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: ASAB01 Researcher Name: Anne Brown Policeman s Name: John Burford Age in 1881 Census: 22 Source: - RG Number: RG11 Piece: 3425 Folio: 9 Page: 12 Reg. District: Parish: Parwich County: Derbyshire Migration, Employment and Social Status Police Constable Birth place: White Ladies Aston, Worcestershire Occupation of his father: Shoemaker Information from each census about John Burford and the household he lived in: YEAR 1861 1871 1881 1891 1901 1911 CENSUS PIECE FOLIO PAGE RG9 2107 54 7 RG10 3064 36 8 RG11 3425 9 12 RG12 2198 49 45 RG13 3236 23 38 RG14 21036 REG DIS Pershore Pershore Burton on Trent SUB DIS Upton Pershore Parwich Gresley Snodsbury PARISH White Lady Church Gresley White Lady Aston Aston ADDRESS 215 Norton Terrace, Church Gresley Station St, 437 Station St, TOWN Gresley COUNTY Derbyshire Derbyshire Derbyshire RELATIONSHIP Son Son Head Head Head Head TO HEAD AGE 22 32 43 52 OCCUPATION Police Constable Police Constable Supt of Police Supt of Police, Derby County WIFE s NAME S S Martha Martha Martha W NO OF CHILDREN 2 6 6 2 at this address Is this a Police Yes Not sure Yes Yes House? OTHER 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? Age at marriage? John Burford was born in 1858, baptised 26 September 1858. 1 He married Martha Maria Heath (1850 1904) 29 August 1876. 2 He was 18 years old at the time so I think it was quite likely that the provision of a police house might have made been an enticing option. He had two brothers; one was an Estate carpenter all his working life, and the younger brother interestingly also became a Police Constable. However I can find no evidence that this brother was encouraged to marry young. 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? The Derbyshire Constabulary was established in 1857, employing 156 men. John Burford joined at the age of 18 years in 1875 and remained there for the rest of his life. At that time there was a grading system throughout the force giving men the opportunity, if they were so minded, to climb the ladder, both in pay and rank. The pay amongst the Constables in Derbyshire went from fourth to first class. No transport was provided until high rank had been attained: the Bobby pounding the beat was just that on foot. Discipline was strict with inspections being carried out every quarter; officers had to travel for this, carrying all their equipment, at first to Derby Arboretum and then later, when they had moved, to Derby Divisional 1 Ancestry.com England, Select Births and Christenings. FHLFilm Number: 465275 2 Derbyshire, England, Select Church of England Parish Registers, 1538 1910. FHL Film Number: 1041139
Headquarters. 3 John seems to have stuck with this and worked his way up to Superintendent of Police in where he became a highly respected pillar of society. Did he have any other employment before becoming a Policeman? No although it is likely he helped in his parents hostelry and shoe repairers. Did he have any other employment after leaving the Police? No Does he move to different locations as a policeman? Yes to several villages of varying sizes within Derbyshire, and to Derby and then. Do you think his social status changed over the period of his life? Yes. John Burford s father, William Burford, seems to have had a somewhat unstable upbringing. In all the censuses he and his brother James appeared to be living not with their parents and other siblings but with their grandparents (Licensed Victuallers in the Bird in Hand pub, Haw Bridge, Stoulton, Worcestershire 4 ) or with an uncle who was a shoemaker. Subsequently William became a shoemaker and also took over the pub when the time came. This was where John Burford and his siblings were raised. Therefore from fairly humble origins he joined the Police Force and made this his career. Did he get promoted while in the Police? Yes - through the ranks from Constable in various locations, to Detective Inspector in Derby and then Superintendent of Police for Derby County in. The Community What is the size and type of the community he would have been serving in 1881? In 1881 he was the (only) Police Constable in Parwich, a small but self-sufficient village in rural Derbyshire, about seven miles from. He lived in a police house and this is where he lived until about 1885, and where three of his 3 www.derbyshire.gov.uk/images/website:historyofconstabulary_tcm44-19562.pdf 4 Class: RG10; Piece: 3064; Folio: 36; Page: 8; GSU roll: 838885
six children were born. His eldest son, John William, remained in Parwich until the 1930s, raising a family there. The Old Police House, Parwich, Derbyshire. (Permission given) Can you answer the same questions for the other places he served in? Between 1881 and 1891 John Burford served not only in Parwich but also in Hasland, Totley, Swadlingcote and Church Gresley all villages. This is based on the various birthplaces of his children shown in the census. 5 He was appointed Detective Inspector in Derby before becoming Superintendent of Police in. was a thriving market town on the edge of The Dales. It is still thriving and popular with tourists, but horses and traps have sadly been replaced by juggernauts thundering through en route from Derby to Buxton and beyond to Manchester. The building on Station Street in, where the constabulary was housed, remains to this day: 5 Census Returns of England and Wales, 1891; Class: RG12; Piece: 2198; Folio: 49; Page: 45; GSU roll: 6097308
Did the type of community he lived in change through his career? Yes and no, depending on where he was at the time. The villages remained much the same, but Derby and were thriving and growing. 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 18 th Century to the Present Quercus) Did he retire? Sadly, no. He died suddenly before he reached retirement age.
Did he get a pension? He would have had a pension had he lived long enough, but he died at the age of 54. He had served in the Constabulary for 38 years. He was a widower, his wife having died nine years before him. Therefore his pension was not redeemed. Family Connections Did any other members of his family work in a Police Force? Yes. His younger brother was a Police Constable in the Worcestershire Constabulary 1890-1893. 6 He died in 1897 in his 20s. 7 None of John s sons joined the Police Force. Trade Directory or other Sources: YEAR 1895 1899 1912 1913 Newspaper (OR OTHER SOURCE) Kelly s Directory Derbyshire Kelly s Directory Kelly s Directory Derbyshire Chesterfield & District The Courier Derbyshire PAGE NUMBER 11 34 8 INFORMATION Detective Inspector Superintendent of police Superintendent of police Death announcement 6 Worcestershire Police History 1833 1967 www.worcestershirepolicehistory.co.uk 7 FreeBMD. England & Wales, Civil Registration Death Index, 1837-1915