X William WHITLEYDear Alison,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. Sadly we do not have aphotograph of William, that is to say we may,there are literally hundreds of photographs ofofficers held at the Museum, but their names werenever recorded on the reverse of the photographand this means from our point they remainunidentifiable and not all officers werephotographed then as routine. With regard tophotographs of the Police Station at which Williamserved, you will see as you read through thereport that it has recorded the places where heserved. i.e. Eddisbury etc, these are in fact thenames of the Divisional Headquarters so he couldhave in fact served anywhere within that Divisionand if we take Eddisbury this consisted of theareas of Barrow, Bunbury, Cuddington, Dunham,Frodsham, Kelsall, Kingsley, Little Budworth, Over(Winsford), Tarvin and Weaverham, certainly fromother documents we hold not all these places hadpolice stations. We know from the 1861 and 1871census that William was resident in Utkington andTattenhall both these areas were covered fromTarporley Police Station which we do have aphotograph of. In 1868 he was serving out ofBroxton (this station still stands but longdiscontinued as a Police Station) and in 1879Altrincham, again we have photographs of thesestations. I will also attach a photograph ofFrodsham Police Station for the periods standingoutside are officers that served there; this willgive you an idea of the uniform which Williamwore.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. The information regarding anofficers marriage is retained in CJP24/2,1847-1966, and as I said it is strange that he isnot recorded within as under the then policeregulations an officer had to seek permission tomarry and his intended spouse had to produce fourreferences to show she was a fit and proper personto marry a police officer, whenever I write thisit always make me smile as most of the officersspouse's were far better behaved than theirhusbands and you will see why as we progressthrough William's misconduct sheet. It was alsooften the case if the Chief Constable refused hispermission, or the officer just did not think itwas right that he had to seek permission, theofficer would resign, marry and then rejoin andthen of course the Chief Constable could donothing about this. And with regard to hispension CJP20/2/1, 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 £81, so please be aware, but of course with youonly residing in Wirral you can always pay a visitto the records office. The Museum charges, forsearching the three volumes are on a reducingscale i.e. dependant on the information recorded,the maximum amount payable is £10, and yourremittance is £8 which represents good value. andas we are working on a trust basis please forwardpayment via cheque made payable to the 'Museum ofPolicing in Cheshire' and forward it 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, underthe drop down menu on the left marked 'History' 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.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. PC 219 William WHITLEYBorn. Circa 1836 Shotwick, Cheshire.Date of Entry. 9th October 1858Date of Leaving. 28th November 1863.How Discharged. Resigned.Re-appointed. 13th January 1864.Final Date of Leaving. 2nd July 1880How Discharged. To Pension.Initial Posting. HQ Reserve, Chester.Other Postings and Dates. 5th January 1859Eddisbury Division; 13th January 1864 HQ Reserve;2nd July 1864 Eddisbury Division; 1868 BroxtonDivision; 1879 Altrincham Division.Miscellaneous Information. Religion Protestant,Height 5' 7", Age 22, Eyes Dark Blue, Hair DarkBrown, Complexion Fresh, Build Proportional. 26thJune 1880 3 Testimonials sent, 21st August 1880Certificate of Service given to him marked "VeryGood".Age on retirement 43 years 9 months. Total service21 years 221 days. Died 15 March 1892, aged 55years 5 months. 1881 Census show subject InnKeeper of Hare and Hounds Inn, Handbridge,together with wife Jane.Promotion. None.Misconduct. 22nd November 1858 Drunk on the 22ndat Dukinfield when off duty, he being on SpecialDuty at Hyde Division, Ordered by the ChiefConstable to receive 1/3d per day instead of 2/6dper day during the time he was on Special Duty.8th August 1859 frequenting Public Houses duringhis hours of duty and under the influence ofliquor, Fined 10/- by Chief Constable.1867 Omitting to enter his duty for 3 days (in hisnotebook), Reprimanded by Chief Constable.September 1869 Drunk at Petty Sessions, Fined 5/-and reprimanded by the Chief Constable.July 1878 Disobedience of Orders in not appearingproperly dressed at Chester, Fined 2/6d by ChiefConstable.October 1878 Allowing a Prisoner to escape whenconveying him to the Lockup, In consequence of theweak state of health of this man, the ChiefConstable overlook's this offence.Weekly Pay. 1st August 1861 19/- to 20/-. 21st May1864 19/- to 20/-. St June 1865 20/- to 21/-.April 1869 22/-. December 1870 23/4d. September1872 24/6d. June 1873 25/8d. June 1876 26/10d.February 1878 28/-.Annual pay on retirement £73. 0s. 0d.Discharged on a Pension of £30 per annum.Total time on pension 11 years 256 days. Total pension received £351. 0s. 9d.Awards/Good Conduct/Other information. May 1880,total of five Good Conduct badges.I also note from the 1851 Census that William wasresident in Great Saughall with his parentsCharles and Mary and siblings Thomas aged 12years, Ellen 10 years and John 1 month. Lookingthrough the Museum Database Thomas had also joinedthe Police Force albeit for only a short time. Hisdetails are recorded in CJP7 Volume 2 and are asfollows:-Collar Number/Rank. PC79 Thomas WHITLEYBorn. Circa 1839 Shotwick, Cheshire.Date of Entry. 22nd May 1868Date of Leaving. 18th February 1869Final Date of Leaving. 18th February 1869How Discharged. Dismissed.Initial Posting. HQ Reserve, Chester.Other Postings and Dates. August 1868 Nantwich.Miscellaneous Information. Prior Military Serviceof 5 years with Flintshire Militia. ReligionProtestant, Height 5'7", Age 29, Eyes Hazel, HairDark, Complexion Dark, Build Proportional.Testimonials given to him 27th March 1869.Promotion. None.Misconduct. August 1868 Drunk on duty at Marbury,Reprimanded by the Chief Constable. February 1869Drunk on duty at Nantwich at 7.30pm, Dismissed bythe Chief ConstableWeekly Pay. August 1868 20/-.Awards/Good Conduct/Other information. None.