X Thomas Moreton SKELTONDear Malcolm,The 'News' section on the Museum Website doesactually state 'a please or a thank you willobtain a better response'. The Museum receivesseveral enquiries daily and when people forget itbecomes somewhat irksome, anyway let us not dwellon the point, let's see if we can help you.Firstly I have to point out a few things about theCheshire Constabulary and its Constituent Forces,which hopefully will explain why we have verylittle information on Thomas.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 and therefore wouldnot contain information on Thomas. Informationregarding an officer's marriages is retained inCJP24/2, 1847-1966. And with regard to anofficer's pension CJP20/2/1, 1857-1965. These twoRegisters have been searched and again holdnothing concerning Thomas. I have also searchedthe Museum Catalogue to see if his BEM has beenrecorded as being loaned to the Museum, and justin case it had not been recorded I visited the'Medal Room' at the Museum and again it is notthere.To explain about the Constituent Forces, CheshireConstabulary for policing purposes covered theentire county of Cheshire, at the same time andalso within the County there were several otherpolice forces these were know as Borough PoliceForces, Hyde Borough Police Force being formed in1899. It remained as an independent force until1947, when it was amalgamated within the CheshireConstabulary and Hyde again was policed by theCheshire County Constabulary. Thomas was the lastChief Constable of Hyde Borough Police Force andtherefore never served as a Cheshire Constabularyofficer. In fact the only official documentation Ihave is an extract from Cheshire ConstabularyWeekly Orders, Issue 45, Dated 10th November 1950which states "Termination of Overseas Service. TheCheshire Police Authority at a meeting on the 28thOctober 1950 gave approval to the date oftermination of the period of overseas service ofMr. T.M. Skelton, former Chief Constable of HydeBorough, as the 28th October 1950. He istherefore, deemed to have retired from the SpecialPolice Corps under the Provisions of the Police(Overseas Service) (Germany) (No.2) Regulations1947, on that date.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, the following is anextract which you may find interesting and whichmight explain the above a little better"On the 1st April, 1947, as a result of the PoliceAct, 1946, the Municipal Borough Police Forces ofMacclesfield, Hyde, Stalybridge and Congleton weremerged with the County Constabulary.Most members of the borough forces concernedtransferred for service in the enlarged force. Afew who had completed service for pensionresigned.Hyde was the junior member of the group ofCheshire police boroughs absorbed into the CountyForce in 1947.As an independent Force it really has no history.By the time of its birth the cutlasses had beenput away forever (except for use as ornaments) andall members of the Force were "conformists". Inother words, all more or less, followed a discreetpattern of behaviour.Hyde became a municipal borough in 1881. TheCouncil began toying with the idea of having itsown Police Force in 1887. By the 1st April, 1899,the idea had become a reality.At the time the Borough area, with a population ofsomething over 32,000 was policed by the CountyForce with a local establishment of one inspector,five sergeants, and seventeen constables, allunder the command of Superintendent E. G. Lingard,(one of Captain Arrowsmith's army captains,appointed as superintendent in 1878), who wasresponsible for the surrounding division. Lingard,however, died about this time and SuperintendentE. G. Cooper was divisional superintendent inApril, 1899, when he moved his headquarters toDukinfield.A number of ideas were considered to ensure thatthe changeover would not leave Hyde with tooimmature a force. However, in the end the newChief Constable (appointed in December, 1898)managed to recruit sufficient experienced officersand men to enable the Force to take over on the1st April, 1899. On 29th April, Colonel Hamersleyreported that the whole of the County Police fromHyde Borough had been withdrawn.The new Borough Force took over, at an annualrental of £150, the County Police premises andCourt in Beeley Street. It remained there untilmoved to the Town Hall in 1914.The first borough Chief Constable was Mr. J. W. A.Danby, who had previous police service inRotherham and Barnsley. He also undertook dutiesas head of the municipal fire brigade and asinspector under the Acts relating to Weights andMeasures and Food and Drugs, etc.Study of the minutes of the Watch Committeereveals little of general interest. There were afew strikes but they were mild affairs so far asthe police were concerned.Towards the end of his period of service as ChiefConstable, Mr. Danby, who was well liked by allsections of the community, achieved some measureof distinction as the initiator of a Boys' ClubMovement. A very successful club came into being,meeting first at the Town Hall and later at theold police premises in Beeley Street.The latter premises were officially opened as aclub by H.R.H. the Duke of Gloucester. Mr, Danbywas awarded the King's Police Medal in 1928. Hedied in 1931, after occupying the position ofChief Constable for thirty-three years.Mr. Danby was succeeded by Inspector William H.Smith, M.M., who retired in 1943, after thirty-sixyears service in the Hyde force. The third andlast Chief Constable of the Borough was Mr. ThomasM. Skelton, B.E.M., who came from Liverpool wherehe had been an Inspector.Mr. Skelton was seconded for duty with the CivilControl Commission in Germany in January, 1946,and did not return to Hyde.Of the Chief Constables, Mr. G. Symmons ofMacclesfield transferred with the rank ofsuperintendent, but very shortly left onappointment as Chief Constable of St. Helens; Mr.S. Pickering of Stalybridge retired on pension;Mr. T. M. Skelton, B.E.M., of Hyde, at the timeserving with the Allied Control Commission inGermany, decided not to enter the County Force;Mr. R. W. James, Chief Constable of Congleton,accepted the offer of appointment as asuperintendent.It will also be seen in the force history thatThomas was awarded the BEM for Gallantry in 1946this is the only information I have on this award.However, this should be easily verified by viewingthe London Gazette for 1946, this is searchable onthe internet.If you also make contact again via the internet aMaureen Burns who is an assistant at the LocalStudies Library, Tameside this is the area thatcovers Hyde, they may hold information. It is alsoworth contacting Greater Manchester Police Museum,again via the internet to see if they haveanything.You will also note from the above that Thomas hadbeen a serving officer with the Police inLiverpool where he had attained the rank ofInspector. If you contact a Mrs. Kate McNichol atthe Information Management and DisclosureDepartment at Merseyside Policehold some information on Thomas.I have also done a quick search for his birth datewhich may aide your research and it is possiblethat Thomas was born in West Derby (Liverpool)Lancashire in the July, August September Quarterof 1902, and the entry is recorded as ThomasMorton Skelton.I do hope that the above has helped you and can Iask you when you get a moment would you send aquick 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.