X William John MILLER.Dear Kenneth (if I may be so bold)Thank you for your enquiry concerning William, butfirst I have to point out a few things. Sadly wedo not have a photograph or information concerninghis service with Birkenhead Borough, which I amsure you will be aware, existed as such between1833 and 1967, it was then amalgamated withCheshire Constabulary, but only remained part ofCheshire until the local Governmentre-organisation's in 1974.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 an officer'smarriage would appear in CJP24/2, 1847-1966, butWilliams name does not appear. I say all thisbecause I want to try and reassure you that what Igive you is as it appears in the respectivevolume. You can off course have the informationconfirmed by Checking with Chester Record Office,who will undertake the research on your behalf,but it would be remiss of me if I did not tell youthat they will charge you a minimum of £27 persearch.If you go to the Museum Website as above you canalso read the history of the Cheshire Constabulary"To the Best of Our Skill and Knowledge" I feelcertain that a useful picture can be obtained oflife in the force at the time, my own opinion isthat discipline was severe and those who strayedoutside the rules 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 will alsotry and explain to situation with BirkenheadPolice Records.The following is now recorded within ourarchives:-Collar Number/Rank. PC 428 William MILLER (hissecond forename John is not recorded.Born. 1859 Childer Thornton, Birkenhead,Cheshire. (It is not know why he has supplied thisyear of birth)Date of Entry. 30 August 1880.Date of Leaving. 17 February 1882Re-appointed. N/AFinal Date of Leaving. 17 February 1882.How Discharged. Resigned.Initial Posting. HQ Reserve.Other Postings and Dates. Posted September 1882Hyde.Miscellaneous Information. Subject appears on 1881Census as a serving Constable in 51 Back Lane,(Godley), Hyde. Cheshire. Previous OccupationRailway Porter. Religion Protestant, Height 5' 9",Age 21, Eyes Grey, Hair Brown, Complexion Light,Build Proportional. Scar above right eye.Promotion/Misconduct/Pension. No Misconductreports recorded. Pay 30 August 1880 23/11d, May1881 24/6d.Awards/Good Conduct/Other information. No GoodConduct reports recorded.With regard to the Birkenhead archives, I havetried and tried to track them down, it culminatedearlier this year when I received a mail from aperson that had firsthand knowledge of whathappened to them, this is what he said "OfficersJack Buttery and John McGowan were ordered to dumpthe uniforms, truncheons, records, everything outat the Mersey Bar (where the river Mersey ends)prior to the amalgamation with Cheshire" Just whyI don't know these orders were given but I suspectit was some senior officers who were verydisgruntle over the amalgamations. The only thingthat I have heard off that may hold someinformation is the Wages Book from 1870 - 1943this is at the Chester Record Office underCJP20/6/11-16, it will eventually be incorporatedinto our records but I am afraid it is well downthe list. But please remember if you have itsearched by Chester CRO it will cost a minimum of£27. I have attached a paper on what is also heldon Birkenhead at the Chester CRO, further somevery little known information concerning theBirkenhead Jubilee/Long Service medal. In 1958 thebook"Maintaining the Queens Peace" A Short Historyof the Birkenhead Borough Police was written bySgt. S. P. Thompson, you will appreciate that thisbook is now very scarce. However, I have my owncopy, in fact I only know of one other copy andthat is in the Wirral Archives, and is forreference purposes only. I will see what I can dowith either scanning or photocopying it, which Iwould not normally do, but as one retired officerto another this may help you. I don't think thecopy write is still in force, but I would likeyour feelings on this first. Other than thisKenneth I can't really help you further with theBirkenhead aspect of it. Come back to me when youget a moment.With sincere best wishes Jim Talbot,(Trustee and Researcher for the Museum of Policingin Cheshire).The Curator, Museum of Policing in Cheshire,Warrington Police Station, Arpley Street,Warrington, Cheshire, WA1 1LQ