X John Winter TURNERDear Iain,Thank you for your nicely worded request forinformation concerning John you would be surprisedhow many enquires we get from people who never sayplease or thank you, but first I have to point outa few things. Sadly we do not have a photograph,that is to say we may, there are literallyhundreds of photographs of officers, but theirnames were never recorded on the reverse of thephotograph so from the Museums perspective theyremain unidentifiable. However, at the Museumthere is very large framed photograph of theofficers of Warrington Police Station, on theMuseum Database it records that John is on it.As you are no doubt aware at the time of John'sservice Warrington was part of the County ofLancashire. However its police force, WarringtonBorough Police, was an independent force it beingformed in the mid 1830's it remained independentuntil 1974 when the local Government Boundarieschanges took place and the district of Warringtonand its police force became part of Cheshire andit's Constabulary.All police officer records appertaining toCheshire and its Constituent Forces are held atthe public record office, Chester. Warringtonrecords are held under reference CJP20/12/2-3-5.As a retired police officer and a volunteerresearcher I am slowly extracting these records. Isay this because I want to try and reassure youthat 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 and as Warrington records fallwithin 3 volumes it would cost £81, so please beaware. The cost of your report is £8, and giventhe content of your report I feel certain that youwill agree that this represents value for money.The Museum is housed within Warrington PoliceStation, which remains virtually unchanged sinceit was opened in 1899 (Photograph attached) andwithin the Museum there is the Detective office,which is more or less an exact layout as it wouldhave been in John's day. The Museum is currentlyclosed for building work, which when finishedhopefully at the end of August will give a newpublic access, which is by appointment, anddisabled access. If you ever have the opportunityto visit I feel sure you would enjoy it, see thecells in which your Great Grandfather must haveplaced many a villain and of course even walk inthe same corridors as he did.As we are working on a trust basis would youkindly forward payment by cheque made payable tothe 'Museum of Policing in Cheshire' and send itto The Curator, Mr. Peter Wroe, Museum ofPolicing in Cheshire, Warrington Police Station,Arpley Street, Warrington, Cheshire. WA1. 1LQ.There was very little difference between a Boroughand County Police Officer and if you read thehistory of the Cheshire Constabulary by going tothe web site, INDEX drop down menu, HISTORY andlook for "To the Best of Our Skill and Knowledge"I feel certain that a useful picture can beobtained of life in the force at the time, 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.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?If you have any further questions please don'thesitate to contact me.Jim TalbotTrustee and Researcher, Cheshire Museum ofPolicing.Collar Number/Rank. Sergeant 37 and 7 JohnWinter TURNER. (The change in Warrant number from7 to 37 would have taken place on his promotion toSergeant))Born. 9th February 1884 Hanwell, London.Date of Entry. 24th July 1909Date of Leaving. 14th February 1929Re-appointed. N/AFinal Date of Leaving. 14th February 1929How Discharged. Dismissed.Initial Posting. Within the confines of WarringtonBorough only.Miscellaneous Information. Residence on joining 31Cumberland Road, Hanwell, London W. Trade orCalling. Porter, Last employer G.P.O. 4 years andL.C.C. Asylum 2 years 6 months. Height 6' 1", Ageon joining 25 years, Hair Brown, Eyes Grey,Complexion Fresh, Distinguishing Marks, Nil.Marital Status, Married, Children Two. Member ofany Party or Society, Nil. Total Service 20 years.Age on discharge 45 years. Certificate ofDischarge Number 31 issued 14th February 1929,with Character 'Unmarked'.The Generations NetworkPromotion. 19th December1918 promoted Sergeant.Misconduct. 23rd July 1922 for neglect of duty infailing to report a case of assault upon acivilian by Detective Taylor of which he wascognizant, severely reprimanded by the ChiefConstable and informed his advance in class wouldbe delayed three months.30th August 1924 for borrowing money from aninferior in rank, Reprimanded by the ChiefConstable and transferred to uniform branch.13th February 1929 failing to make a prompt andtrue return of money received by him in hisofficial capacity. Case remitted by the ChiefConstable to the Watch Committee who after hearingthe facts decided on dismissal. Dismissed on the14th February.Comment. His dismissal by the Watch Committeewould also mean loss of his pension rights andperhaps not even the return of his Superannuationsubscriptions. But given the circumstances thiswould have certainly been a better alternativethan a prison sentence for possibly falseaccounting if he had elected to be tried by theCourts.Weekly Pay. 24th July 1909 25/-, 4th August 191026/-, 27th July 1911 27/-11th April 1912 29/-, 1stAugust 1912 30/-, 30th July 1914 31/-, 25thNovember 1915 32/- (for loss of leave) 8th June1916 35/-, 27th July 1916 36/-, 4th November 191840/-, 10th October 1918 51/-, 19th December 1918Promoted Sgt at 56/-, 1st April 1919 100/-, 25thDecember 1919 102/6d, 23rd December 1920 105/-,29th December 1927 107/6d.Awards/Good Conduct/Other information. 10th March1918 Commended by the Magistrates for assistancein effecting the arrest of 22 men for extensivethefts from L. &. N.W. Railway Company.