All areas and ranks covered.

The talk and event season is upon us and this year we are going all over the historic county of Gloucestershire, from Mickleton in the north to Bradley Stoke in the south via Tutshill, Cirencester, Minchinhampton, Bishops Cleeve, Oakridge and South Cerney. Let’s hope the price of petrol comes down soon or we might have to resort to this method of transport.

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The good thing about researching for talks is that it helps to expand our knowledge of the history of the Constabulary.  This season we have developed our knowledge about some of the early Superintendents. When the constabulary was formed the early officers were recorded in the Register of Rural Constabulary. This book is 50 cms high, 37 cms wide and 12 cms deep so you can imagine how heavy it is. You need 3 Shredded Wheat before even thinking about picking it up.

 

Of course, when I say that all the early officers are recorded in this book I mean just the Constables. Finding out about Superintendents who did not rise through the ranks is tricky. 

However, in the depths of the strongroom, I found an 1841 diary written by Superintendent Pilkington in the Chipping Campden area. We know from a newspaper cutting that he came over from Ireland with the First Chief Constable A.T. Lefroy in late 1839. We also know that he died in Cheltenham in 1844 at the age of 35.

The diary is a mine of information about the district that he covered, how far he went every day and who he met as well as his duties. It also tells us about the duties of the Constables, where they lived and served. We have many diaries like this, some very delicate but the sad thing is that we don’t have enough time to transcribe them all.

We are always on the lookout for information and photos. It is amazing what people have in their lofts.

If you have any police related photographs we are always happy to receive Jpegs via gloucestershirepolicearchives@gmail.com and queries can also be sent to the same email address. We are also able to scan photographs in our office at the Heritage Hub which is usually open Monday to Wednesday until 2.30pm but it is worth checking before you make a visit as we do go out and about quite often.