VICTORIAN RURAL POLICEMAN Mini Project 2017
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VICTORIAN RURAL POLICEMAN Mini Project 2017 Rural Constabularies were established following the Royal Commission which met between 1836 and 1839, the County Police Act of 1839 and the amending Act of 1840. In 1856 the County and Borough Police Act made the establishing of a police force mandatory for all counties and boroughs. All the police men in the mini project are listed as Police Constables in the 1881 census. The purpose of the project is to find out more about these rural policemen – who they were, how they lived and do they fit the quotations. FACHRS Ref: WITR01 Researcher Name: Edward Royle Policeman’s Name: Samuel H Thwaite Age in 1881 Census: 30 Source: - RG Number: RG11 Piece: 4708 Folio: 79 Page: 1 Reg. District: Selby Parish: Wistow County: Yorkshire (West Riding) Migration, Employment and Social Status Samuel H Thwaite Birth place: Occupation of his father: Information from each census about Samuel H Thwaite and the household he lived in: YEAR 1841 1851 1861 1871 1881 1891 1901 1911 CENSUS HO107 RG10 RG11 RG12 RG14 PIECE 1831 4772 4708 3876 28312 FOLIO 250 48 79 99 515 PAGE 29 3 1 25 REG DIS Swaffham Beverley Selby Selby Selby PARISH Great Wawne Wistow Sr James’s, Hambledon Cressingham Selby Thorpe Willoughby ADDRESS Great Farm House Church Hill 33 New Lane Hambledon Cressingham TOWN Great Wawne Wistow Selby Selby Cressingham COUNTY Norfolk Yorkshire Yorkshire Yorkshire Yorkshire (East Riding) (West Riding) (West Riding) (West Riding) RELATIONSHIP son servant head head head TO HEAD AGE 4 months 20 30 40 60 OCCUPATION General Police Police Police servant Constable Constable pensioner WIFE’s NAME Sarah A Sarah A Sarah Ann NO OF 2 sons 4 sons 2 daughters CHILDREN 1 daughter Is this a Police No Yes Probably No House? OTHER See below See below See below See below See below information We would like to look at the hypothesis that the provision of a police house encouraged a man to marry earlier than might have otherwise been possible can you see any evidence of this with your Police Constable? No Age at marriage? 24 and 27 FACHRS ID: WITR01 PC: Samuel H Thwaite Researcher: Edward Royle “The 1830s and 1840s saw a significant growth in the opportunities for men who sought to follow the trade of police officer. The life was not easy, but then many working-class jobs involved long hours of often tedious and occasionally dangerous work, if not necessarily the fierce discipline of the new police. Unskilled, semi-skilled or even skilled men whose immediate job prospects were poor, by joining a police force and sticking with the trade, had the opportunity to pull themselves a few rungs upward on the ladder of the Victorian social hierarchy. A few … did this by remaining loyally with one force for thirty years or more. Others watched for openings and applied for jobs often far away from where they were born or had begun or improved their police careers.” (Emsley 2010 p84) Samuel Thwaites had been an agricultural labourer, so being a policeman was a rise in the social scale – but not very far. He served over twenty five years without promotion beyond constable (grade 1). He was loyal to the same force (West Riding Constabulary) throughout his career and always lived within the Selby area of Yorkshire. According to his record he was twice injured, certainly on one occasion in the course of duty. See below for my attempt to piece together some of his life story. How does Samuel H Thwaite compare? Did he have any other employment before becoming a Policeman? Yes or No. If Yes what? Yes. He was an agricultural labourer. Did he have any other employment after leaving the Police? No. Does he move to different locations as a policeman? Yes – he moved at least once within the Barkeston Ash Division of the WR and once to the Osgoldcross Division, but all these were within a few miles of each other and within the same police force (West Riding Constabulary).. Do you think his social status changed over the period of his life? No. In 1891 his household (2 adults and five children) lived in a house with 4 rooms. The house to which he retired also had 4 rooms Did he get promoted while in the Police? No, unless you count promotion for PC grade 3 to grade 2 and then grade 1 (all within the first 18 months of his appointment) The Policemen’s chorus in Gilbert & Sullivan’s Pirates of Penzance goes: “Our feelings we with difficulty smother, When constabulary duty’s to be done. Ah, taking one consideration with another, A policeman’s lot is not a happy one.” (Emsley 2010 p157) Emsley suggests that this showed the policeman to the audience as “while a policeman’s lot was not a happy one, he was uniquely English, therefore honest and upright, and earnestly devoted to his duty.” (Emsley 2010 p.157) How does Samuel H Thwaite fit this stereotype? He appears to have had a fulfilling family life; only 2 of his 8 children died (in infancy); he and his wife lived into old age and with a small pension. He appears to have done his job, and was awarded a Good Conduct Merit in 1885. The Community What is the size and type of the community he would have been serving in 1881? Wistow was an agricultural village and parish of 4,316 acres, with signs of stagnation. The population of 647 (1801) peaked at 849 (1861). In 1881 it was 769 and in 1901 was down to 618, less than a century earlier. Can you answer the same questions for the other places he served: Selby was the largest market town in the area, a port on the river Ouse with some ship building and agriculture-related industries and services. It was served by the east-west railway line from Hull to Leeds and the north-south line from York to Doncaster. The acreage was 3,643. Population of 2,861 in 1801 grew steadily to 5,376 in 1841; it then flattened until 1861 and then grew again to 6,193 (1871), flattened again until 1891, and then surged at the end the century on 7,424. FACHRS ID: WITR01 PC: Samuel H Thwaite Researcher: Edward Royle I am not sure which community he lived in in Osgoldcross wapentake. If I am correct that he remained in the Selby area then he would have been based in a village similar to Wistow. Did the type of community he lived in change through his career? Yes The move from village to market town would have been significant. In Wistow he would probably have been the sole village bobby (I counted 116 households in 1881) whereas in the town he would have been part of a small local police force. Retirement “One of the perks of the job of policeman was the promise of a pension when a man retired.” (Emsley 2010 p.173) “It was only in 1890 that a Police Act required a full pension for any man retiring after twenty-five years and for any man retiring on medical grounds after fifteen years. But even after this parsimonious local authorities quibbled.” (Emsley 2010 p.173) (Emsley Clive 2010 “The Great British Bobby A History of British Policing from the 18th Century to the Present” Quercus) Did Samuel H Thwaite retire? Yes, on reaching 25 years of continuous service. Did he get a pension? Yes. £52 16s. 0d. Family Connections Did any other members of his family work in a Police Force? If so please give details. No. See below for his family The following notes on the life of Samuel Thwaites have been compiled from the Census Returns and his police files in West Yorkshire Police Records, West Riding Constabulary Examination Books J (1875-1877) and K (1877-1880). Name: Samuel Hall Thwaites (variants were Thwaite and Twaites) Born late November or early December 1850 (4 months before the Census); baptised 5 January 1851 Father: William Thwaites, of Great Cressingham, Norfolk, Agricultural Labourer; age 28 Mother: Sarah; b. in Spoole, Norfolk; age 28 Description in 1875: height 5’8¼ (5’8½” in 1878)”; fresh complexion, grey eyes, light brown hair; second finger on left hand crooked. Life before the police: In 1871 he was one of four male and two female servants living in the household of George Abram, a farmer of 370 acres at Wawne (sometimes spelt Waghen) near Beverley. In November 1875 he was described as an agricultural labourer living at Waghen, Beverley, employed by George Calvert. By this date he was married, with no children. First appointment to the police He was appointed to the West Riding Constabulary on 5 November 1875 and sworn in on 8 November 1875, age 24. He was advanced from Grade 3 to Grade 2 on 5 November 1875 and from Grade 2 to Grade 1 on 1 January 1877. There is a semi-legible reference which could be Tickhill, which is a small market town 5 miles from Doncaster; pop. in 1881, 1,844. He resigned from the force on 1 May 1877. Re-appointment to the police: He was re-appointed to the police on 10 April 1878 and sworn in on 18 April 1878. He had been living at Thearne, near Beverley, and his last employer was George Smith of Dunswell, near Hull . (Thearne and Dunswell are small settlements about a mile apart, so Smith is likely to have been a farmer and Thwaites an agricultural labourer but not living in).