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: BIJW01 Researcher Name: Joan WHIBLEY Name: JOHN COBBY Age in 1881 Census: 22 Source: - RG Number: RG11 Piece: 1122 Folio: 8 Page: 10 Reg. District: Westhampnett Parish: Birdham County: Sussex Migration, Employment and Social Status Police Constable birth place: Birdham, Westhampnett, Sussex Occupation of his father: Agricultural labourer (later shepherd) Information from each census about John Edward Cobby and the household he lived in: YEAR 1851 1861 1871 1881 1891 1901 1911 CENSUS RG9 RG10 RG11 RG12 RG13 RG14 PIECE 617 1111 1122 791 906 4992 FOLIO F12 F12 8 58 43 209 PAGE 17 16 10 13 7 REG DIS Westhampnett Westhampnett Westhampnett Cuckfield East Grinstead East Grinstead SUB DIS Manhood Manhood Manhood Horsted Keynes Worth Worth PARISH Birdham Birdham Birdham Horsted Keynes Worth Worth ADDRESS Poor house Poor house Birdham Road Sharpthorne 2 Tatton New Road Allandale Road off Allandale Road off Cottages Police Station Cottages, Three Bridges, Sidlesham Lane, Sidlesham Lane, Worth Birdham Birdham TOWN Near Chichester Near Chichester Near Chichester Horsted Keynes, East Grinstead East Grinstead Cuckfield COUNTY Sussex Sussex Sussex East Sussex East Sussex East Sussex RELATIONSHIP Son Son Son Head Head Head TO HEAD AGE 2 12 22 32 42 52 OCCUPATION N/A Scholar Police Police Constable Police Constable Police Pensioner Constable WIFE’s NAME Fanny Elizabeth Fanny Elizabeth Fanny Elizabeth Fanny Elizabeth nee SAUNDERS NO OF None None None None (and none CHILDREN had died either) Is this a Police No No No Yes Not clear No House? OTHER Surname information transcribed as COLBY 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? Yes, this is likely. John Cobby married less than three months after he was employed as a police constable when he was only 22 years old but there is no evidence he moved straight into police accommodation. “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) How does your Police Constable compare? Cobby certainly appeared to fit this quotation. His parents were unskilled working class and had lived in a “poor house” in their village. His father was an ‘ag lab’ and recorded his occupation as ‘shepherd’ on his son’s marriage certificate. Birdham was an agricultural village but was close to more work opportunities in Chichester just four miles away, so perhaps John Cobby signed up as a police constable around 30 miles away to move away from his roots. He worked for the police for 27 years and retired on a pension. The few mentions of him in the local newspapers revealed that he had been assaulted in the line of duty on at least one occasion, but had also been involved with dealing with cases of petty theft. Did he have any other employment before becoming a Policeman? Cobby was only 22 when he joined the police force – just 15 days after the 1881 census – so there is no record of previous employment in the 1871 census as he was listed as still being a scholar. It is likely that he was an ‘ag lab’. Did he have any other employment after leaving the Police? No. He did not appear to have any other employment after he retired. He was listed in the 1911 census as a police pensioner. Does he move to different locations as a policeman? Yes – he seems to have moved around the area according to reports in the local newspapers when he was involved in prosecuting offenders. There are mentions of him being stationed at Sharpthorne and Handcross. Do you think his social status changed over the period of his life? Not necessarily – he remained a constable throughout his years of service. Did he get promoted while in the Police? No 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 your Policeman fit this stereotype? Very closely! John Cobby fits the stereotype particularly “our feelings we with difficulty smother, when Constabulary duty’s to be done” as he indicted his own wife on one occasion for allowing a dog to roam free without a muzzle! The case was thrown out of court but it suggested that PC Cobby took his duty very seriously and felt, perhaps, that he could not be seen to be above the law. The Community What is the size and type of the community he would have been serving in 1881? Cobby was not serving the community in which he appeared to be living in at the time of the 1881 census. He pre- empted his actual employment by a few days (census night was 2/4/1881 but Cobby’s first day of service was listed as 19/4/1881) so he did not serve as a constable in Birdham in West Sussex. The first mention of him was in mid-Sussex in 1883. Can you answer the same questions for the other places he served in? The communities he is mentioned as serving were all quite rural. In 1881 Horsted Keynes had a population of 1,149, Hollington (1,753), Worth (3,571 of which 2,055 are in Crawley Down district), Cuckfield (4,964) and East Grinstead (6,968). Did the type of community he lived in change through his career? Yes It appears that the population was increasing in some villages and PC Cobby lived in bigger communities with East Grinstead being the largest settlement he was stationed in towards the end of his career. 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 he retire? Yes Did he get a pension? Yes - £50 8s Family Connections Did any other members of his family work in a Police Force? If so please give details. No – I don’t think so. Trade Directory or other Sources: YEAR 17/2/1883 22 February 4/12/1888 6/12/1898 15/4/1899 1887 Newspaper (OR Hastings & St Mid Sussex Mid Sussex Times Sheffield Sussex OTHER SOURCE) Leonard’s Times Evening Agricultural Observer Telegraph Express PAGE NUMBER INFORMATION Savage Assault on PC Cobby PC Cobby gave PC Cobby Disturbance at PC Cobby and PC (stationed at evidence at indicted his wife Three Bridges – Frost at Harrow Handcross) Cuckfield Petty for letting an drunk & disorderly; Inn, Hollington gave evidence Sessions in case unmuzzled dog PC Cobby gave in a case of of 2 men charged loose evidence that the Thomas Caffyn with stealing 5 defendant had of Slaugham fowls at “dealt him a violent stealing coal Staplefield blow with his from clenched fist on the churchwardens head”. (East Grinstead Petty Sessions) .