X Robert BOHANNADear SamanthaThank you for your nicely worded request forinformation concerning Robert 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. 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 inVolumes 1 and 2, and with regard to his pensionCJP20/2/1, 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 £54, so please be aware. The Museum charges,for searching the two volumes are on a reducingscale i.e. dependant on the information recorded,the maximum amount payable is £10, which I feelwhen you have read the report represents goodvalue. Your remittance is £7 and as we are workingon a trust basis please forward payment to TheCurator, 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.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. Inspector 21 Robert BOHANNA.Born. 1814 Ringmoore Sussex.Date of Entry. 17 December 1846.Date of Leaving. 17 May 1873.Final Date of Leaving. 17 May 1873.How Discharged. To Pension.Initial Posting. NorthwichOther Postings and Dates. Does not appear to havebeen posted to any other Division within theCheshire Constabulary, which is unusual inparticular post 1857 when officers were movedaround the County either on promotion or as apunishment for some minor offence againstregulations.Miscellaneous Information. The 1841 Census showshe was born in Ringmoore Barracks, Sussex, whichmight suggest he may have been the son of aserving soldier. The 1841 Census also shows himresident at Green Bank, Green Gate, Salford,Lancashire as a Constable with Salford Police Thisis also confirmed as his Cheshire Constabularyrecord shows he had 10 years service with theSalford Police. Although Salford was part ofLancashire in those days I have checked on the webwith Lancashire Record Office which holds thePolice records, Robert does not appear. This wouldtend to suggest that because Salford eventuallybecame part of the Greater Manchester Police,their Museum may hold some information on Robertbut you are looking for his Salford servicebetween 1836 and 1846, this is very early andwould be unusual if they had information from thisperiod, but it just may be worth contacting them.You also must bear in mind that Salford was a Cityand therefore was policed by Salford City Police;this means that the Police of the day were onlyresponsible for the City, and the likes ofMacclesfield Borough Police, Congleton BoroughPolice etc; who also had their own Police forcesand were only responsible for their Borough's.Just to confuse the situation further from 1857each county also had its own Police force andobliviously responsible for the entire county, inother words you could have several police forcesin the one county. The 1861 Census Cheshire showsRobert as Sgt of Police and keeper of the Lockup,that is to say that he would be the equivalent toto-days Custody Sgt and responsible for thosepersons in Custody. The 1871 Census Cheshire asan Inspector of Police. The 1881 Census Cheshireas a retired officer residing at 127 Chester Road,Hartford.Returning to what we hold, he was a member of'Cheshire Old Force' for 11 years 5 months. Thismeans that he was an officer in Cheshire and morethan likely only in Northwich, prior to the NewCheshire Constabulary being formed in April 1857.So one can say he was one of the first PoliceOfficers in the newly formed Cheshire Constabularyin 1857 and as such the following is from 1857when the New Cheshire Constabulary was formed andnot 1847 when he was with the Cheshire Old Force.Religion Protestant, Height 5' 7" aged 43 years,Eyes Grey, Hair Brown, Fresh Complexion, StoutBuild.Age on retirement 59 years 1 month. Total servicecommencing with Cheshire in 1846, 27 years 181days. Died 18 September 1883 at Northwich, aged 69years 5 months.Promotion/Misconduct. 18 May 1857 Drunk andfrequenting Public Houses, Reprimanded and fined5/-. December 1860 Drunkenness reduction in weeklypay to 22/-.Promotions 06 May 1857 Acting Sgt, 23 February1858 Sgt 3rd class, 01 January 1859 Sgt 2nd class,06 September 1861 2nd class Sgt, 15 April 1862 Sgt1st class, 14 September 1864 Merit Class, 15January 1868 Acting Ins.Weekly Pay. 23 February 1858 21/- to 22/-, 01October 1858 22/- to 23/-, 01 January 1859 23/- to24/-, 17 January 1861 reduced to 22/-(Discipline). 01 August 1861 22/- to 23/-, 06September 1861 23/- to 24/-, 15 April 1862 24/- to25/-, 14 September 1864 25/- to 26/2d (Long andMeritorious Service increase of 2d). May 186627/2d, June 1868 28/2d, August 1868 29/2d,September 1872 30/4d, December 1872 31/6d.Annual pay on retirement £82. 2s. 6d. Dischargedwith a Pension of £50 per annum. Total time onpension 10 years 124 days. Total pension received£517. 2s. 5d.Awards/Good Conduct/Other information. June 1864for apprehending Henry Mellor for Mail Robbery atChelford, £10 reward from the Post Master General.September 1864 for Long and Meritorious Service,Merit Badge and 2d per day in addition.