|
Bacup Police 1889 In the beginning
In the year
1835 every Watch committee of every borough was required to appoint
a sufficient number of fit men to be borough constables. One of the very
first Police Constables in Bacup was Nelson Howorth
otherwise known as " Old Nelson" . Nelson Howorth died on
March 12th 1865 being the oldest member of the force in the
Rossendale division. Nelson was joined by P.C. Martin who with
several others was brought to Bacup when the railway was being
constructed from Waterfoot to Bacup, to deal with the Navvies
working on the railway.
One of
the most well known and feared of these constables was
George Ashworth commonly known as " Long George". Other Parish
Constables elected in Bacup in 1864 were Robert
Wright, Draper of Bacup. James Marshall Butcher, Stacksteads
Shortly after
Bacup was made a municipal borough, the Town Council decided to have
a Police force of it's own under the control
The rates of pay 1887.
INSPECTOR: On
appointment -- £97.10.0d per annum
After 3 Years Service: £102.14s. per annum,
After 6 Years Service: £107.18s. per annum ,
After 10 Years Service: £113.2s. per annum
The Watch Committee granted granted fourteen days leave to constables each year. On the 29th July 1857 the Bacup Court House had opened the first petty session there being held on that day. Prior to this date the Bacup Petty sessions were held at the George and Dragon Inn. However in 1887 the Town council decided it would suit purposes better if they purchased the court from the county council and this was done for the sum of £2,000.By 1889 a mortuary had been added to the court/police station.
A policeman's lot was not a happy one it seems either as a parish constable or as a member of the newly established force. The poem on the right was written in 1875 and in June of 1891 a warrant was issued for the arrest of a local constable who had absconded from duty. In July 1891 the Chief Constable was appointed the Chief Constable of Bootle, and Mr John Harland who had been Chief Constable of Grantham was appointed the Chief Constable of Bacup. In September 1892 Chief Constable Harland called to the attention of the Watch committee to the total inadequacy of the corporation fire appliances and recommended that a manual fire engine be purchased at a cost of £100.00.
In July of 1894 Chief Constable Harland had a charge of assault brought against him but all charges were dismissed by the Magistrates. A few months
later in December Sergeant Downing was promoted to the rank of
Inspector. Over the intervening years the Chief Constable made
many recommendations to the Watch Committee some they adopted many
they put on hold. The fire station at this time was on
Henrietta Street and one of the Chief Constables recommendations was
that the Mortuary should be moved next to the fire station. On
the 27th July 1901 a Trades and Societies Demonstration was held to
raise money to purchase a Horse Ambulance. The following
charges were applied 1/6 per mile, double journey, in the borough,
minimum charge 3/2 per mile to outside residents. The calls averaged
about three per month. 1902 the Bacup police force consisted of one Chief Constable, and
Inspector, Four Sergeants and 20 Constables.
The Great War August 4th 1914, saw Britain declare war on Germany Britain had 247,432 regular troops on 7th August, 1914, Lord Kitchener, the war minister, immediately began a recruiting campaign by calling for men aged between 19 and 30 to join the British Army. Chief Constable Harland retired after 23 years service.
Police Constables Coates, Willis, and Gribble were called on to rejoin H. M. services the Bacup Times of August 1914 reported : P.C. Gribble a young member of the Bacup Police force also a Naval reservist left on Monday morning to join his ship H. M. S. Davenport. He was given a warm send off by his colleagues. Two other members of the Bacup Police force left on Wednesday to join their regiments.
Officers in uniform From Left to Right. P.C 16 Walsh Joined army 1916, P.C .D Ferguson Joined Army February 1916 was later Killed in Action. P.C. 10 Hunt Joined up April 1915, P.C.9 Gribble Joined up August 1914 P.C.19 Bayley Joined up May 1917.
A month later
in September Mr James Niven Campbell was appointed he would
serve until May 6th 1920. Outstations at Change, Weir, and Britannia
along with the substation at Stacksteads were connected by telephone
to the central Police station.
March 1915 Constable 26 Withers enlisted in the army and was later killed Chief Constable Niven received news of the death of Lance Corporal J Withers of the Gordon Highlanders the son of a farmer from Underbarrow in Kendal Cumbria. At the time of his enlistment he was the youngest serving Constable of the Bacup Borough Police force.
|
A month later in April
Constable 10 Hunt also enlisted. January 1916 Constable 25 A Thomlinson
enlisted followed in February by Constable 23 D Ferguson later being
killed in action. May of 1917 saw another Constable 19 Bayley
enslisting. By this time the borough had introduced special constables
some of these pictured right Left
to Right : P.C's- 22, 15, 25, ? 10, 23, 19.
Titled "Four Jolly Jack Tars" who have witnessed great deeds on the wide ocean. The picture appeared in the Bacup Times of June 1916. man circled is P.C.Gribble. April 1918 and another Constable enlsists, P.C Walsh.
On the 19th March
1919 Inspector Barrow gave notice as to his intention to retire his
replacement would be Sergeant Ernest William Sturt, becoming Chief
Constable in 1920. Chief Constabl
Bacup's First Police Car Outside the Police Station.
In 1927 the Watch Committee decided to purchase a Motor Cycle combination and although the picture above is from a later period and area these would have been something similar to what we had in Bacup. Lady Maden presented a Lethal Chamber to the borough for the painless destruction of cats and dogs. By 1933 the motor cycle combination had been replaced by a new Hillman Minx and a new Leyland fire engine had been purchased.Annual inspections took place and in 1935 the inspecting officer was Colonel F Brook H.M Inspector.
Police Caricatures 1933
August of 1937 saw the force attaining it's Jubilee and on the 8th August the whole of the members attended a commemoration service at St John's parish church. A dinner and social evening was held at the Co=operative Hall to celebrate in October.
Bacup Borough Police Force 1937. Back Row: P.C. William J.Pauling ,P.C. John Kay , P.C. Ernest Langton , P.C. Richard Calland, P.C. Benjamin Burton . Centre Row: Inspector John Barrow (retired) , P.C. Richard Holden , P.C. Joseph Walsh , P.C. Norman Scott , P.C. Abraham M. Jones , P.C. Harvey Lord , P.C. Fred Jenkinson , P.C. Cornelius Coward , P.C. William .G. Wales, P.C. Henry Gribble , Station Sergeant , P.C. Frank Jackson , P.C. Robert Wild , P.C. Henry. G. Marsh , P.C. Charles. W. Windle (retired). Front Row: P.C. Thomas Bennington , Sergeant Wilfred Martin , Detective Superintendent Percy Bayley , Dr J.D.McVean, Chief Constable Ernest .W. Sturt , Inspector John . D . Thomlinson , Sergeant John Spencer , Sergeant Richard. E. Russell , P.C. John Askew P.C. Fred Lye was absent at time of photograph.
Chief Constable Sturt retired on pension in July 1938 after 19 years and was followed by Inspector R.W.Priest from St Helens. With war looming a air raid precautions department had been established at the police station with a respirator store at Holmes Mill.
The Second World War Described as one of the most trying times for the British Police Force the situation as everywhere was tense. Bacup police station was undergoing structural changes in able to strengthen it against Ariel attack. Policemen on the beat had to discard their familiar helmets and wear the tin hats as well as carrying a parcel of protective clothing. Local painters had to be employed at painting the kerbstones with white paint in order that they may be seen during a blackout by local pedestrians. With the Blackouts came new ancillary roles for the local police with the enforcement of blackout restrictions. By December three of the regular faces had been recalled to H.M Forces, .P.C James Kelso P.C 20 Norman Scott, and P.C.23 Henry Marsh all ex Guardsmen.
On the 14th May 1940 at 9-10 pm an appeal was made inviting male British subjects between the ages of 17 and 65 to register at Police stations for the Local Defence Volunteer Force later to be known as the Home Guard against enemy landings by parachute or other. Within a few days 132 people had registered. Many others had to be thanked for their offers as they were either to old or too young.
The equipment available for this newly formed corps was meagre some even brandished wooden guns. On the 15th June the government broadcast an appeal to the nation to surrender shot guns for the Local Defence Volunteers. Only one weapon was handed into Bacup Police station. Up to this time there had not been a official Air Raid warning, and it was not until 3.18am on the 20th June that the first Air Raid commenced its wail indicating the approach of a stranger. From that time onwards warning seemed to follow warning and at 3.30am on the 21st October 1940 the silence of the night was shattered by the fall of two high explosives bombs dropped on the Thorn Estate. A record number of alerts was also received on this day a total numbering seven.
Many more legislations were brought into effect and had to be policed such as, covering or removing of road signs, no flying of kites or balloons, and no firing of fireworks. All pigeon fanciers had to register their pigeons with the police. In June a new Wolsey police car was purchased to replace the Minx. Whilst siren after siren sounded and many distant thuds could be heard. Planes with their now familiar thud thud could be heard every night passing over head. Calls for Fire brigade assistance came from Manchester and Liverpool and a contingent of Auxillary Firemen responded. December the 22nd and 23rd saw the longest local air raid occur, lasting 11hours and 49 minutes, beginning at 6.38pm and ending 6.27 am.
On the 28th April
1941 P.C Norman Scott was taken prisoner of war by the Germans and rema
August 1941 saw the Women's Auxiliary Police Corps recruited for administrative duties up until this time no woman had served on the Police Force for whole time. This is to be remembered as a year that started with a small trickle and ended with a steady flow of men joining H.M. Forces—Clerk Cadet Frank Mitchell to the Army on the 23rd April; P.C. 9 Frederick A. Oxford to the Army on the 20th August; P.C. 26 Leonard Halliwell to the Navy on the 20th October; P.C.22 John M. Matthews to the Army on the 5th November. On the 22nd February, 1943 P.C.25 George Wilkin left the force to join the Royal Air Force. The 14th August brought the introduction of Very High Frequency Wireless (speech) both at Headquarters and in the motor patrol car; a receiving and transmitting unit being installed in both cases.
From September 1945 to December, that steady flow of man-power which in 1942-1943 had helped to swell the nation’s reservoir, was trickling back. P.C.22 John Matthews returned to the force on the 10th September; P.C.25 George Wilkin on the 15th September; P.C.26 Leonard Halliwell on the 8th October; P.C.9 Frederick Oxford on the 13th October; P.C.23 (now P.S.4) Henry Marsh on the 12th November, and P.C.2o Norman Scott on the 26th November.
On April 1st 1947 Bacup Borough Police was merged into the County Police Force along with other police forces such as Accrington, Ashton-Under-Lyne, Clitheroe etc and as such became known as the Lancashire Constabulary.
"Felix" P.C.25 Martin, one of Bacup's most respected Police Officers Felix earned his nickname from local people who would watch him whilst he did point duty in Bacup Centre. One of his most interesting cases involved a robbery taking place at a local quarry in the middle of the night; in blowing the safe the thieves accidentally knocked the telephone from standing on the desk and a live connection was established between the quarry and the local GPO. The intern contacted the police station and when the thieves emerged from the quarry office they were confronted by members of the local constabulary. P.C Martin retired at the end of the 1940's with the rank of senior Inspector. *with kind thanks for the photograph and information to his son Clive*
P.C Fred Lye
On duty at Bulls Head aka King George
Police deal with accident on Todmorden Road
Police at scene of accident in South Street
Outside Bacup Police Station
|
In November a presentation took place on the Market Ground at Bacup
where Mr John Harland Chief Constable formally presented the
Ambulance to the Borough. The total cost of the Ambulance and
Harness was £ 150.8s as well as containing two stretchers
and appliances the Ambulance had been constructed to be as lively
and bright as it possibly could be. 
e Sturt was responsible for
initiating the Bacup Central Aid Fund in 1921 a fund set up to provide relief for aged
and distressed people. The following six years saw various
changes a mortuary was to be built on land adjoining the fire station a
substation at Stacksteads was acquired Inspector Whitwell retired and
was replaced by Inspector Frank Bunn. 
ined
in captivity for over four years. He had been posted as missing on the
day he had been taken prisoner but it was not until three months later
that news learned of him being a prisoner of war. 
