Policeman's lot: the nature and dynamics of the Monmouthshire constabulary 1857-1914 Margaret Gregory UMI Number: U585253 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. Dissertation Publishing UMI U585253 Published by ProQuest LLC 2013. Copyright in the Dissertation held by the Author. Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest LLC 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 Form: PGR_Submission_200701 NOTICE OF SUBMISSION OF THESIS FORM: a r d if f POSTGRADUATE RESEARCH C UNIVERSITY PRIFYSGOL Ca ERDY[§> APPENDIX 1: Specimen layout for Thesis Summary and Declaration/Statements page to be included in a Thesis DECLARATION This work has not previously been accepted in substance for any degree and is not concurrently submitted in candidature for any degree. Signed (candidate) Date STATEMENT 1 This^thesis is being submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of ................... (insert MCh, MD, MPhil, PhD etc, as appropriate) Signed (candidate) DateS^fc:.^^^d»?cJ^A-(5jDDS^ STATEMENT 2 This thesis is the result of my own independent work/investigation, except where otherwise stated. Other sources are acknowledged by explicit references. Signed j l \ , .... (candidate) Date(Q^).|k Qt O O ^ STATEMENT 3 I hereby give consent for my thesis, if accepted, to be available for photocopying and for inter- library loan, and for the title and summary to be made available to outside organisations. Signed (candidate) D a t e STATEMENT 4: PREVIOUSLY APPROVED BAR ON ACCESS I hereby give consent for my thesis, if accepted, to be available for photocopying and for inter- library loans after expiry of a bar on access previously approved by the Graduate Development Committee. Signed (candidate) iii Summary The development of full-time paid police forces throughout England and Wales originated in the nineteenth century. The formation of the Metropolitan force in 1829 had ushered in a new era in policing, but not without many voices being raised in protest. The idea of the new police and the new concept of 'preventive' policing was not universally welcomed. It was not that there was any great sentimentality about the old police, rather that the idea of the new police was seen by many as a strengthening of state power and a threat to personal liberty. It smacked of European despotism. There is a substantial body of work on the history of the Metropolitan Police and the debates leading up to its formation. The historiography of local forces, on the other hand, occupies considerably less shelf space. This thesis takes its place in the now growing production of local studies which aim to redress the balance by surveying the nature and development of change in the provinces. Early histories of police reform, written from a Whig perspective, and now a subject of controversy, tend to depict the change from old to new as an unproblematical linear continuum; nuances of rate and variety of change are glossed over. In relation to Monmouthshire, this study has attempted to bring those nuances into sharper relief. Antecedents to the Monmouthshire Constabulary are traced in the first chapter. Subsequent chapters then explore and assess the development of the new force thematically. Through the themes of recruitment, organisation, morbidity and mortality, and discipline and default, the history of the Monmouthshire force is weighed against orthodox accounts. The latter themes more thoroughly survey the policeman's 'lot' than the former, and in this respect they help fill an historical gap, for labour relations within forces and policemen's health have not been widely explored. Overall, the thesis seeks to dispel the idea that provincial change was either radical or straightforward, and it challenges the notion that the Metropolitan situation was irrelevant to that of the provinces. iv Acknowledgements First, a great debt and many thanks are owed to my husband, Dr David Gregory, Consultant Radiologist, who swapped his lead apron for a linen one and transformed himself into a domestic god, to indulge his wife's passion for policemen long dead. This work could not have been completed without his new-found domesticity and unflagging support. To my supervisor, Dr Bill Jones, a huge debt of gratitude must also be paid. There is intricate psychology in the supervisor's craft, of which Dr Jones is a very able practitioner, but his supreme achievement lay in his ability to supervise what many consider an unsupervisable woman. Dr Ryland Wallace, my mentor and friend, frequently found time to dispense a few pearls of wisdom over the garden gate, for which, if the new keeper of the kitchen was favourably disposed, he received a cup of tea. Mike Musto, caretaker of the Abertillery and Llanhilleth police stations, must be singled out for special thanks. With the sanction of the Gwent Police, Mike searched out and entrusted to my care many archival documents. It is down to his keen intelligence that so many of them were committed to a life behind bars rather than to the shredder. During their five year parole in my study they told a host of tales, but they are back in police custody now and must languish again in their cell until further interest in the history of the force allows them a second outing. To Mike and the Gwent Police, and to ex-Superintendent Harry Moore, ex-Chief Constables, John Over and the late William Farley, who in various ways furthered my cause, I am deeply indebted. On the Cardiff beat lies the First Friday Club, a lively forum for archivists and postgraduates alike. John, Julie, Marian, Michael, Sara (now in New Zealand) and Veronica have been its stalwarts. Equipped with a vast array of knowledge and a preoccupation with history, they have been inspirational. Others, whose help and cooperation have been enormous, are too numerous to name individually, but include staff at the Public Record Office; the British Library; the National Library of Wales; the Glamorgan Record Office; Merthyr Tydfil library; Newport Library; and the Prince Charles Hospital Library. To the gallant staff at the Gwent Record Office who flagged under the weight of some of the largest tomes in their collection - the police recruitment registers - in order for this history to be written; to the librarians at the Police Staff College, Bramshill; and to Janet and her staff at Tredegar library, I extend particularly hearty thanks. And finally, to my children, who persisted in throwing spanners into the works by producing five grandchildren in as many years, I hope the completion of this research will not only reinforce their understanding that Mother's made of sterner stuff, but will also encourage the belief that age is no barrier to learning. TABLE OF CONTENTS Declaration and Statement .................................................................... ii Summary................................................................................................... iii Acknowledgements ..................................................................................iv Contents .................................................................................................... v List of Abbreviations ............................................................................ vi Introduction .......................................................................................... 1-18 Chapter 1: Agents of Change..........................................................19-57 Chapter 2: Fitting the B ill.............................................................5 8-10 1 Chapter 3: Organisation and Practice ........................................102-156 Chapter 4: Morbidity and Mortality ..........................................157-215 Chapter 5: Discipline and Default .............................................216-261 Conclusion 262 - 270 Bibliography................................................................................ 271 -284 List of Abbreviations GPA .............................. Gwent Police Archive GRO .............................Gwent Record Office HMIC ............................Her/His Majesty's Inspectors of Constabulary HO .................................Home Office PP ..................................Parliamentary Papers PRO ...............................Public Record Office (Kew) Undated photograph of Edmund Herbert, Chief Constable of Monmouthshire 1857 1893. v f v-\ T Source: GRO: Misc. MSS 1931. 1 Introduction While historians have long sought to provide a coherent and chronological account of the introduction and development of the police in the nineteenth century, much still remains to be done on the pace and pattern of change in the provinces. The function of this work, therefore, is to trace the emergence and development of the Monmouthshire Constabulary from 1857 to 1914, and thereby contribute to the historiography of provincial forces. 1857 was the Monmouthshire Constabulary's inaugural year. The County and Borough Police Act of the preceding year had imposed upon the county magistracy the task of deploying a full-time, paid, police force. It was the first act to make county forces compulsory and it marked a new