X George HAMLETTDear JayThank you for your nicely worded request forinformation concerning George you would besurprised how many enquires we get from people whonever say please or thank you, but no harm doneyour reply was sweet. I have to point out a fewthings. Sadly we do not have a photograph, that isto say we may, there are literally hundreds ofphotographs of officers, but their names werenever recorded on the reverse.The Cheshire Constabulary was formed in April1857; there are many thousands of records, theseare held by the Cheshire Record Office, Chester. Ias a retired Police officer and voluntary PoliceMuseum Researcher 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 3. The information regarding his marriageis retained in CJP24/2, 1847-1966.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 total bill wouldbe £54, so please be aware. The Museum charges,for searching these two Volumes are on a reducingscale i.e. dependant on the information recorded,the maximum amount payable is £10, whichrepresents good value. Your remittance is £10 andas we are working on a trust basis please forwardpayment via cheque made payable to the 'Museum ofPolicing in Cheshire' and send it to The Curator,Mr. Peter Wroe, Museum of Policing in Cheshire,Warrington Police Station, Arpley Street,Warrington, Cheshire. WA1. 1LQ.If you also read the history of the CheshireConstabulary "To the Best of Our Skill andKnowledge" which is on the Museum Web Site, I feelcertain that a useful picture can be obtained oflife in the force at the time, my own opinion isthat discipline was draconian and those whostrayed outside the rule's were fined way abovewhat they earned or dismissed. Also therestrictions on their private life, an officer wasnot allowed to drink on or off duty even in hisown home. It all comes down to the fact that upuntil the 1960's every Chief Constable of Cheshirewas an ex military officer and they of coursebrought with them 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 completed.If you have any further questions please don'thesitate to contact me. Jim Talbot. Trustee andResearcher, Cheshire Museum of Policing.Collar Number/Rank. PC 244 George HAMLETTBorn. 1853, Hall Green, Astbury, Cheshire.Date of Entry. 26th February 1977Date of Leaving. 16th June 1882Final Date of Leaving. 16th June 1882How Discharged. Discharged (this is a euphemismfor being dismissed)Initial Posting. HQ Reserve, Chester.Other Postings and Dates. March 1877 Nantwich,February 1879 Altrincham, 26 December 1881 Wirral.Miscellaneous Information. Previous OccupationCollier. Religion Protestant, Height 5' 7", Age22. Eyes Light Grey, Hair Brown, Complexion Fresh,Build Proportional. Testimonials and Charactermarked "Has been fair" sent 12th June 1882.Resident in 1881 at Slade Brow, Mobberley,Cheshire.Promotion. None.Misconduct. (1) 19th February 1880 Drunk whenparading for duty at Sale at 8pm, Fined 5/- andadmonished.(2) 27th December 1880 (a) Absent from ConferencePoints at 11pm and 1am 27th (b) Drunk and unfitfor duty on the same day, Reduced to 24/6d perweek and reprimanded.(3) 24th August 1881 Absent from his beat at11.30am, Reduced to 23/11d per week.(4) December 1881 Neglect of duty in not reportinga raffle was to take place and permittingdrunkenness and disorderly conduct in his districtwithout reporting same, Reprimanded and removed athis own expense to Neston. (In essence thisbasically means that he was serving in one part ofthe Wirral Division and removed to Neston havingto pay all his own removal expenses, find newlodgings for himself and his wife, etc)(5) 12th May 1882 Drinking in a Public House onhis beat at 11pm, during his hours of duty,Discharged from the 16th June 1882.Weekly Pay. February 1877 23/11d. August 187724/6d. June 1878 25/8d. January 1879 26/10d.Awards/Good Conduct/Other information. None.Marriage RecordOfficer. George HAMLETTOccupation. Police Constable.Age. 25 years.Condition. Bachelor.Place of residence at Marriage. Sale.Date of Marriage. 3rd May 1879Place Married. Registrar's Office Knutsford.Cheshire.Fathers Name. Thomas HAMLETTFathers Occupation. Furnace-man, Cheshire.Spouse. Jane STOPFORDOccupation. Nil.Age. 19 years.Condition. Spinster.Place of residence. Crewe, Cheshire.Fathers Name. Abraham STOPFORDFathers Occupation. Blacksmith, Cheshire.