James Perry – a Late Victorian and Edwardian Shropshire Policeman Researched and Written by Andrew Coles
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James Perry – A Late Victorian and Edwardian Shropshire Policeman Researched and written by Andrew Coles By the time that James Perry first became a police constable, Shropshire policing had already been established for about 40 years. Administration was split into two, with on the one hand the borough police forces; and on the other the county constabulary. The borough forces were established in the main population areas of Shrewsbury, Bridgnorth, Oswestry and Ludlow. The county constabulary oversaw policing across the rest of the more rural parts of Shropshire. Early Life James Perry was born in 1861, approximately 3 months prior to the 1861 census in the rural parish of Preston Gubbals, a few miles immediately north of Shrewsbury in Shropshire. Since the parish is made of several hamlets, it is unclear exactly which one James was born. Both Bomere Heath and Leaton have claim, but the most likely is Leaton as his baptismal record (13th January 1861) has Leaton as residence. His parents were Jonathan and Ann Perry. Jonathan is listed as a retired soldier on the baptism record, but died around about the same time as James was born, as Ann is a widow by the time of the next census. He had probably been retired for some time as he is listed in the 1851 census as a ‘pensioner agricultural labourer’. By the time of the next census in 1871 Ann Perry was listed as remarried to a John Coldwell in Bomere Heath, and like Jonathan Perry he was also an agricultural labourer. At this point James is at school and how much influence ‘step-father’ John Coldwell had on his future career as he grew up, is impossible to gauge. It could be the fact that his father had been a soldier that had something to do with it. However, we can be sure that, as Clive Emsley in his book on Shropshire policing suggests, by joining the police James Perry was one of those from modest backgrounds who “had the opportunity to pull themselves a few rungs upward on the ladder of the Victorian social hierarchy”. (Emsley, 2009) James in the Police Force Throughout his many years in Shropshire Police, James was engaged at a variety of rural and town locations. He was a member of the county constabulary rather than an officer in one of the borough police forces. Police records indicate that he joined the police on the 15th September 1879; his warrant no. was 941 and his collar no. 82. The records also reveal that he was 5’8” inches tall (a little short given that the standard tended to be 5’10” inches), was single, and support the fact that he was born in Bomere Heath. The police archives also state that he was 20 years old, although other records indicate that he was, in fact, more likely to be 18 possibly 19 years old. Exactly why he felt compelled to lie about his age remains a mystery, but as Carolyn Steedman states, “There were no home office rules about minimum age, though most county rule books put the lower limit at 18 or 19. It was rare for a man under 20 years to join a county police force” (Steedman, 1984). Based on Petty Sessions found in local newspaper ‘The Wellington Journal’ it seems likely that James was an active duty shortly afterwards. At first he appeared to be based in South Shropshire and for a brief time in Wellington. By the 1881 census he was living in lodgings in the semi-rural village of Edgmond just outside the small market town of Newport in Shropshire. His occupation is listed as Police Constable. From the court record James seems to be policing in Edgmond, and the surrounding town and villages, and dealing with typical cases of drunkenness and poaching. From the 1840’s, Irish migrants had been causing problems on their way from the port of Liverpool to the industrial centres of Wolverhampton and Birmingham. By 1880 the street battles of the 1850’s and 1860’s were mainly over, but the population of Newport was still 13% Irish, and of those 87% were considered to be in poverty. FACHRS ID: EDAC01 Where Perry based his work (and lived) between census dates is open to speculation, although the fact that his four children were born in four separate locations is testament to the fact that he moved around a lot. If we assume that he was stationed at the places his children were born, from the census alone we can deduce that he was working in: Date Event Place Rank 1881 Census Newport and Edgmond Police Constable 1891 Census Oswestry Police Sergeant 1891 Birth Child 1 Oswestry 1893 Birth Child 2 Wem 1894 Birth Child 3 Wellington 1896 Death Child 3 Wellington 1897 Birth Child 4 Shifnal 1899 Birth Child 5 Newport 1901 Census Ludlow Supt. of Police 1911 Census Ludlow Police Superintendent The migration was undoubtedly aided by the amalgamation of the borough and county police forces, since by 1889 Shrewsbury was the only borough with its own force. He seemed to spend little time in any one location until he became a superintendent. In the early part of the 1880’s James was learning his trade as a police constable and continued to be based either in Edgmond or in the rural parishes from Newport out towards Wellington. The numerous accounts from court proceedings in local newspapers that mention Perry, validate the census information and even extend the geographic extent of his movement around Shropshire. Only when living in Ludlow is his address described as a police house. In terms of promotion, James Perry’s rise up the rankings in the Constabulary is consistently regular. After an initial promotion to Acting 1st Class Constable in July 1884, he was promoted to 2nd Class Sergeant on 9th October 1889. In 1891 he was a still a Police Sergeant, and he remained so until the middle of 1898, although he was promoted to 1st Class Sergeant in October 1892. At the beginning of August 1898 he was promoted to 2nd Class Inspector, which is supported by a paper of 20 August 1898 referring to him as Inspector Perry. In May of 1900 he was stationed at Ludlow and this proved to be a successful move as by October he was already Inspector 1st Class, and on 1st January of the following year was promoted to Superintendent in charge of ‘H’ Division (Ludlow). This is clearly a meteoric rise over a couple of years. He may well have gained recognition in part by being a stickler for appearance and discipline. A clue about this is revealed in 1900 when the Shrewsbury Chronicle wrote about Ludlow being the ‘best drilled force in the county’ and with Inspector Perry in charge they, ‘were put through various movements …. and performed them in an excellent manner. We congratulate Inspector Perry and his men upon their success.’ The Shrewsbury Chronicle of 08 Feb 1901 revealed the court’s feelings when they rose at the end of a hearing: “… the Bench would like to congratulate Mr Perry upon his promotion to the rank of superintendent. He was the right man in the right place and they hoped he would live many years to discharge his duties in that district.” In 1911 James Perry is still a superintendent in Ludlow and appears to have reached the top of his career ladder. The following information from the book ‘Policing Shropshire 1836-1967’ by Douglas Elliott, neatly sums up why Perry had been promoted to Superintendent in the first place. In Ludlow FACHRS ID: EDAC01 PC James Perry Researcher: Andrew Coles in 1901 there was a crackdown by the police on unlicensed ale-houses when navvies were building the Birmingham Waterworks pipeline. As Superintendent, James led a successful raid on the premises of one of the chief suspects. There they found evidence of a ‘damning character’. The operation was a clear success: “The police had a field day, altogether they issued 14 similar summonses. The penalties totalled £1,300 or six years imprisonment. It had been a large scale flaunting of the law, which had been successfully squashed.” (Elliott, 1984) Perry remained in Ludlow for the remainder of his career, and retired from the police on 11th October 1919 after 40 years and 27 days service. Interestingly, records indicate that he was 60 years old, although I think it more likely that he was 58 instead. I am left to wonder whether he had to lie about his age for the whole of his working life. Family Life In 1889 (Q3) James married Susan Elizabeth Dennis the daughter of an agricultural labourer/shepherd from Norfolk. The marriage took place back in her home parish, but how they met is unknown. James and Susan remained married until James’ death in 1933. Susan was approximately seven years his senior (b. March 1854) and they had five children. One of the children (Herbert) died when only 2 years old in 1896. The children were: Grace Dorothy Perry (born c.1891) Philip Charles Vere Perry (born c.1892) Herbert Edward T Perry (born c.1894) Olga Marjorie Christabel Perry (born c.1897) Phylis Susie Helena Perry (born c.1899) As all the living children were still at home at the time of the 1911 census it is difficult to ascertain the path of their careers after this date, but they appear to much more middle-class in status, despite the lack of domestic servants. The eldest son Philip was awarded an aviator’s certificate by the Royal Aero Club in October 1914 (although he does appear to have lied about his birthplace and residence – again maybe to gain admittance when he didn’t qualify).