X PatronGerald Cavendish GrosvenorDuke of Westminster, KG, CB, OBE, TD, DLOur ref: JT46/2012BRIDGWATER and SIMMSDear David ,Thank you for your nicely worded request forinformation you may be surprised how many enquireswe get from people who never say please or thankyou, but first I have to point out a few things.Sadly we do not have photographs, that is to saywe may, there are literally hundreds ofphotographs of officers, but their names werenever recorded on the reverse of the photograph sofrom the Museums perspective they remainunidentifiable. If you have any photographs andyou would like to share a scanned copy would bewonderful or for that matter any other informationyou may have that could be added to their files. Inote your information concerning the £100, I haveto admit I have never come across this before, itmay possibly have been a local thing to the policestation they were working at. Certainly what isrecorded on numerous occasions was that theintended wife of the officer had to submit threereferences to the Chief Constable to say she was afit and proper person to marry an officer, onlythen would he and not always give his permission.Certainly when I joined in 1976, no referenceswere submitted but the Chief had to give hispermission, thankfully this issue does not raiseit's head nowadays.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 in relation to John Simms isrecorded in Volume 5. John and William'sinformation is recorded on a nominal card index.The information regarding their marriage isretained in CJP24/2, 1847-1966. And with regard totheir 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 to1884 are complete, however I have checked throughfrom John Simms joining date until his retirementand any information between these years willappear within your report. As I said there is verylittle recorded within these Orders for John andWilliam.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, and given the above information Ifeel certain that you will agree that thisrepresents 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 I feel certain the CuratorMr. Peter Wroe and Staff will do everythingpossible 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.In February 2009 this Museum received a requestfor information in relation to John Simms from agentleman named Neil Simms, Neil gave his contactthat he has further information regarding John andI feel certain that he would not object to megiving out his email, that is of course he isstill on the same mail.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. Sergeant 245 John HenryGould SIMMS.Born. 1876 Congleton, Cheshire. (none of theearly records contain a full date of birth)Date of Entry. 4th February 1899Date of Leaving. 31st March 1927Re-appointed. Not applicable.Final Date of Leaving. 31st March 1927How Discharged. To pensionInitial Posting. HQ Reserve Division, Chester.Other Postings and Dates. 7th March 1899 NewBrighton, 1st November 1904 Little Neston, 30thJune 1906 Heswall, 19th July 1908 Stockton Heath,1st August 1911 Altrincham, 30th September 1917Cheadle, 17th May 1925 Cheadle Hulme.Miscellaneous Information. Previous OccupationLabourer. Religion Protestant, Height 6' 0", Age23, Eyes Grey, Hair Dark Brown, Complexion Fresh.29th March 1927 Testimonials, Certificate ofService marked "Exemplary" sent to him.1901 Census resident as a Boarder at 17 SandfieldRoad, Liscard, Wallasey.1911 Census 10 Kinmberly Drive, Stockton Heath,Cheshire.Age on retirement 51 years 4 months.Total service. 27 years 353 daysDied. 6th March 1946, aged 70 years, Cheadle,Stockport, CheshireThe Generations NetworkPromotion. 19th July 1908promoted Acting Sergeant. 1st August 1911 promotedSergeant.Misconduct. No Misconduct reports recordedWeekly Pay. 4th February 1899 25/1d, 1st March1900 26/3d, 1st March 1901 26/10d, 1st March 190228/-, 1st March 1904 29/2d, 1st March 1906 30/4d,4th February 1911 31/6d, 1st August 1911 Sgt at33/3d, 1st April 1912 36/2d, 1st August 191336/9d, 1st July 1919 40/10d, 1st August 1918 42/-,1st August 1917 43/2d, 30th September 1918 52/6d,10th November 1918 62/-, 24th November 191863/2d, 1st April 1919 112/6d.Retired on annual pension of £195.13s. 5d.Awards/Good Conduct/Other information. 24thNovember 1918 Long Service and Good Conduct, MeritBadge and 2d per day additional pay.Marriage Record (See also Marriage Licenceattachment)Officer. John Henry Gould SIMMS.Occupation. Police Constable.Age. 28 years.Condition. Bachelor.Place of residence at Marriage. New Brighton.Date of Marriage. 7th April 1904Place Married. St James Church, Congleton.Fathers Name. William SIMMS.Fathers Occupation. Cart owner.Spouse. Alice ALMOND.Occupation. None stated.Age. 23 years.Condition. Spinster.Area of residence. Congleton, Cheshire.Fathers Name. George ALMONDFathers Occupation. Coachman.=====================================================================Collar Number/Rank. 195 Sergeant John SamuelBRIDGWATER.Born. Tranmere, Wirral 10th August 1906Date of Entry. 7th December 1927Date of Leaving. 27th June 1953Re-appointed. Not applicable.Final Date of Leaving. 27th June 1953How Discharged. To pensionInitial Posting. HQ Reserve Division, Chester.Other Postings and Dates. Runcorn and AltrinchamDates not known.Age on retirement 46 years 10 monthsTotal service. 25 years 203 days.Died. October~Dec quarter 1971 Runcorn, CheshireThe Generations NetworkPromotion. Possibly 1947 tothe rank of Sergeant.Misconduct. None recorded.Annual pay on retirement. £548.7s 4d.Retired on annual pension of £283.6s. 5d.Awards/Good Conduct/Other information. Police LongService Good Conduct Medal awarded 1951Marriage RecordOfficer. 195 Sgt John Samuel BRIDGWATEROccupation. Sergeant of Police.Age. 34 years.Condition. Bachelor.Place of residence at Marriage. 17 Cynthia Road,Runcorn.Date permission granted by Chief Constable tomarry. 19th July 1941Date of Marriage. 16th August 1941.Place Married. Presbyterian Church, Hoylake,Cheshire.Fathers Name. Samuel Herbert BRIDGWATER.(Deceased)Fathers Occupation. Grocer.Spouse. Dorothy STANLEY.Occupation. Shop Assistant.Age. 26 yearsCondition. Spinster.Area of residence. 32 Groveland Avenue, Hoylake.Fathers Name. Frederick STANLEY.Fathers Occupation. Painter and Decorator=====================================================================Collar Number/Rank. PC154 William RobertBRIDGWATERBorn. Tranmere, Wirral 1st July 1911Date of Entry. 19th October 1932Date of Leaving. 17th June 1933Resigned. 17th June 1933 no reason recorded.Re-appointed. 20th June 1934.Final Date of Leaving. 20th October 1958How Discharged. To pensionInitial Posting. HQ Reserve Division, Chester.Other Postings and Dates. Wirral Division.Age on retirement 47years 3 months.Total service. 25 years. (Normal service beforeretirement was for any officer who had served aminimum of 25 years)Died. 29th December 1998, District of Chester andEllesmere Port.The Generations NetworkPromotion. None recorded.Misconduct. None recorded.Annual Pay. £657.13s. 2d.Retired on annual pension of £283.6s. 5d.Awards/Good Conduct/Other information. Police LongService and Good Conduct Medal awarded 1956.Marriage RecordOfficer. PC 154 William Robert BRIDGWATEROccupation. Police Constable.Age. 27 years.Condition. Bachelor.Place of residence at Marriage. Altrincham Road,Wilmslow. Cheshire.Date permission granted by Chief Constable tomarry. 15th August 1938.Date of Marriage. 22nd September 1938Place Married. St. Mary's Church, CheadleStockport.Fathers Name. Samuel Herbert BRIDGWATER (Deceased)Fathers Occupation. Not stated.Spouse. Millicent Ellen SIMMSOccupation. Not recorded.Age. 30 years.Condition. Spinster.Area of residence. Cheadle, Cheshire.Fathers Name. John Henry Gould SIMMS.Fathers Occupation. Retired Police Sergeant,Cheshire.Museum of Policing in Cheshire,Warrington Police Station, Arpley Street,Warrington. WA1 1LQTel : 01606 36 3848/5803www.museumofpolicingincheshire.org.uk/