X William Frederick NEEDHAMDear Margaret,Thank you for your nicely worded request forinformation concerning William 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.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. Not only do the records cover CheshireConstabulary but every other Constituent Forcei.e. those Forces that were at some point in timeamalgamated into the Cheshire Constabulary,Stockport Borough Police, which William was amember of commenced in 1870 and remained as anindependent Police Force until 1967 then it becamepart of Cheshire.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. The Museum charges, forsearching are on a reducing scale i.e. dependanton the information recorded, the maximum amountpayable is £10. Your remittance is £5, and I alsomust apologise for stating £8 yesterday, I havejust too many thinks going on in my head and putsomeone else's cost in by mistake. We are workingon a trust basis please forward payment via chequemade payable to the 'Museum of Policing inCheshire' and send it to The Curator, Mr. PeterWroe, Museum of Policing in Cheshire, WarringtonPolice 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, there was verylittle difference between a County and BoroughPolice officer, there are many references to thearea of Stockport within the history. My ownopinion is that discipline was draconian and thosewho strayed outside the rule's were fined wayabove what they earned or dismissed. Also therestrictions on their private life, an officer wasnot allowed to drink on or off duty even in hisown home.Can I ask you when you get a moment would you senda quick mail so I can mark of your enquiry ascompleted? If you have any further questionsplease don't hesitate to contact me. Jim Talbot.Trustee and Researcher, Cheshire Museum ofPolicing.Collar Number/Rank. Inspector William FrederickNEEDHAM. (His original Collar Number was 40, butwhen officers reached the rank of Inspector theirnumber was very rarely used)Born. 5th September 1869 Stockport.Date of Entry. 29th April 1895. Address given onentry as 20 Robinson Street, Stockport.Date of Leaving. 29th JanuaryHow Discharged. To pensionInitial Posting. Only within the Borough ofStockport.Miscellaneous Information. Previous OccupationWarehouse Man, Previous/Last Employer MessrsBaxendale and Company, Manchester. ReligionWesleyan, Height 5' 10"Age on joining 25 years,Eyes Hazel, Hair Dark Brown, Complexion Fresh,Build Proportional. Distinguishing Marks Nil.Marital Status, Married, Children, One. 11th March1922 Parchment Certificate of Service marked"Exemplary" given to him on dischargeMisconduct. No Misconduct reports recorded.Promotion. 21st April 1899 Constable 3rd class.3rd May 1901 Sgt 5th class, 10th May 1907 Sgt 2ndclass. 18th December 1908 Inspector 4th class, 1stApril 1919 Inspector 1st class.Pay. Annual pay on retirement £350. 0s. 0d.Discharged on a pension of £233. 6s. 8d per annum.Awards/Good Conduct/Other information. NoneRecorded.Additional Information. The names of the other twoStockport Officers were Inspector Timothy Needham,born 1853 Adlington, Cheshire. Address given onjoining the force in 1880 17 Hindley Street,Stockport. George Edwin Needham born 22 April1909, Stockport, address on joining in 1920 29Lyme Street, Stockport. I hope this may help youin perhaps trying to make the connection.