X John Thomas HankeyDear Reg,Thank you for your nicely worded request forinformation concerning John you would be surprisedhow many enquires we get from people who never sayplease or thank you, but first I have to point outa few things. Sadly we do not have a photograph,that is to say we may, there are literallyhundreds of photographs of officers, but theirnames were never recorded on the reverse of thephotograph.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 5. The information regarding John'smarriage is retained in CJP24/2, 1847-1966. Andwith regard to his pension CJP20/2/1, 1857-1965.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 £81, so please be aware. The Museum charges,for searching the three volumes are on a reducingscale i.e. dependant on the information recorded,the maximum amount payable is £10, Your remittanceis £10 which I feel sure you will agree representsgood value for money and as we are working on atrust basis please forward payment by cheque madepayable to the 'Museum of Policing in Cheshire' toThe Curator, Mr. Peter Wroe, Museum of Policing inCheshire, Warrington Police Station, ArpleyStreet, 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.Your comments about the officer's future wife andshe having to supply references to show she is afit and proper person. This always makes me smile,purely because I have all the officer records infront of me and I can tell you that there are notmany officers prior to 1910, that don't have acharge against them for drunkenness or worse.Officer's wives must have put up with an awful lotand I often wonder what the officer would havebeen like without the backing of the wife. And Isuspect many wives would have made better officersthan their husbands. With regard to training, itwas always the case up until the 1940's when thePolice College at Warrington was opened, that youwent out on patrol you muddled your way through,but if you slipped up and made a wrongful arrestyou were fined, so it paid to read the books inyour own time of course.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. Sgt 195 John Thomas HankeyBorn. The records for this time always only evershowed the year of birth and John's is recorded as1879, Knutsfor d. This is confirmed as it isrestated as 22 years of age (on joining) in themiscellaneous section.Date of Entry. 26th June 1901Date of Leaving. 29th October 1927Final Date of Leaving. 29th October 1927How Discharged. To PensionInitial Posting. HQ Chester.Other Postings and Dates. 19 October 1901Seacombe, 01 June 1904 Hoylake, 10 April 1910Handley Broxton, 03 September 1911 Port Sunlight,01 June 1913 Altrincham, 01 May 1920 WhartonWinsford, 31 May 1925 Runcorn.Miscellaneous Information. Previous Occupation;Fishmonger. Prior undated service of 1 year 73days with 2nd Battalion, Cheshire Regiment Servicein S Africa (17/02/1900 to 39/04/1901). ReligionProtestant, Height 5' 10", Age 22, Eyes Blue, HairDark Brown, Complexion Fresh. No distinguishingmarks. Army Parchments, Police Certificate ofService with character marked "Exemplary" givento him on the 29/10/1927. Age on retirement 48years 4 months. Total service 26 years 124 days.Died 19/01/1970Misconduct. 26/11/1922 Neglect of duty in omittingpromptly and diligently to enquire into a matterwhich was his duty to investigate and deal with.Reprimanded by the Chief Constable.Weekly Pay/Promotion. 29/06/1901 25/1d, 01/07/190226/3d, 01/07/1903 26/10d, 01/07/1904 28/-,01/07/1906 29/2d, 01/07/1908 30/4d, 01/04/191232/8d, 01/06/1913 Promoted Acting Sgt. 29/06/191333/3d, 01/07/1915 36/2d, 29/06/1917 37/4d,30/09/1918 44/4d, 10/11/1918 52/-, 24/11/191853/2d, 01/04/1919 92/6d, 01/05/1920 Promoted Sgtat £5. 01/05/1921 102/6d, 01/05/1922 105/-,01/05/1923 107/6d, 01/05/1924 110/-, 01/05/1925112/6d. Annual pay on retirement £293. 10s. 1d.Discharged on a pension of £195.13.4d per annum.Awards/Good Conduct/Other information. 24/11/1918Long Service and Good Conduct, Merit Badge and 2dper day additional pay.Marriage RecordOfficer. PC 195 John Thomas Hankey.Occupation. Police OfficerAge. 24 years.Condition. Bachelor.Place of residence at Marriage. Egremont, Wirral.Date of Marriage. 10 August 1903Place Married. Parish Church Seacombe, WirralFathers Name. John Hankey (Deceased)Fathers Occupation. Stoker, Chester.Spouse. Eva Lillian JoynsonOccupation. Nil.Age. 20 years.Condition. Spinster.Place of residence. Seacombe, Wirral.Fathers Name. John Joynson (Deceased)Fathers Occupation. Clerk, Chester.