X William WALLACE.Dear Andrea,Thank you for your nicely worded request forinformation concerning William 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.William Wallace was never a member of the CheshireConstabulary but a member of Chester City Police.There is a distinct difference between ChesterCity Police force in that it was a totallyindependent force it being formed in 1833 itremained this way until 1949 and only then did itbecome part of the Cheshire Constabulary. Officersof Chester City were only responsible for policingChester City up to the city boundaries; ittherefore the force was small, beyond theboundaries it was policed by Cheshire CountyConstabulary. Sadly when the amalgamations tookplace in 1949 very few of the officer's recordscame with them and only the following is recordedfor William, incidentally there are no furtherofficers with the surname of Wallace recorded asjoining Chester City Police between 1836 and 1939.Sgt 196 William Wallace Born circa 1836 Ireland,joined Chester City Police 9th June 1865, died inService 12th February 1881. Undated service of 7years with Dublin Metropolitan Police. It ispossible to obtain his service record for theRoyal Irish Constabulary in Dublin; this wouldcertainly give you a good lead for searching inIreland. I understand that if you pin point himexactly you can obtain his record on microfichevia the LDS (Mormons) Family Research Centre, orof course there will be other avenues availablevia the internet.I have cross referenced this information with 1871census it being the only available census thatwould show anything with regard to William. I amsure you have seen this, but if not it gives thefollowing family members being resident in theparish of St. Oswald's, Chester at 45 GloucesterStreet. William Wallace, Head, 37 years, BornIreland. Detective. Fanny Wallace, Wife, 35 years,born Ireland, Samuel J. Son, 9 years born Ireland.Fanny M. Daughter, 6 years, born Chester, MargaretJane, Daughter 4 years born Chester and ? EmilyDaughter 1 month, born Chester. I have alsochecked William's death date with Ancestry BMD andit shows a William Wallace recorded as dying inthe first quarter of 1881 Volume 8a. Page 287.Further enquires that may assist show a websiteknown as the Black Sheep Indexwww.blacksheepindex.co.uk this is a site thatcarries newspaper articles concerning PoliceOfficers. On occasions the officer's full name isnot given, but we have tried to make a matchagainst what the Museum Records show. The siteshows two entries for William, firstly I presumethat William is giving evidence or reporting on aCase of Betting in 1873 when he was a Detectiveand in 1881 his Death Notice when he is shown as aSgt, which I presume is recorded in the localNewspaper. There are charges involved to obtainthese newspaper cuttings direct from the owner ofthe website. It is emphasized that the Museum doesnot known the contents of these cuttings and takesno responsibility for them. The Museum is onlyshowing this as an aid that there is furtherinformation from another source.You will have noted that in the 1871 Census itshows that William had a son Samuel J. 9 year,born Dublin, Ireland. Samuel did at the age of 20years join the Cheshire Constabulary.The Cheshire Constabulary was formed in April1857; there are many thousands of records, theseare held by the Cheshire Record Office, Chester.Cheshire Police Officer Enrolment Records are heldunder Reference CJP7 Volumes 1-5. These fivevolumes are very large and in poor condition, runfrom 1857- 22 March 1913; the information whichyou seek would therefore be recorded in Volume 3.The information regarding his marriage is retainedin CJP24/2, 1847-1966.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 £108, for searching both William and Samuel, soplease be aware. I feel certain the informationthat has been supplied in this report is worthy ofa small donation toward the Museum upkeep and ifyou wish to do so please forward a cheque madepayable to Museum of Policing in Cheshire and sendit to The Curator, Mr. Peter Wroe, Museum ofPolicing in Cheshire, Warrington Police Station,Arpley Street, 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, whichalso contains an insight to Chester City Police, Ifeel certain that a useful picture can be obtainedof life in the force at the time, my own opinionis that 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.Collar Number/Rank. PC514 Samuel John WALLACE.Born. 1861 Dublin, Ireland.Date of Entry. 27th September 1881Date of Leaving. 15th October 1886.Final Date of Leaving. 15th October 1886How Discharged. Ordered to resign.Initial Posting. HQ Reserve, Chester.Other Postings and Dates. Posted 10 June 1882Runcorn, 26 February 1886 Wirral.Miscellaneous Information. Previous OccupationClerk, Religion Protestant, Irish, Height 5' 8",Age 20, Eyes Blue, Hair Light Brown, ComplexionFresh, Build Proportional.Promotion/Misconduct. July 1883 Disobedience ofOrders in not forwarding reports to HQ, Severelyreprimanded. 21st July 1883 Being improperlydressed on Parade at the General Inspection atRuncorn by not wearing Regulation Boots, Fined5/-. 25th March 1885 Gross carelessness in notkeeping Divisional Books properly. Reprimanded andreduced to 25/8d per week. 15th October 1886 Orderto resign reason not recorded.Weekly Pay. 27th September 1881 23/11d, 11th March1882 24/6d, 17th March 1883 25/8d, 25th October1884 26/10d, 25th March 1885 reduced to 25/8d,26th December 1885 26/10d.Awards/Good Conduct/Other information. No GoodConduct reports recorded.Marriage RecordOfficer. Samuel John Wallace.Occupation. Police ConstableAge. 25 years.Condition. Bachelor.Place of residence at Marriage. Birkenhead(Wirral)Date of Marriage. 16th May 1886.Place Married. All Saints Parish Church, Runcorn.Fathers Name. W. Wallace.Fathers Occupation. Police Inspector. (Note thatthe year of marriage 1886 yet the death date ofWilliam is 1881, and that his rank here is shownas an Inspector. for whatever reason Samuel Johndid not declare his father to be 'deceased' andhas given his rank as Inspector instead of Sgt. )Spouse. Annie Mary Booth.Occupation. Nil.Age. 21 years.Condition. Spinster.Place of residence. Runcorn. Cheshire.Fathers Name. J.H.Booth. Fathers Occupation. Grocer, Cheshire.Before closing in December 2007 I received anenquiry from a Lindsey Hedges stating she was the3 Great Granddaughter of William Wallace, do youknow Lindsey, if not I can supply her email,that's always providing she has not changed itsince 2007.I trust you have enjoyed what has been given andcan I ask you when you get a moment would you senda quick mail so I can mark of your enquiry asbeing complete. If you have any further questionsplease don't hesitate to contact me. Jim Talbot.Trustee and Researcher, Cheshire Museum ofPolicing.