X PatronGerald Cavendish GrosvenorDuke of Westminster, KG, CB, OBE, TD, DLYour ref: JT52/2012John BRADBURYDear Christine,Thank you for your nicely worded request forinformation concerning John you may 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. If you have a photographand you would like to share it a scanned copywould be wonderful and the family historyinformation you have will be a good addition toJohn's file, one never knows in the future someoneelse may contact.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 4. The information regarding his marriageis retained in CJP24/2, 1847-1966. And with regardto his pension CJP20/2/1, 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 John's joining date until hisretirement and any information between these yearswill 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 check the records yourself or havethem confirmed by the Chester Records OfficeArchivist. But it would be remiss of me if I didnot point out that The Record Office will chargeyou a minimum of £27 per search per volume;therefore your bill should you wish to have allthe above mentioned Volumes searched would amountto several hundreds of pounds, so please be aware.The cost of your report is £10, and given theabove information I feel certain that you willagree that this represents value for money.However, I note you already have his payinformation so in the event that the remainder ofthe information I am sending is the same as youalready have then obviously the charge of £10 willnot be requested.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.If you are making payment it can be made by goingto 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. 118 and 249 PC JohnBRADBURY. (During the period of John's service thechange in collar numbers comes about because of achange of the Division's at which he served)Born. Circa 1861 High Leigh, Knutsford, Cheshire(none of the early records contain an exact dateof birth)Date of Entry. 22nd February 1886Date of Leaving. 31st March 1912Re-appointed. Not applicable.Final Date of Leaving. 31st March 1912.How Discharged. To pensionInitial Posting. HQ Reserve Division, Chester.Other Postings and Dates. 13th March 1886 Hyde,15th January 1890 Macclesfield. 25th July 1896Ashton on Mersey, 15th September 1900 Compstall,30th September 1910 Crewe (Shavington).Miscellaneous Information. Previous occupationLabourer. Religion Protestant, Height 5' 10", Age25, Eyes Hazel, Hair Brown, Complexion Fresh,Build Proportional. 30th March 1912 Certificate ofService with character marked "Exemplary" sent tohim.Census Address. 1891. Hurdsfield RoadMacclesfield. 1901 169 George Street, Crompstall,Stockport. 1911 The Police Station, Shavington,Crewe.Age on retirement 51 years 4 months.Total service. 26 years 39 daysDied. 10th September 1913, aged 52 years 9 months.The Generations NetworkPromotion. Not promoted.Misconduct. None recorded.Weekly Pay. 22nd February 1886 23/11d, 25th March1887 24/6d, 30th September 1887 25/8d, 1st April1889 26/10d, 1st January 1891 28/-, 1st July 189130/4d, 1st March 1898 31/6d, 1st February 190632/8d. Retired on annual pension of £56.15s.6d.Total time on pension. 1 year 163 days.Total pension received. £82.2s.7d.Awards/Good Conduct/Other information. 1stFebruary 1906 For Efficient Service and GoodConduct, Merit Badge and 2d per day additionalpay. 16th August 1912 Awarded Their MajestiesCoronation Medal noted in Weekly Orders 209/1912.Where the reference BSI appears in the Museumdatabase this applies to a website known as theBlack Sheep Index www.blacksheepindex.co.uk thisis a site that carries 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. In 1897 itshows John as "Giving Evidence " in 1896 "Assault"here I presume he was assaulted during duty and1912 "Presentation" here again I presume it noteshis retirement from the force. There are chargesinvolved to obtain these cuttings direct from theowner of the website. It is emphasized that theMuseum does not know the contents of thesecuttings and takes no responsibility for them. TheMuseum is only showing this as an aid that thereis further information from another source. Shouldyou decide you would like this article whenrequesting them please make reference to thisMuseum, whilst you won't get it any cheaper it mayjust speed up the process?Marriage RecordOfficer. John BRADBURYOccupation. Police Constable.Age. 27 yearsCondition. Bachelor.Place of residence at Marriage. Newton.Date of Marriage. 3rd October 1887Place Married. St. Mary's Church, Newton.Fathers Name. J. BradburyFathers Occupation. Farmer, Cheshire.Spouse. Martha E. BARKEROccupation. Servant.Age. 23 yearsCondition. Spinster.Area of residence. Buxton.Fathers Name. Charles BARKERFathers Occupation. Farmer, Stafford.Museum of Policing in Cheshire,Warrington Police Station, Arpley Street,Warrington. WA1 1LQTel : 01606 36 3848/5803www.museumofpolicingincheshire.org.uk/