X Alfred ALLENDear Malcolm,Thank you for your nicely worded request forinformation concerning Alfred you would besurprised how many enquires we get from people whonever say please or thank you, but first I have topoint out a few things. Sadly we do not have aphotograph, that is to say we may, there areliterally hundreds of photographs of officers, buttheir names were never recorded on the reverse ofthe photograph so from the Museums perspectivethey remain unidentifiable.The Cheshire Constabulary was formed in April1857; there are many thousands of records, theseare held by the Cheshire Record Office, Chester.As a retired Police officer and voluntary PoliceMuseum Researcher I am slowly extracting theserecords. Cheshire Police Officer Enrolment Recordsare held under Reference CJP7 Volumes 1-5. Thesefive volumes are very large and in poor condition,run from 1857- 22 March 1913; the informationwhich you seek would therefore be recorded inVolume 4. The information regarding his marriageis retained in CJP24/2, 1847-1966. And with regardto his pension CJP20/2/1, 1857-1965.Further, there are 33 Volumes each containingapproximately 400 pages of General Orders, theseare basically the everyday events of the CheshireConstabulary and date from April 1857 to 1946,they are also normally held at the Record Officein Chester under reference CJP4, however they arepresently held by the Museum. Each Volume ishandwritten and although they can be scanned theycannot be searched to extract the information asthe character recognition software just does notrecognise handwriting. They are therefore beingtranscribed into a searchable word document, whichis a very long and slow process, only the yearsfrom 1857 to 1884 have been transcribed. Howeverin this particular case the volumes up to the endof Alfred's retirement have been researched andany information found will appear within yourreport.I say all this because I want to try and reassureyou that what I give you is as it appears in therespective volumes. However if you so wish, youcan of course have the records confirmed by theChester Records Office Archivist. But it would beremiss of me if I did not point out that TheRecord Office will charge you a minimum of £27 persearch per volume; therefore your bill should youwish to have all the above mentioned Volumessearched would amount to several hundreds ofpounds, so please be aware. The cost of yourreport is £10, and given the above information Ifeel certain that you will agree that thisrepresents value for money.Payment can be made by going to the Museum websitewww.museumofpolicingincheshire.org.uk within thedrop down 'Index' is the section marked 'FamilyResearch' there it will be seen 'Pay-Pal orDebit/Credit Card' click on this and follow theinstructions.If you also read the history of the CheshireConstabulary by going to the web site, INDEX dropdown menu, HISTORY and look for "To the Best ofOur Skill and Knowledge" I feel certain that auseful picture can be obtained of life in theforce at the time, my own opinion is thatdiscipline was draconian and those who strayedoutside the rule's were fined way above what theyearned or dismissed. Also the restrictions ontheir private life, an officer was not allowed todrink on or off duty even in his own home. It allcomes down to the fact that up until the 1960'severy Chief Constable of Cheshire was an exmilitary officer and they of course brought withthem the military codes of practice.I trust you will enjoy what follows and can I askyou when you get a moment would you send a quickmail so I can mark of your enquiry as complete,this is important as whilst we are not funded bythe Cheshire Constabulary, they are still our'masters' so to speak and I have to account forthe information I send out. If you have anycomments good or bad and you wish to make themplease do so?If you have any further questions please don'thesitate to contact me.Jim TalbotTrustee and Researcher, Cheshire Museum ofPolicing.Collar Number/Rank. Inspector 270 Alfred ALLENBorn. 1871 Rodington, Shrewsbury, Shropshire.Date of Entry. 9th February 1895Date of Leaving. 30th April 1923Re-appointed. Not applicableFinal Date of Leaving. 30th April 1923How Discharged. To pensionInitial Posting. Head Quarters Reserve Division,Chester.Other Postings and Dates. 20th April 1895 Sale,14th January 1901 Brereton, (Congleton); 1st July1906 Davenham, 1st February 1907 Cheadle Hulme,1st August 1909 Hazel Grove, 31st August 1912Cheadle Hulme, 1st December 1919 Sale.Miscellaneous Information. Previous Occupation,Market Gardener. Religion Protestant, Height 5'9", Age 24, Eyes Dark Brown, Hair Black,Complexion Fresh, Build Proportional. Certificateof Service with character marked "Exemplary" sent27th April 1923.1901 Census address Brereton Green, Congleton.1911 Census address 32 Commercial Road, HazelGrove, Stockport.Age on retirement 52 years 6 months.Total service 28 years 88 days.Died 16th July1936 Congleton, Cheshire, aged 65years 8 monthsThe Generations NetworkPromotion. 1st February1907 promoted Acting Sergeant. 1st August 1909promoted Sergeant. 1st December 1919 promotedInspector.Misconduct. 1st January 1896 neglect of duty bynot working his beat "Nor" attending ConferencePoints between 1a.m. and 1.50a.m. at Sale.Admonished by the Chief Constable.Weekly/Annual Pay. 1st February 1895 25/1d, 1stMarch 1896 26/3d, 1st March 1897 26/10d, 1st March1898 28/-, 1st March 1900 29/2d, 1st March 190230/4d, 1st March 1907 31/6d, 1st August 1909Sergeant at 33/3d, 1st August 1911 34/5d, 1stApril 1912 36/9d, 1st August 1913 37/11d, 24th May1914 39/1d, 1st July 1915 43/2d, 1st August 191544/4d, 1st August 1917 45/6d, 30th September 191855/5d, 10th November 1918 63/2d, 1st April 1919112/6d, 1st December 1919 Inspector at £320perannum, 1st December 1920 £330, 1st December 1921£340, 1st December 1922 £350.Discharged on pension of £233.6s.8d per annum.Total time on pension 13 years 107 days.Total pension received £3101. 14s. 8d.Awards/Good Conduct/Other information. 15thOctober 1908 For Meritorious Conduct during nightduty at Cheadle Hulme, resulting in saving thelife of a Mrs. Bretnall, who was in danger ofbeing suffocated by gas, Gratuity of £1 paid byChief Constable. 24th May 1914 Long andMeritorious Service, Merit Badge and 2d per dayadditional pay.Where the reference BSI appears in the Museumdatabase this applies to a website known as theBlack Sheep Index www.blacksheepindex.co.uk thisis a site that carries newspaper articlesconcerning Police Officers. On occasions theofficer's full name is not given, but we havetried to make a match against what the MuseumRecords show. In 1896 Alfred is shown as "CaptureBy", presumably it refers to Alfred making anarrest. There are charges involved to obtain thesenewspaper cuttings direct from the owner of thewebsite. It is emphasized that the Museum does notknow the contents of these cuttings and takes noresponsibility for them. The Museum is onlyshowing this as an aid that there is furtherinformation from another source. Should you decideyou would like this article when requesting itplease make reference to this Museum, whilst youwon't get it any cheaper it may just speed up theprocess?Marriage RecordOfficer. Alfred ALLENOccupation. Police ConstableAge. 26 years.Condition. BachelorPlace of residence at Marriage. St. Pauls Gate.(No indication is given as to where this area islocated)Date of Marriage. 25th August 1897.Place Married. Parish Church, Prees. (Noindication is given as to where this area islocated but possibly on the border betweenCheshire and Shropshire)Fathers Name. William ALLENFathers Occupation. Gardener.Spouse. Edith CLAYOccupation. Not recorded.Age. 28 years.Condition. SpinsterPlace of residence. PreesFathers Name. William CLAYFathers Occupation. Farmer, Cheshire.