This photograph of the Borough Police I thought initially was before 1900, but it was just based on clarity and the dress of the officers especially the Detective Constable, but hopefully we can clear that up later.
Below is a photograph of PC William SCRIVEN who joined in 1900 and so maybe not long after he joined.
MURDER in New Street Bar.
On the early evening of the 27th March 1902 Hettie STEPHENS, a 24 year old barmaid who worked at Mr GRAHAM’s bar at 2 New Street, Weymouth was shot three times whilst at work. After all the evidence was heard it was established that she had built up a platonic relationship with the accused John Frank SIMMONS a 34 year old married man who was the steward and secretary of the Royal Dorset Yacht Club in Weymouth. The two of them had become friendly in the bar where she had worked for several months and she had been given various valuable presents by SIMMONS but at some point, he had told Mr GRAHAM that she was stealing from the till and being drinking whilst working. Mr GRAHAM did not believe what SIMMONS told him and was quite happy that the deceased was a good honest employee. Before the fatal incident paper notes had been exchanged as SIMMONS wanted to make up but the deceased declined and did not want anything more to do with him. Hettie STEPHENS was brought up in Truro where her parents had a public house so was living in lodgings in the area but on the day in question about 1800 hours she was behind the bar with several male customers and SIMMONS was one of them. Another barmaid Edith HILL of 43 Spring Gardens returned from her tea break and could tell the deceased was not as jovial as normal and then took over the bar so the deceased could have her tea break. Whilst still inside and heading out of the bar she was heard to tell SIMMONS that she wanted nothing more to do with him and then 3 shots were heard and then slightly later another shot. The other males in the bar then ran to see what had happened and found the deceased lying on the floor in a pool of blood and SIMMONS next to her with a wound to his mouth. Immediately he admitted to shooting STEPHENS and himself and the pistol was taken off him and handed to PC James BURT who quickly arrived on the scene and not long after police inspector Charles MORRIS. SIMMONS caused no problems for the police and was taken to the Guildhall cells where he was charged by Insp MORRIS with wilful murder. After being interviewed by detective Sgt Peter LAKEY and Chief EACOCK the police established that SIMMONS, 2 days before the incident had purchased two large knives and the revolver and asked one of his young employees to get him some ammunition, so 50 rounds had been bought also from a local shop. After the post mortem the body of Miss STEPHENS was released and the family were allowed to bury her on 4th April where there was a large gathering and a number of local policeman were on duty to make sure all went smoothly. The case was one of two murder cases in the area to be heard at Dorchester Assizes starting on Wednesday 11th June as in February a husband had also murdered his wife on Portland. After hearing the cases and medical reports of both men the jury decided that they were both insane and they were detained at His Majesty’s pleasure.
POLICE SPORTS
At the annual Police sports day in 1902 at Dorchester the Borough team again won the Tug of War event which by now must have been upsetting the County Boss’s seeing as Weymouth was in size and staff about a fifth the size of the County.
In June 1903 the Dorset Constabulary Tug of war team was changed bringing back some old blood and some new recruits. The deputy chief constable was now in charge with the Sgt Major. There was also the added attraction of two brothers competing against each other as Sgt William SAINT was competing against his brother Charles a Sgt for the Borough. The borough won again quite convincingly in poor weather under Insp MORRIS. The team being: Sgt’s LOVELESS and SAINT and PC’S WEBB, MARSH, HUTCHINGS, MARTYN, PALMER, KINDEN, BARTLETT and HANSFORD.
DANGEROUS ICE CREAM SALESMAN
On 8th of September 1903, an Italian ice cream vendor names Angelo GARRIPPO shot a 15 year old youth named Frederick SKIFFENS a baker’s son from Surrey Street, Westham, Weymouth.
It was alleged the lad was playing hide and seek with other lads about 2030 hours that day by hiding under the caravan of which was at the rear of the offender’s house. SKIFFENS said the man fired a revolver so he walked off towards the gateway to the ground and again a shot was fired which struck him just above his right knee. He was taken off to hospital where the bullet was removed from his knee and when the police were called they found two spent cartridge cases in the offenders revolver about 30 minutes after the incident. In court another ice cream vendor Emilo ZELLO acted as an interpreter and a photograph of the yard was produced to help the Bench. PC HONEBON arrested the offender in the High Street and recovered the revolver and took him to the police station where he was charged by Insp MORRIS who then attended the offenders caravan. He found the other bullet in the side of an ice cream cart which matched the gun and the bullet from the lad’s knee. When questioned GARRIPPO said he knew something was under his caravan but did not know what so he called out in Italian but there was no reply so he fired his revolver and then when something ran off he fired again only realising it was a human when he had hit him. Afterwards he said he knew he was in trouble so he went to the Police Station with the gun and came across PC HONEBON on route. Basically, the accused’s defence was he thought he was shooting at a dog. The charge was dropped to unlawful wounding and at Dorchester Assizes Court on November 2nd he was found guilty but escaped imprisonment but had to pay the lad 10 pounds compensation
DARING BURGLARY
In the early hours of Saturday 2nd of March 1903, a daring burglary took place at Courtney’s Jewellers on St Marys Street after the premises had been secured on Friday night. On opening up in the morning Mr p d Courtney, son found the interior in a disorderly state. In the shop empty Jewel trays were piled on the counter and the window display where the most valuable stock was had been stripped. The missing items were all high value gold bracelets, chains, rings and watches, valued at about 1500 pounds. Soon afterwards the police were on the scene including Chief EACOCK, Detective Sgt LAKEY and other policemen. A jemmy, a chisel and a stock and bit had been discarded and were obviously used to gain entry as an inner door had damage although the exterior door seemed to have been picked.
Mr Courtney was aware that two men had been loitering around his shop in the last week and after local enquiries a PC told Detective LAKEY that there had been 2 males staying at the Temperance Hotel since 24th who left the hotel in the early hours and caught the 0735 hours train to Yeovil. Further enquiries revealed they got off the train and were seen at Templecombe railway station at 1100 hrs although after that the trail was cold. Mr J H L COURTNEY then did a stock take and found the following stolen: 40 gold watches, 130 gem rings with all types of stones, 60 wedding rings,59 gold bracelets and bangles, 80 broaches, 70 gold tie pins, 20 long gold chains and several hundred gold charms of various design. The papers reported and came to the conclusion the burglary was committed by a gang who had also been responsible for similar burglaries along the south coast at Brighton, Exeter and Falmouth.
Above is a Parade photo from 1905 and below thought to be 1908 showing the Borough policemen involved. None can be named at the moment !
JUNE 1908
The first photograph at the head of this post, was always hard to date. The amount of officers in it, made me think it was before 1911, but it was not until I came across a local article in the papers in June 1908, that I realised that this must be the date.
The great point of the article was that it named all the officers but the bad point was the photograph was awful when copied for us later generations !
Here is the photograph from the Weymouth Telegram paper which was totally black and I enhanced as best I could ! Good luck trying to see your ancestors features !
LOVERS TRY TO DROWN
PC Tom BARTLETT was on nightshift on Thursday 23rd of September 1909 and was doing his usual route walking east along the esplanade, Brunswick terrace and in the direction of Greenhill gardens when he noticed a couple walking towards him. It was now close to midnight and quite quiet but it was obvious to him that they had been in the sea as their clothes were soaked through and there was a trail of water behind them. BARTLETT stopped the couple and asked them what they were doing and the couple said they had tried to drown themselves on Preston Beach. Neither appeared to understand the gravity of their confession and were taken to the police station where they spent the night in the cells. The following morning Edward HICKS from Reading and May WALTERS from Harrow, London appeared before the magistrates at Weymouth court where both seemed very dejected about their evening adventure. The couple were taken into a private room with the magistrates where they admitted they had come down to Weymouth on a day trip as both were out of work and instead of enjoying the change of scenery they decided to commit suicide together. After some kindly advice and help from friends they were released and returned to London.
On the 20th of January 1910, Tom HYDE joined after resigning his job in the Dorset Constabulary. He had been PC 1 in Dorset for two years and probably joined so he was not moved around the County. He had already met his future wife at Poole and in Aug 1911 they would set up home in Weymouth. Tom appears to be the only policeman, other than Samuel VICKERY that made the move between Forces. Logically HYDE got the vacancy when Sgt SAINT retired and no doubt PC RUDD was promoted. Sgt Henry RUDD below and the photo is probably taken in 1910 on promotion.
In 1910 after much organising by Chief EACOCK, Weymouth police held their own sports event in aid of charity on the back of their Tug of War team success
1910 CHURCH PARADE
A local PC but which one from the below list ?
1911 census information:
29 officers found, their age and other information.
C/C Frank EACOCK 54 Hillside,Hanover road.
Supt Walter DAY 48 24 Oakley place
Insp Peter Harris LAKEY 47 16 Charles st
Sgt Eustace MARTYN 43 detective
Sgt Joseph George WEBB 47
Sgt William Henry TALBOT 44
Sgt William SWEET 41
Sgt Henry Wm Philip RUDD 38
PC Richard Thomas RICE 56
PC Walter BLANDAMER 40
PC Henry Crewe PALMER 39
PC Richard DIBLEY 39
PC George HANSFORD 39 widower at 80 Chickerell rd
PC James SANFORD 38 29 Argyle rd , Melcombe and family, bn Bradpole
PC William John SCRIVEN 38
PC Thomas BARTLETT 37
PC Wilfred Edward PUGH 35
PC Richard John PELLS 33
PC Albert Ernest MOORE 31
PC Walter PITMAN 31
PC John SYMES 29
PC Francis William PUGH 28
PC Alfred George MARSH 27
PC Samuel J DUNFORD 27
PC William G RICHARDSON 26 detective
PC Tom DAVIS 25 single
PC Thomas HYDE 25 boarder
PC Edward BRIDLE 25
PC Joseph Chas CRITCHELL 24
SGT Henry RUDD who was promoted between 1909 and 1911.
THE KING’S VISIT
On the 5th May 1912 the local papers reported that the King would be visiting Weymouth and would come ashore from his yacht on Friday 11th after naval manoeuvres during the week out at sea. On the 8th the King and his entourage boarded a train from London to Portsmouth where they boarded the Royal yacht the “Victoria and Albert” which was 120 metres long and powered by steam engines. Due to fog the yacht was detained off the Isle of Wight on Tuesday and could not set sail till Wednesday morning passing the Needles accompanied by for other cruisers. The next three days saw interruptions to the arranged manoeuvres which were supposed to take place 15 miles off Weymouth. The fog changed the programme so firing took place out in the channel on Thursday and Friday so the Kings arrival was delayed till Saturday morning which cut short his visit. Here the King arrived at the Pier at half past nine, being met by the Mayor, Town Clerk and other local dignitaries. There was a lot of interest and there were many onlookers including about 2000 school children who sang the national anthem and the King and the Mayor then walked towards them. The King apologised to the Mayor that he would not be able to visit the local hospital as arranged as he had to stick to his timetable and he would be leaving from the train station at 1025 am.</p><p> The King then asked the Mayor to pass on his regrets to the inhabitants of Weymouth who had not managed to see as he would now have to leave. This photograph shows the King and Sir George CALLAGHAN ,Commander of the Fleet getting into a waiting motor car driven by Percy A’COURT from the Royal Hotel Mews. In the background if you look close enough you can see three policemen, one police Sgt on a white horse behind Sir George and also another officer on a black horse behind the car. These policemen maybe from the County Constabulary as there is evidence they were involved and I cannot see where the Borough Force would have kept or needed horses.
LUNATIC CAPTURED ON THE ESPLANADE
Detective Constable William RICHARDSON was aware that “a private lunatic” had escaped from the Dorset County Asylum at Herrison near Dorchester in the early hours of Thursday morning. A male called FRY who was described as most dangerous had left the hospital by escaping through an open window at night. Detective RICHARDSON noticed a similar looking described and attired male about 0900 hrs in the morning and on speaking to him the male mentioned asked him if he knew where the nearest vet was so that the kitten he was carrying could get some attention. Detective RICHARDSON who was in plain clothes informed him that he had been very lucky to come across him as he was a vet so if he would accompany him he would attend to the kitten. The ruse proved successful and FRY followed him to the police station even after 14 miles of walking to the area during the night. Soon after he was back at Herrison hospital.
SAVAGE ATTACK ON DETECTIVE
In September 1912 there was a “savage” attack on a Weymouth policemen, after a melee on the sands. Detective constable Eustace MARTYN went to the beach with other policemen after a report of a sand artist being assaulted. It appears that Walter RAVEN, the sand artist was grabbed by the throat by a drunken male and his mates and sought the protection of the police. When MARTYN arrived he spoke to RAVEN’S wife who pointed out the offender who then threw her to the ground and with the help of PC EYERS approached the offender who assaulted EYERS and MARTYN. At that point when the offender was arrested other officers were called upon to help as the male and his friends were all becoming violent. Detective MARTYN was kicked in the stomach area which meant he had a broken rib and the offenders received 3 months hard labour. Supt DAY and PC MARSH were also on hand to assist.
In the way years less information was printed so hear are some of the bullet points !
In May 1915 Chief EACOCK retired and Walter DAY took over.
11 Aug 1916 Insp LAKEY retired and Sgt Eustace MARTYN was promoted.
Photograph of Harry CORBEN from WW1, before he joined up
GIANT CARROT
The local papers reported in 1917 that PC F PUGH had grown a giant carrot on his allotment at Westham. 2lb 8 ozs, a foot long and 14 inch circumference at big end !
1917 postcard of the Princess Christian hospital for wounded soldiers in Weymouth.
On the 6th May 1918 Sgt SWEET was not allowed to retire, due to WW1 and later PC W. LEGG was released from his WW1 service.
In November 1920 the Chief Constable Walter DAY retired after 37 years and the temporary Chief was then Insp Eustace MARTYN for 6 months. No one was promoted.
Logically the above photograph was probably taken when Walter DAY retired, and probably the annual Christmas party.
In March 1921 Chief Constable Dennis GRANVILLE disclosed that his County Police Force would be taking over the Weymouth Borough Force and as a result a last photograph was taken of the Force on 31st march
WEYMOUTH-BORO-1921
Back row:
1: PC George BURT 2: PC Ed BRIDLE 3: PC Harry CORBIN 4: Thomas HYDE 5: PC Arthur IVAMY 6: PC Walter SARTIN 7: PC Alfred HEAD 8: PC Albert BAILEY 9: PC Alf “Dandy” MARSH
Centre row:
1: PC Tom DAVIS 2: PC Reg EDWARDS 3: PC Fred PUGH Jnr 4: PC Jack SYMES 5: DC Albert MOORE 6: PC William LEGG ? 7: PC Sam DUNFORD ? 8: PC Charles CRITCHELL 9: Thomas BARTLETT.
Front row:
1: PC George HANSFORD 2: PC Walter BLANDAMER 3: SGT Wilfred PUGH 4: SGT Henry PALMER? 5: Retired Chief Walter DAY 6: INSP Eustace MARTYN 7: SGT Richard PELLS 8: SGT William RICHARDSON 9: PC William SCRIVEN. 27 IN TOTAL
CC GRANVILLE said:
By arranging beats differently it would cut down the amount of Weymouth officers from 35 to 33. The Portland Supt would be transferred to Weymouth. Portland to be changed to an inspectorship. Fortunately a senior Sgt, acting as an assistant clerk at HQ was next in line to be an Insp, who was Frank DAY. It was decided to appoint 2 div Insp and the other was Sam LOVELL promoted to Weymouth to back up Supt W MILLER, this would save 500 pounds on pensions plus on the 3rd time of trying to amalgamate and this time committee agreed votes 26 for and 5 against Officers that joined DCC in order of seniority were the following with their new personal numbers:
SGT 25 Henry Crewe PALMER
SGT 29 Richard PELLS
SGT 30 Wilfred PUGH
SGT 31 William RICHARDSON
PC Walter BLANDAMER
PC George HANSFORD
PC William SCRIVEN
PC Thomas BARTLETT
PC Albert MOORE
PC FRANCIS PUGH
PC Alfred MARSH
PC John “Jack” SYMES
PC Samuel DUNFORD
PC Tom DAVIS
PC Reg EDWARDS
PC Walter SARTIN
PC Edward BRIDLE
PC Charles CRITCHELL
PC Thomas HYDE
PC Alfred HEAD
PC William LEGG
PC George BURT
PC Albert George BAILEY
PC Harry CORBEN
PC Arthur IVAMY