Family history research is very popular as a result of fascinating genealogy TV programmes and the availability of the Internet. If your ancestor was a police officers then you can count yourself fortunate as they will have left a, ‘paper trial.’
For instance, you can view the original personnel records of Portsmouth police officers from the 1830s onwards, at Portsmouth Record Office. As an added bonus, from the early days of photography in 1860s the records include a photograph. The record will include any disciplinary offences in great detail. Was your ancestor the constable found drunk one morning on Portsmouth High Street and when his sergeant and another colleague went to ‘remove him’ from the street, he assaulted the pair of them! Drunkenness on duty was a common problem in the police in the 19th century. The records are ‘closed’ for 80 years from date of joining. So they are ‘open’ pre 1930.
At Portsmouth Record Office they allow you to photograph the fragile documents using a digital camera – see below. Practice at home first with flash off. Police history books on sale.
Portsmouth Record Office
At Hampshire Record Office at Winchester you can view, on microfiche, the two-page Examination Book of all Hampshire Constabulary officers from 1839 up to 1926 (at present). These show full details of the officer, such as parish of birth, eye colour, whether he could read or write, previous employer, and if he belonged to a a private health scheme such as that run by the Oddfellows – no NHS then! Somer photography allowed but you can photocopy the micro-fiche.
The second page of the Examination Book listed all postings. It was successive chief constable’s policy to moved constables every five years to a new station as it was feared (with good reason) that they would become, “too familiar with local ale house keepers.”
The Southampton Archives are in the basement of the Civic Centre. They have limited open days so check their web site. You can read the original Watch Committee Minute Books that list the hiring and firing of constables and their mis-deeds. One 19th century constable was disciplined after being reported as having been seen drinking coffee on his beat, in a ‘Coffee Shop!’ Photography allowed there. Police history book on sale.
There are force history books available through Amazon or local book shops.
Don’t forget you can research past editions of Frontline, they go back ten years, using Google. Example; search on: “Hoddinott” site:www.hampshire.police.uk
*KILO SIERRA FIVE ONE *is part auto-biography, part history book on the policing of one of Britain’s toughest cities; Portsmouth. Written by a Police officer who experienced at first hand a turbulent and violent decade, it takes us from his very first days at training school in 1978 right through to the late 1980s and includes national events like the year-long miners’ strike, the Falklands conflict, New Age Travelers, the Greenham Common Peace Camp and the 1987 hurricane. But it is perhaps the local incidents he attended that will make you either laugh, cry or shout out loud in disbelief as he deals with human beings and all their failings, from horrific car accidents to football hooligans he gives us a candid view of what it’s like to be involved in such incidents and how it can affect the lives of those that do.
