X Henry ARDERNDear Colin,Thank you for your nicely worded request forinformation concerning Henry 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, that is to say we may, there areliterally hundreds of photographs of officers, buttheir names were never recorded on the reverse.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 hismarriage is retained in CJP24/2, 1847-1966. Andwith regard to his pension 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. The Museum charges,for searching the three volumes are on a reducingscale i.e. dependant on the information recorded,the maximum amount payable is £10, whichrepresents good value. Your remittance is £10 andas we are working on a trust basis please forwardpayment by cheque made payable to 'The Museum ofPolicing in Cheshire' to The Curator, Mr. PeterWroe, Museum of Policing in Cheshire, WarringtonPolice Station, Arpley Street, Warrington,Cheshire. WA1. 1LQ.If you also read the history of the CheshireConstabulary by bringing up the web page, on theleft there is an 'INDEX' drop bar, drop this andyou will find 'HISTORY' there at the bottom youwill see "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. 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. Sgt 4 Henry ARDERNBorn. 1832 Wilmslow, Cheshire.Date of Entry. 19th October 1858.Date of Leaving. 8th July 1881.Final Date of Leaving. 8th July 1881.How Discharged. To Pension.Initial Posting. HQ Reserve.Other Postings and Dates. Posted Hyde January1859, where he appears to have remained throughouthis service.Miscellaneous Information. Religion Protestant,Height 5' 9, aged 27, Brown Eyes, Light BrownHair, Pale Complexion, Proportional Build. Age onretirement 49 years 8 months. Total service 22years 240 days. Died 12 June 1896 aged 64 years 7months. Resident in 1881 at 104 Bennet Street,Newton in Ashton under Lyme, Cheshire.Promotion/Misconduct/Weekly Pay. No Misconductreports recorded, this is somewhat of a rarity asthere are very few officers of this time that donot have some type of charge against him, inparticular for being drunk on duty, assaulting aprisoner etc. Pay 30 September 1860 19/- to 20/-.16 November 1861 20/- to 21/-. 5 June 1865 MeritClass Award 22/-. February 1866 Promoted ActingSgt. July 1866 Promoted Sgt at 23/2. October 186724/2d. June 1868 25/2d. April 1869 26/2d. December1871 27/2d. August 1872 29/2d. June 1873 30/4d.September 1874 Merit class at 31/6d. September1875 32/8d. December 1878 33/10d. Annual pay onretirement £88. 4s. 2d. Discharged onSuperannuation of £50 per annum. Total time onpension 14 years 341 days. Total pension received£746. 14s. 3d.Awards/Good Conduct/Other information. June 1865Long and continuous good conduct, Merit badge an2d per day extra. December 1865 Apprehending JamesSykes for House Breaking, Gratuity of 5/- fromChief Constable. February 1866 ApprehendingMatthew Mannion for Unlawful Wounding, Gratuity of10/- from Chief Constable.Marriage RecordOfficer. Henry ARDERN.Occupation. Warper (Silk Worker)Age. 21 yearsCondition. Bachelor.Place of residence at Marriage. Bollington,Cheshire.Date of Marriage. 26th December 1853.Place Married. Old Church, Macclesfield, Cheshire.Fathers Name. James ARDERNFathers Occupation. Book Seller, Cheshire.Spouse. Esther FERNLEYOccupation. Weaver.Age. 21 years.Condition. Spinster.Place of residence. Rainow, Near Macclesfield,Cheshire.Fathers Name. Jessie FERNLEY.Fathers Occupation. Cotton Dresser, Cheshire.