X PatronGerald Cavendish GrosvenorDuke of Westminster, KG, CB, OBE, TD, DLYour ref: JT53/2012William BOOTHDear Lucy ,Thank you for your nicely worded request forinformation concerning William you may 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 ofthe photograph so from the Museums perspectivethey remain unidentifiable. If you have aphotograph and you would like to share it ascanned copy would be wonderful or for that matterany other information you may have that could beadded to his file.The Cheshire Constabulary was formed in April1857; there are many thousands of records, theseare held by the Cheshire Record Office, Chester.As a retired Police officer and voluntary PoliceMuseum Researcher I 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 inVolume 3. The information regarding his marriageis retained in CJP24/2, 1847-1966. And with regardto his pension or in this case a GratuityCJP20/2/1, 1857-1965.Further, there are 33 Volumes each containingapproximately 400 pages of General Orders, theseare basically the everyday events of the CheshireConstabulary and date from April 1857 to 1946,they are also normally held at the Record Officein Chester under reference CJP4, however they arepresently held by the Museum. Each Volume ishandwritten and although they can be scanned theycannot be searched to extract the information asthe character recognition software just does notrecognise handwriting. They are therefore beingtranscribed into a searchable word document, whichis a very long and slow process, only the yearsfrom 1857 to 1884 are complete, however I havechecked through from William's joining date untilthe end of his service and any information betweenthese years will appear within your report.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 bill should youwish to have all the above mentioned Volumessearched would amount to several hundreds ofpounds, so please be aware. The cost of yourreport is £10 plus the additional £5 for the copyof the Parish entries, sadly I have no controlover these costs, but given the amount informationsupplied I feel certain that you will agree thatthis represents value for money.The Museum is within the confines of WarringtonPolice Station which is an operational stationtherefore visits to the Museum are by appointmentonly, normally on Mondays and Fridays. If youwould like to visit please forward a quick mail acouple of weeks before and I feel certain theCurator Mr. Peter Wroe and Staff will doeverything possible to accommodate you.Payment can be made by going to the Museum websitewww.museumofpolicingincheshire.org.uk within thedrop down 'Index' is the section marked 'FamilyResearch' there it will be seen 'Pay-Pal orDebit/Credit Card' click on this and follow theinstructions, when payment is received by theMuseum Pay-Pal will automatically let the Museumknow. If you prefer to pay by cheque please makeit payable to the 'Museum of Policing in Cheshire'and send it to the Curator, Mr. Peter Wroe, Museumof Policing, County Police Office, Arpley Street,Warrington, Cheshire CW1 1LQ, if you pay in thismanner will you kindly let me know.If you also read the history of the CheshireConstabulary by going to the web site, INDEX dropdown menu, HISTORY and look for "To the Best ofOur Skill and Knowledge" I feel certain that auseful picture can be obtained of life in theforce at the time, my own opinion is thatdiscipline was draconian and those who strayedoutside the rules were fined way above what theyearned or dismissed. Also the restrictions ontheir private life, an officer was not allowed todrink on or off duty even in his own home. It allcomes down to the fact that up until the 1960'severy Chief Constable of Cheshire was anex-military officer and they of course broughtwith 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 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. Police Constable 330 and 133William BOOTH. (The reason for the two collarnumbers is basically a change when posted fromDivision to another)Born. 1852. (none of the early records shows acomplte date of birth, however I have checkedparish births and he is recorded as being baptisedon the 15th July 1852 in Lower Peover)Date of Entry. 21st July 1879Date of Leaving. 28th April 1900Re-appointed. Not applicable.Final Date of Leaving. 28th April 1900How Discharged. Death in service.Initial Posting. HQ Reserve Division, Chester.Other Postings and Dates. February 1879 Northwich,17 March 1883 Wirral, 18 January 1884 Stockport,08 June 1895 Nantwich.Miscellaneous Information. Previous OccupationLabourer. Prior dated unknown service of 5 monthswith Salford Borough Police. Religion Protestant,Height 5' 9", Age 26. Eyes Grey, Hair Light Brown,Build Proportional. Died 28/04/1900 Willaston(Buried 02/05/1900 at Willaston)Total service on death. 20 years 9 months 7 days.Died. 28th April 1900 aged 47 years 9 months 3days (from baptism date. Buried at Willaston, NrCrewe 2nd May 1900)The Generations NetworkPromotion. Not promotedMisconduct. 12th March 1883 Neglecting to visitCommon Lodging Houses in his District (Northwich)the resort of convicted thieves etc, Reduced to24/6d per week and removed at his own expens toanother Division (Wirral).Comment. The removal from one Division to anotherat the officers own expense was a commonpunishment within the service it was particularlyhard on those officers that were married withfamilies. Nevertheless I also feel that as Williamwas to marry in August he would have incurredunnecessary travelling costs. Plus the additionalloss of 2/- per week and this would take him afurther 4 years service to return to the orginal26/10d per week, indeed discipline as I have saidwas draconian.Weekly Pay. February 1879 23/11d. June 1879 24/6d.August 1880 25/8d. 11th February 1882 26/10d. 12thMarch 1883 24/6d. 13th October 1883 25/10d. 9thOctober 1886 26/10d. 26th December 1887 28/-01/07/1891.Retired on annual pension of. On the 14th July1900 the Standing Joint Committee (equivlant totodays police authority) met and offered a smalllife pension to his widow, however she elected toreceive a one off gratuity payment of £143. 14s.4d.Comment. In 1900, £143. 14s. 4d would have thesame spending worth of about £8.500 at todaysrates.Awards/Good Conduct/Other information. 11thFebruary 1882 Service, 1 Good Conduct Badge, 13thOctober 1883 Service, 1 Good Conduct Badge.Additional information recorded places ofresidence.1871 Plumey Village, (with parents)1881. Village Newbold, Astbury, Congleton,Cheshire.1889. 1 Railway View, Adswood.1891 1 Ardwood Old Road,Cheadle, Cheshire.1895. 26 Park Road, Willaston.1900. 20 Wistatston Road, Willaston, Cheshire.1911. 204 Walthall Street, Crewe.Marriage RecordOfficer. William BOOTHOccupation. Police Constable 330.Age. 31 years.Condition. Bachelor.Place of residence at Marriage. Egremont (Wirral)Date of Marriage. 9th August 1883.Comment. It was not as simple as it sounds gettingmarried whilst a member of the CheshireConstabulary every officer would have to seek thepermission of the Chief Constable and believe itor not this state of affairs remained until 1976,but also the officers intended wife had to submitthree separate references to the Chef Constable tosay that she was a fit and proper person to beallowed to marry a Constable.Place Married. St. Peters Church, Delamere,Cheshire.Fathers Name. William BOOTH.Fathers Occupation. Brick Setter.Spouse. Harriet STUBBSOccupation. Dressmaker.Age. 25 years.Condition. Spinster.Area of residence. Delamere, Cheshire.Fathers Name. George STUBBS.Fathers Occupation. Farm Manager.Attachments:(1) Report re William Booth.(2) Parish baptism entry 1852 William Booth.(3) Parish marriage entry 1883 WilliamBooth/Harriet Stubbs.(4) Parish burial entry 1900 William Booth.(5) Parish baptism entry 1884 Martha Booth.(6) Parish baptism entry 1886 Harriet Booth.(7) Parish baptism entry 1889 James Booth.(8) Parish baptism entry 1892 Lucy Booth.(9) Parish baptism entry 1899 Mildred Booth.(10) Parish marriage entry 1910 MarthaBooth/Joseph Shaw.(11) 1911 Census for Martha Shaw (nee Booth)(12) 1911 Census for Joseph Shaw.(a) As I stated previously I have been unable tofind any baptism record for William (jnr)Museum of Policing in Cheshire,Warrington Police Station, Arpley Street,Warrington. WA1 1LQTel : 01606 36 3848/5803www.museumofpolicingincheshire.org.uk/