X Officer SALISBURYDear Alan,Thank you for your nicely worded request forinformation concerning officer Salisbury you wouldbe surprised how many enquires we get from peoplewho never say please or thank you, but first Ihave to point out a few things. Sadly we do nothave a photograph, that is to say we may, thereare literally hundreds of photographs of officers,but their names were never recorded on the reverseof the photograph and therefore remainunidentifiable. By process of elimination Ibelieve him to be William Arthur Salisbury, of theHyde Borough Police and not James and you will seethe reason why I have arrived at this a littlelater. We do not have a James Salisbury in theCheshire Database. Therefore only informationregarding William's his very brief stay withCheshire Constabulary is known.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 an officer'smarriages is retained in CJP24/2, 1847-1966; hedoes not appear in the marriage register.I say all this because I want to try and reassureyou that what I give you is as it appears in therespective volume 1. 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. This Museum is workingon a small donation basis.The Police Museum is open to the public Monday andFriday via prior appointment and if you livelocally drop an email via the web site to TheCurator, Mr. Peter Wroe, Museum of Policing inCheshire, Warrington Police Station, ArpleyStreet, Warrington, Cheshire WA1. 1LQ. he willsort this out with you.This is where its starts to get a little confusingas I said Cheshire Constabulary was formed in1857, and was responsible for policing the entireCounty, however at the same time a number of otherpolice forces were running alongside or beingformed these were known as Borough Police Forces.Hyde being one of these Borough Forces was formedin 1899 and it remained independent until 1947. Soin essence after 1899 Cheshire Constabulary hadnothing to do with policing the area of Hyde oranything to do with its officer's records andsadly we have no idea where Hyde Borough Policerecords are, all I can tell you is that we havesearched with every official body and no oneknows.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. Within this book there is a great dealof information on Hyde up until it becameindependent and then a small amount afterwards,there is very little difference between a CountyPolice Officer and a Borough Police Officer, thisis what we hold on William.Collar Number/Rank. Sergeant 214 William ArthurSALISBURYBorn. Circa 1875 Burnley, Lancaster.Date of Entry. 7th January 1899Date of Leaving. 1st April 1899Final Date of Leaving. Unknown.How Discharged. Transferred to Hyde Borough Policeon the inception of the force.Initial Posting. Hyde.Other Postings and Dates. None.Miscellaneous Information. Appointed with a viewto joining Borough of Hyde Police Force onformation of same on 01 April 1899.Promotion/Misconduct. Previous Occupation Weaver.This occupation was more than likely his first andbefore his Military Service which is prior undatedservice of 7 years with Coldstream Guards. Fivemonths Rochdale Police and here I am assuming thisis right after his Military Service. ReligionProtestant, Age 5' 11", Age 24, Eyes Dark Brown,Hair Dark Brown, Complexion Fresh, Mole leftarmpit. I understand that it should not be toodifficult to obtain his military service recordfrom the National Archives. I have just checkedwith the Lancashire Record Office which holds therecords for Rochdale police 1873-1915 and note onthe web site for police they have a W. A.Salisbury, (not A.W). Follow this link you willseehttp://www.lancashire.gov.uk/education/record_office/records/policesearch.asp?criteria=jones&start=0you will also find an application form there tosend off your enquiry, but Lancashire do make acharge. You may also wish to contact GreaterManchester Police Museum through the web, they mayhave something as Hyde was eventually to becomepart of Manchester.Weekly Pay 7th January 1899. 25/1d.Awards/Good Conduct. None.Other information. You will see that when heleaves Cheshire in April 1899, he already has therank of Sergeant; this would not normally happenwithin 4 months of service. I presume Hyde didwhat Cheshire and every other police force didwhen it started it choose people for promotion whohad some type of experience and in William's casehe had both Military and Police service, whichbasically meant he was disciplined and should makea good Sergeant in the new Hyde Borough PoliceForce.Can I ask you when you get a moment would you senda quick mail so I can mark of your enquiry ascomplete? If you have any further questions pleasedon't hesitate to contact me. Jim Talbot. Trusteeand Researcher, Cheshire Museum of Policing.