the Watch Committee lay between Superintendent Stephens, Captain Atkins; and Captain Maturin.

Little Captain Atkins ran Mr. Stephens a very close race, but the latter was finally, chosen. By this time the ratepayers had commenced to grumble very loudly over the cost of the Police Force.

Up to the time of the riots the town had done without a Police Force at all. Four "runners" under the command of the famous Bill Hall had managed to do all the Detective work that was needed in those good old times.

A force of nearly 400 men meant a tremendous jump to the other extreme, and the citizens who had to pay the piper begrudged every penny of the extra expenditure.

On the departure of the Commissioner the Corporation resolved to retrench in every possible direction. The new Chief Superintendent was offered a salary of no more than £250, and his deputy £150.

It soon became necessary to find a new station for the 1st Division. The repository was wanted for another purpose, so a move was made to New-street, where the Police Station stood for some years.

Shortly after Mr. Stephen's appointment as Chief of Police, Mr. Glossop was made Sub-Inspector.

His most substantial promotion came in 1848, when " Billy Hall," who was then the Chief of the Detective Department, was dismissed for insulting one of the Magistrates, the ex-Mayor, Mr. Weston.

The incident occurred during the hearing of a case in Court, and the Magistrates were advised by their Clerk, the father of the late Major Gem, that they had the power to dismiss the impertinent "ex-runner" on the spot. This was done, and thus ended the official career of the celebrated "Billy Hall."

Mr. Glossop stepped into his shoes, and a very good Detective he made, some of his cases securing for him quite a reputation throughout the country.

Subsequently he was appointed Deputy Chief, and when Mr. Stephens died in 1858 he was appointed to the entire control of the Force.

It was not until Mr. Glossop became Chief Constable that the borough was split up into five Police Divisions, Staniforth street Station had long been closed, and the Division moved to Duke-street. Cardigan-street Station had also been done away with, and from the Sandpits a move was made to a new station in Kenion-street. Moor-street was now the headquarters of the 1st Division; the 4th Division was at Alcester-street, and on Mr. Glossop's recommendation another station was built at Five Ways for the Edgbaston district.

It is interesting to hear Mr. Glossop's impressions of the changes that have been wrought in Birmingham during the last half-century.

Temperance reformers will be pleased to learn that the town is much soberer than it used to be when publicans kept open house as long as they liked, and when nobody was thought much the worse for guzzling as much as he could swallow. "Nor is there as much bad language as one used to hear in the streets," says the veteran ex-Chief Constable.

This assertion makes us wonder what was the exact conversational range of previous generations. Goodness knows the street rowdy's tongue of the present day is vile enough. "I can see, myself, as I walk along the streets," says Mr. Glossop, "the improvement in the behaviour of the people.

It is nonsense to say that education has not softened the manners of the masses. I know what a crowd used to be like half a century ago. People are better spoken and better behaved. I was particularly struck with this change by my observation of the crowds at the last two Royal visits. A better-mannered and more easily manageable assembly I never saw."

There is another marked difference between old Birmingham and the new. The Police are on better terms with the people.

It took years to wipe out the recollections of the bloodshed in the Bull Ring, but the substitution of the suave "Move on, please," for the peremptory "Now then, move on," gradually mollified the resentful spirit of the people, and eventually the "Force" came to be regarded as a protection and a necessity.

The clearing away of some of the slums in which much of the crime and rowdyism of the old days used to be focussed has given Mr. Glossop something to ponder over during his recent visits to town.

Of the incidents of Mr. Glossop's long official life it is impossible to speak within the limits of anything less than a big volume.
1860 riots

1860 Birmingham Riots - Getty Images

It was during his chiefship that the Fenian rising of 1866 was frustrated, mainly by the tact with which the purchasers of guns from Birmingham manufacturers were discovered and the clues followed up. Every gun ordered in Birmingham was traced to its destination by the Birmingham Police, and after the ringleaders had been convicted a flattering compliment was paid to Mr. Glossop by the House of Commons.

A remarkable case with which Mr. Glossop was identified during his Detective work was the Charlecote robbery.

A gang of burglars had produced great consternation by their daring depredations at some of the principal country seats. One day while he had charge of the Birmingham Detectives at Doncaster Races Mr. Glossop saw a woman in the act of stealing a watch from an old gentleman.

The officer seized her, and the thief at once recognising Mr. Glossop, said, "If you won't take me I'll tell you a great secret." On removing her to the lock-up Mr. Glossop asked her what her secret was. She replied, "If I'm not sent for trial I'll tell you who are breaking into these big swells' houses."

Thinking it possible that she had a confession to make, Mr. Glossop allowed her to proceed, and she mentioned an address in Birmingham where the men could be found and most of the property recovered. The same night there was renewed alarm throughout the country by the news that Charlecote Hall, the residence of the Lucy family, had been entered and some priceless heirlooms stolen.

Acting on the "information received," Mr. Glossop took a few trusty men with him, and captured not only the two burglars, but a lot of the stolen property, including all the valuables from Charlecote.

The men were armed with pistols and daggers, and but for being completely surprised, would have offered a terrible resistance. One of them, strange to say, was an ex-Policeman, who had formerly served in the Birmingham Force.

The Murphy Riots will be well remembered as one of the stormiest episodes of Mr. Glossop's official career, and it will not be forgotten that the management of the Police upon that occasion did not escape criticism.

It is hard to believe that more than a quarter of a century has slipped away since that last reading of the Riot Act in Birmingham.

Smithfields Birmingham

Smithfields, Birmingham 1890

<City of Coventry Police

Established 7th March 1836
1st October 1969 Became part of Warwickshire and Coventry Constabulary


Victorian Helmet Plate	Helmet Plate and Kepi Badge	Helmet Plate

George V Helmet Plate	Kings Crown Helmet Plate	Kings Crown Night Helmet Plate


George V Cap Badge	George VI Cap Badge	EIIR Cap Badge


George V Officers cap	George VI Officers cap	George VI Sterling Silver

Coventry officers

EIIR Officers cap age

Chief Officers embroidered bullion wire cap badges

Early and modern style collar dogs

Special Constabulary lapel badges

Belt buckles

Cape Fastener

W Mids display

West Midlands Police Museum display of Coventry City Police items

What would you like to see?

What would you like to see in the club magazine or on the website? Don't keep it to yourself. Let Norman or Jim know and we will do our best to publish your request.

The Police Station

Cottingham Police Station

Cottingham Police Station, East Riding Constabulary

Our police stations are disappearing

I was unsurprised by a BBC news article about the number of police stations which have closed since austerity became Government policy, more than twelve years ago .

140 stations have closed in Scotland and at least 663 in England and Wales to reduce costs.

They continue to close at the rate of one station a week - 52 stations a year. In London more than 100 stations have been closed, 75% of the total number of stations which were open in 2010.

On the Humberside Police History facebook group there is a project running to try and map all the police stations in the force area, and to photograph the old and the existing stations and the old buildings where they still exist.

It has never been easier to both find buildings on-line as they were, and using programmes like Google StreetView, to see what exists there today.

Most research can be carried out from your chair on the computer using websites like the National Library of Scotland Ordnance Survey large scale maps data base.

The 25" maps are the starting point, because they show police and fire stations, together with police boxes and police pillars.

This enigmatic photograph shows the inside of the Liverpool City Police garage, sometime in the late 1950's.

Liverpool garage

It didn't need much detective work to establish that this was the force traffic garage in Spekeland Street, Liverpool.

Spekeland street,Liverpool

The building has the look of a railway workshop, but had actually been the WWI Victory Machine Works.

A Google search came up with a video of the building, in use, in the 1970's.

There is a lot of interesting history around the old buildings which seems often to be ignored.

Shropshire's Ariel Arrows

I hope this article will be of interest to everyone keen on surviving police vehicles.

I am a retired Police Constable, (Derbyshire) a life long enthusiast of the Ariel Leader and Arrow motorcycles manufactured in Birmingham between 1958-65.   The Ariel factory supplied approximately 300 Police equipped Leaders to a number of forces around the country.

However uniquely the Shropshire Constabulary ordered the Ariel Arrow police motorcycle, purchasing fourteen between Feb 1961 and July 1963, the only force to use the Police Arrow.
Shropshire ariel
With my personal interest in the Leader and Arrow stemming from the purchase of my first Arrow in 1968 followed the following year by a Leader, although moving on to car ownership my interest in the Ariel's grew stronger over time resulting in the purchase of quite a few more including ex Police Leaders from Cheltenham/Gloucestershire, City of Sheffield, Northumberland and Kent.
Gloucestershire and Kent Leaders

Gloucestershire and Kent Ariel Leader motorcycles

I finally got around to restoring the ex City of Sheffield Leader in the late 1980's that was featured in Classic Bike magazine in April 1992.
Sheffield City Leader

Restored Sheffield City Police leader

I restored the ex Northumberland Police Leader a few years later but then turned my attention to Shropshire Police Arrows.

Northumberland Constabulary Leader on the left

I thought it would be nice to have one to display at shows alongside a Police Leader, unfortunately next to no information could be found on Police Arrows except for a couple of black/white photographs of what appears to be the Ariel factory prototype test bike and these were used as a reference to build a replica Shropshire Police Arrow using a standard road bike Arrow.

Whilst creating the Police Arrow I also set out to find out more about Shropshire Police Arrows, fortunately the Ariel factory despatch records survive at the Vintage Motorcycle Club HQ in Burton upon Trent.

These records provided the first real evidence to work from with Frame numbers and date of dispatch of Police Arrows to Shropshire motorcycle dealerships who I presume prepared them prior to handing them over to the Police, namely Roy Evans, Oswestry, T R Abrahams, Market Drayton and Bill Doran of Wellington.
Dorans 1 Dorans 2

Bill Doran's Motorcycle dealership then and in 2009

I have visited these premises that still stand, R Evans was still operating as a car dealership at the time of my visit but I believe has since closed down, Abrahams was a Bargain Booze and Bill Dorans a Hairdressing salon.

I also took a day off work to visit Shrewsbury Archives to spend a few hours searching through the vehicle index records eventually matching up some of those frame numbers to actual registration numbers for some of the Police Arrows.

At last I had something substantial to work with, then a few years later whilst looking on ebay I saw what appeared to be a Super Sports Arrow for sale but it was fitted with crash bars only fitted to Shropshire Police Arrows.

The registration was YUJ834 with the frame number on my list of Police Arrows, needless to say I won the auction and duly collected it.
EBay find
At the present time it remains as purchased I'm not sure whether to restore it to its original colours and transfer the Police parts to it from the replica or go the extra distance and restore it to Police spec and also keep the replica, in any event I'm mightily proud to have tracked down a surviving ex Shropshire Police Arrow, especially as the chances of finding one out of fourteen were pretty slim.

I've attached some photographs of Police Leaders if you are unfamiliar with them and a few of Police Arrows including two very rare photographs of genuine Shropshire Police Arrows.

One taken I understand in the garage at Swan HIll, Shrewsbury that I also visited. Sadly the garage doors were closed, not that I expected to still find the Arrow inside had they been open.

I carried out something of a re-creation using the entrance doors of my own shed.

re-creation garage

The first photo was taken during a ride over to Shropshire a few years ago on the replica stopping at the entrance to Prees.
Replica at Prees
I would be very pleased to hear from anyone who can add anything to the history of Shropshire Police Arrows.

Roger James Tibshelf, Derbyshsire. (If you can help, contact the editor)

Researching the history of your pride and joy

We have a bit of a theme this issue about maintaining and preserving police vehicles.

A little while ago I wrote a Ten Minute Guide for owners of classic and historic vehicles, to help them find out a little more about their "Pride and Joy".

Ten Minute Guide Cover

If you are interested in the subject of research, even if you don't (yet) have a vehicle of your own, you might like to download the Ten Minute Guide using this button.

It isn't only UK vehicles which are collected. As this issue goes to press at the end of March, there is at least one former US police car and several Highway Patrol motorcycles for sale, in the UK.

And there are some beautifully restored classic Highway Patrol cars out there too.

Philosophically speaking....

Sometimes I receive links to police pdf's. One recent example is "The private life of CID paperwork: The transition of murder files from institutional to public records" by the well known police historian and author Angie Sutton-Vane.

I failed my three months CID Aideship as temporary detective sergeant because I refused to go drinking with the DI on late turn. It was supposed to be for my career development as I had no CID experience, but coming from Traffic, drinking and driving were anathema. All it did was to confirm that you could be a very effective investigator, without being in the CID.

So I wasn't especially interested in the private life of CID papers, even when being looked at from a historical perspective.

Another recent pdf was called "Unpacking my library, A talk about book collecting" by Walter Benjamin.

It is short and the title intrigued me. The author is a well known German philosopher who died in 1940 while trying to escape the Nazi forces.

As I started to read, the thought struck me that if you changed "book" in his writings, to police badge, patch, button or whatever you collect, although this treatise was written in 1931, it could be applied to everything we do today

One line of prose has stuck with me:
"A collector's attitude towards his possessions stems from an owners feelings of responsibility towards his property."

That seems to sum up what we collectors do.

By following this link you can download a copy for yourself.

...

"Unpacking my library; A talk about book collecting" by Walter Benjamin

New sirens for Police Scotland

If you live north of the border, you may well have have heard the new style sirens for use in urban areas.

Developed specially for high population density areas, where there is already a lot of noise, they are already making road users sit up and take notice.

Help Wanted

We have been sent this photograph, but need help to identify it?

cycle race We don't know the who, what, when, where or why.

The helmets plates and helmets look similar to Bradford City, but the details are indistinct. Are they Queens Crown?

The coat of arms worn on an epaulet of a closed neck tunic is also unusual.

The uniforms and background looks 1940's, but the bicycles may be older.

Can anyone offer any suggestion please?

If you have please email Jim or Norman.

New crests are beginning to appear

The first of the new King Charles III crests are beginning to appear on police vehicles.

Notts door badge

Nottinghamshire Police

When the announcement was made last year of the new Royal Cipher, it was also stated that badges and logos would only change as old stock was used up.

Now the first few forces to run out of old vehicle decals are placing the new Tudor Crown decals on vehicles.

Hampshire Constab

One interesting change has been in Hampshire. To reflect that the Isle of Wight has unitary status, the name of the force has been officially changed to the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary. Stationary, branding and decals are now appearing with the new name and Tudor Crown.

Photogrammetry and police history

Every single person reading this will also look at the photographs too.

Jim and I spend a loty of time with every Edition of the magazine, making sure we have the best possible photographs for you to enjoy.

But I have a question for you. Do you look at the photographs, or do you examine them?

I was very lucky to be trained in the 1990's in Photogrammetry by the Royal Air Force, at a secret base in central England. So secret that there are no signs to get you there, and as you leave a forest, on a very minor road, you are confronted by sentries in watch towers with mounted machine guns. Yes, these places do actually still exist!

I can't tell you what really goes on there, but let me say it was "interesting" and the base museum was a place which no member of the public ever sees.

Photogrammetry is the science and technology of obtaining reliable information about physical objects and the environment through the process of recording, measuring and interpreting photographic images and patterns of electromagnetic radiant imagery and other phenomena.

That's the scientific definition. In simple terms, it is about how to examine a photograph to gather all the available information.

You may see the term being used today in relation to police use of drone technology for crash reconstruction, but it is not a new scientific discipline.

The term photogrammetry was coined by the Prussian architect Albrecht Meydenbauer and appeared in his 1867 article "Die Photometrographie.

It isn't one technique, but a combination of many and essentially requires a very detailed analysis of an image, using a range of techniques and lights.

I apply these techniques when I am asked to identify or date a photograph. Or when I am trying to find where a photograph was taken.

Here is a photograph I was sent recently.

Fire box

It is dated as 1900, and the location is known, Denmark Road, Moss Side. The sign above the box says "Fire Station" and there is a fireman, with a hydrant key in his belt and a wheeled fire escape next to him. Moss Side is a suburb of Manchester.

I have Manchester City as a police fire brigade until the NFS was formed in August 1941. In the photo is an escape ladder. This was one of the very many provided across the UK by the Society for the Protection of Life From Fire.

I covered the subject in the mini series "Fire Bobbies", available as a back issue of the magazine via the club website (issues 313, 315 and 317).

There were horse drawn fire escape ladders, but the society provided these wheeled escapes to be available and used by the public, before the police, volunteer or insurance company brigades arrived.

The police and Constabulary Almanac confirmed it was a police brigade, under the control of the Chief Constable, but with little other detail.

Almanac Manchester

The Almanac entry for Manchester City is not very detailed, but it does include the information that there were eight police and eight fire stations.

The entry for the Manchester Division of the Lancashire Constabulary, showed that Moss Side was in 1900, policed by Lancashire and was a Sergeants Station.
.

LancsCounty

My next stop was the National Library of Scotland, where the 1893 25" OS map confirmed that this area of Moss Side was just within the then City boundary and was actually then Chorlton upon Medlock rather than Moss Side.

The county borough boundary is marked with a lie of dots.

25 inch os

There is a gap in the National Library of Scotland map collection, with two issues of the 25" maps series missing between 1892 and 1922, so I couldn't find the Fire Box on an OS map.

Enlarging the photograph in photoshop, I applied various filters to try and bring more (latent) information out.

It looks as though the photograph was taken on a foggy day, or in the past 120 years the image has faded.

However I was able to bring up some details of the large building in the background.

It was then back to the NLS Maps. At the other end of Denmark Road in Moss Lane, in 1922, I found a combined police and fire station, next to the free library.
1922 25 ich
On line I found photographs from 1907/1910 of the buildings, complete with a police horse drawn escape ladder pulling into the station.

Moss lane police fire station

Moss lane Library

However that didn't give me the location of the fire box. But what it did show was that there were only three large building on Denmark Road - Grove house at one end and the brewery and electricity station, and St Clements Church at the other.

If in the early 1900's there was a police and Fire station at one end of Denmark Rad, would it be likely that there would be a fire box and wheeled escape there too? At the other end of the road was Manchester Royal Infirmary. That is where a wheeled escape and fire box would be useful.

Using street view on Google Maps, I started at the Oxford Road / MRI end. I immediately found windows on what is now called the Whitworth Centre, which matched the ones in the photo.

Whitworth centre

Delving further into the world of maps, I found a Kelly's Directory map from 1930, which showed the Fire Box, in the corner of the park where I thought it might have been.
Kellys 1913
It took a while and a lot of research, using many different resources, together with a detailed examination of the photograph to confirm exactly where this fire box was. It also confirms that the man was a Police Fireman.

We do like to be beside the seaside

Coventry city

Four officers in front of a boat

Except this photograph wasn't taken at the seaside!

This is another research project I have completed with William McPherson, of the Police Remembrance Trust group. I have again delved deep into the photo.

They look like four policemen, but the uniforms are not a standard closed neck tunic. They are standing in front of what appears to be lifeboat. From the dress of the boy and the man in the background, it is Edwardian and the cobbles make it look like a seaside slipway somewhere.

So let's enlarge the cap badges as much as possible. One is especially clear. It shows a Swiss Shield with a central device, an animal above and a scroll and motto all round.

Coventry cap 1 Coventry CC

The men look like officers, with the person in the centre who has a cap with a silver band perhaps the Chief Officer. But no shoulder rank insignia are being worn. The man in the centre has large Kings Crowns on his collar. White gloves and signaling sticks suggest a formal occasion and an urban force.

One suggestion was a Cornwall Borough force.

There were few. Looking at the HMIC History (mentioned here before and still available on line) only Truro and Penance in 1910. It is not the crest of either of them.

I have a reference file of known collar devices used by forces, which is useful when you are trying to identify a force.

They have broken them down into 27 different categories of recognised heralidic shapes, with and without animals, crowns and other embelishments etc.

A search of them produced some similarities but nothing identical. William did some work on the origin of the photo, which had come from a house clearance in Coventry. Coventry City Officers

The coat of arms resembled but was not identical to the Coventry City crest. None of my reference books show Coventry City Police officers with bullion wire cap badges.

I approached a colleague in an online group and he was able to come up with two examples of different bullion cap badges from Coventry City, one which was an exact match.

So we now knew that they were Coventry City Police.

A little more digging through Almanacs of the time and I found that there was just one Chief Constable of Coventry between 1899 and 1919, Charles Christopher Charlsley.

Charles Christopher Charlsley was a professional footballer, playing for England, who joined Birmingham City Police in 1884. In 1899 as Inspector in charge of the Birmingham City Hackney Carriage Dept, he was appointed as Chief Constable of Coventry.

From there I found a photo of him in the Coventry Evening Telepgraph , in the British Newspaper Archive.
CC Charsley
Although looking younger than in our photo, he was the person in the centre.

Through William's contacts at the West Midlands Police Museum, we were able to name two of the other officers as well.

But why were they all together at the seas side? To me the boat they are standing in front of looks like a Life Boat. A little bite more research confirmed from photographs that this was an 1890 pulling and sailing boat of the RNLI. But the name isn't visible.
Skegness lifeboat

The Royal National Lifeboat Institution Heritage Unit provided the information. They weren't at the seaside, the lifeboat was in Coventry! Lifeboat Saturday

The photo was believed to have been taken in Coventry on Lifeboat Saturday in 1910.

The boat is an 1890 pulling and sailing boat and is believed to be the ON-328 Joe Jarman which was used as a demonstration lifeboat between 1907-1917.

Newspaper reports of the time record that the people of the City of Coventry raised large sums of money for the RNLI and each year had a Lifeboat Saturday.

In `1909 and 1910, the crew of the Southend on Sea Lifeboat traveled to Coventry for the day and took part in a parade through the city, which included the reserve lifeboat. In 1910 it was the 4th June.

By examining ALL of the photograph, not looking at it and not just the police bits, you can often research and understand a great deal more about what is going on, sometimes naming individuals and even the very date a photograph was taken 113 years ago..

Lifeboat Saturday

Lifeboat Saturday Parade, City of Coventry, 4th June 1910

Send your photos to Jim admin@pmcc-club.co.uk

Abandon hope all ye who enter here!

By Brian Homans

Laburnum road wakefield

West Yorkshire Constabulary, Laburnum Road Garage, Wakefield

This month we are looking at vehicle maintenance.

In many county police forces when vehicles were introduced, the drivers were responsible for doing their own maintenance. Today, many workshops have been outsourced to commercial entities to achieve savings.

In between times, even into the 1980's, Sunday morning was vehicle check day.

The early shift would be expected to wash, even polish their vehicles and check all the equipment against the vehicle inventory. All under the watchful gaze of the Sergeant.

However it is the people in the workshops who looked after the vehicles, keeping them on the road for the officers to use.

1940's Bedfordshire Police Kempston Workshop

1943 Surrey Constab Ladymead

1943 Surrey Constabulary Ladymead

1955 West Riding of Yorkshire Workshop

1960 Gloucestershire motorcycle workshop Cheltenham

1960 Herts HQ Workshop at Mill Green

1960 Herts HQ Workshop at Mill Green _ exterior

1960 Herts HQ Workshop at Mill Green - exterior

1965 Gloucestershire Peter Gilbert

1965 Gloucestershire Photo: Peter Gilbert

1966 Herts HQ Workshop Stanborough _Triumph 6T PAR 25D Bob Gibson mechanic

1966 Herts HQ Workshop Stanborough -Triumph 6T PAR 25D Bob Gibson mechanic

1967 30 12 67 Mick Carlton YCP

30th December 1967 Mick Carlton fits out the first Yorks City Police panda cars

1967c Lancashire Police Workshop

1969 Lancashire Police workshop

1970s GMP - Openshaw Workshops courtesy Keith Knight

1970s GMP - Openshaw Workshops Photo: Keith Knight

1971 Herts HQ Workshop Stanborough _ Rover V8 VRO881J

1971 Herts HQ Workshop Stanborough - Rover V8 VRO881J

1971 Stafford Police HQ Workshop with Jaguar cars

1971c Essex Police Workshop

1974c Durham Minivan in workshop

1977 Herts HQ Workshop Stanborough _ Ford Cortina 1.6L Area Car TWC 486R mechanic Nobby Barton

1977 Herts HQ Workshop Stanborough _ Ford Cortina 1.6L Area Car TWC 486R

mechanic Nobby Barton

1978 Herts Hitchin Workshop _Ford Capri 3.0S BAR 916T Tfc Enforcement

1978 Herts Hitchin Workshop - Ford Capri 3.0S BAR 916T Traffic Enforcement

1980 North Yorkshire Police Workshop at Yor

1980 North Yorkshire Police Workshop at York

1985 Herts HQ Workshop Stanborough _ Ford Escort C245GGS damaged

1985 Herts HQ Workshop Stanborough - Ford Escort C245GGS damaged

1986c Herts HQ Workshop - Brian Geary

1990 Herts HQ Workshop Stanborough _Ford Escort GP Car H251GVS new

1990 Herts HQ Workshop Stanborough - Ford Escort GP Car H251GVS new

1990 Herts HQ Workshop Stanborough _Ford Escort GP Car H251GVS new

1990 Herts HQ Workshop Stanborough - Ford Escort GP Car H251GVS new

1993 Herts HQ Workshop Stanborough _ Vauxhall Senator L693MNM

1993 Herts HQ Workshop Stanborough - Vauxhall Senator L693MNM

1996 Herts HQ Garage recovery truck - 1986 Ford Cargo

Scottish police car siren

Police scotland Just in case you were in any doubt about the new police car siren, mentioned earlier...
Please check the date tomorrow!

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