X Walter NICHOLSDear Steve,Thank you for your nicely worded request forinformation concerning Walter 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. With regard to his pension CJP20/2/1,1857-1965. The information regarding an officer'smarriage is retained in CJP24/2, 1847-1966,however Walter does not appear to have beenmarried during his police service, I also checkedvia 'Find My Past' which is a subscriptionAncestry site which the Museum provides Census andother checks free of charge for enquirers, thereappears no marriages recorded between 1914 and1936 for Walter.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 are complete however in yourparticular case the volumes have been searched upto Walters retirement date and any informationregarding his service 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 £8, and given the above searches I feelcertain that you will agree that this representsvalue 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 they will be appreciated?If you have any further questions please don'thesitate to contact me.Jim TalbotTrustee and Researcher, Cheshire Museum ofPolicing.Collar Number/Rank. Police Constable 343 WalterNICHOLSBorn. January-March quarter of 1862, volume 71,page 29, at Billesdon, Leicestershire.Date of Entry. 1st November 1890Date of Leaving. 31st March 1903, ordered toresign (see 'Misconduct' later)Re-appointed. 2nd May 1903Final Date of Leaving. 31st January 1914How Discharged. To pensionInitial Posting. HQ Reserve Division, Chester.Other Postings and Dates. 1st December 1890 Hyde.13th March 1893 Gee Cross, Hyde, 1st August 1898Prestbury, 8th September 1900 Altrincham, 2nd May1903 HQ Chester, 2nd May 1903 Seacombe, 25thNovember 1905 Great Saughall, Near Chester, 13thJuly 1913 Runcorn.Miscellaneous Information. Previous OccupationLabourer. Religion Protestant, Height 6' 2", Age27, Eyes Brown, Hair Brown, Complexion Fresh,Build Proportional. 2nd February 1914 Certificateof Service with Character marked "Good".1891 Census recorded as single, and as a lodger at95 Back Lane, Hyde. Cheshire.1901 Census recorded as single and as a lodger at58 New Street, Altrincham, Cheshire1911 Census recorded as single and as a lodger inthe Village of Great Saughall, Nr. Chester.Cheshire.Age on retirement 50 years 10 months.Total service 23 years 54 days.Died 21st November 1936, LutterworthLeicestershire aged 73 years 9 months. Recorded inVolume 7a page 6, I have given you thisinformation to make obtaining his deathcertificate much easier this will show who theinformant was at the time of Walter's death, thatpersons address and of course Walter's address ifdifferent from the informant.The Generations NetworkPromotion. No promotionrecorded.Misconduct. 7th March 1903 Gross neglect of dutyat Altrincham, directed to resign by the ChiefConstable. Unfortunately it does not record whatthe gross neglect of duty was, it could have beenanything really from failing to find a burgledpremises during night shift, drinking on duty,failing to meet the Sergeant at Conference Pointsduring patrol, but whatever it may have been itcould not have been so serious as we can see hewas reappointed later. It would also mean when hewas reappointed his pay would start as if he werea new recruit into the force.Weekly Pay. 01/11/1890 23/11d, 01/07/1891 25/1d,01/11/1891 26/3d, 01/11/1892 26/10d, 01/11/189328/-, 01/11/1895 29/2d, 01/11/1897 30/4d,01/11/1902 31/6d, 02/05/1903 29/2d, 02/05/190530/4d, 02/05/1910 31/6d, 01/04/1912 33/3d.Discharged on a pension of £45.1s.6d per annum.Total time on pension 22 years 295 days.Total pension received £948. 0s. 8d.Awards/Good Conduct/Other information. No awardsrecordedWhere the reference BSI appears in the Museumdatabase this applies to a website known as theBlack Sheep Index www.blacksheepindex.co.uk thissite carries newspaper articles concerning PoliceOfficers. On occasions the officer's full name isnot given, but by comparing these records withwhat we hold there are several possibilities thatthe items may refer to Walter, having said thisthe spelling of the surname is 'Nicholls', butagain comparing our archives whilst there otherofficers named Nichols and Nicholls, none areserving around the same dates as Walter. There arecharges involved to obtain these newspapercuttings direct from the owner of the website. Itis emphasized that the Museum does not know thecontents 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,please make reference to this Museum, whilst youwon't get it any cheaper it may just speed up theprocess?