At our October meeting we had a talk from Martyn Lockwood on A Policeman’s Lot – Policing Essex. After serving in Essex Police for 30 years he is now a trustee of the Essex Police Museum in Chelmsford and on the Police Memorial Trust. The Essex Police Force was formed in 1840 after Dunmow petitioned for a force to replace the Parish Constable system. They were rewarded with the first purpose built police station for the county force, but a covenant on the land purchased precluded the inclusion of cells in the station. The Metropolitan Corporation Act of 1835 allowed 5 Essex boroughs to have their own independent force, but they gradually joined Essex, the last being Colchester in 1947. The first Chief Constable was John Bunch Bonnemaison McHardy (1840 – 1881) who was a retired Naval Commander who rose to the rank of Admiral during his tenure! Initially the force consisted of 100 Constables (on 20/- per week) and 15 Superintendents (on £80 per year) to cover the county. Working hours were long at 12 hours a day, split 8 hours of daylight and 4 hours at night, for 7 days a week. A rest day allowance was only introduced in 1914. Hatfield Broad Oak tended to have 2 Constables based in the town and Hatfield Heath one. Whilst they were issued with a uniform they did have to provide their own white cottons to perform cutlass drills in, just in case of major civil unrest! The Museum does have a good selection of records going back to the first constables allowing names to be allocated to faces when Collar Numbers are clear on photos of station group photos. These records allowed Martyn to highlight some constable’s problems with discipline and pick out names of those resident in both our villages, noting that Maurice Lee was in Hatfield Heath in 1937 and transferred to Chelmsford in WW2 only to be killed in a bombing raid. The Home Office forced Essex to introduce women police officers in 1947. This was an informative and entertaining review of our police forces early history.
Quentin Spear.
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