X PatronGerald Cavendish GrosvenorDuke of Westminster, KG, CB, OBE, TD, DLYour ref: JT54/2012Charles CHALLENORDear Tim and Suzanne,Thank you for your nicely worded request forinformation concerning Charles 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. Throughout all searches thedifferent spellings of the surname i.e. Challinor,Challenor have been checked and the name Challenoron his police record is used.With regard to access to the Parish Records Ithink we are the only Police Museum that tries togive a little more than the average police reportit also helps that the Chester Public RecordOffice where the Parish Records are held is fairlyclose by and we have a good working relationshipbut not that good that we get them for free but alittle cheaper.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 5. The information regarding his marriageis retained in CJP24/2, 1847-1966.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 avery long and slow process, only the years from1857 to 1884 are complete, however I have checkedthrough from Charles joining date until his end ofservice 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 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 and this would not include theParish Records search; therefore your bill shouldyou wish to have all the above mentioned Volumessearched would amount to several hundreds ofpounds, so please be aware. The cost of yourreport is £15 in total, and given the aboveinformation I feel certain that you will agreethat this 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 you areever in the UK and you would like to visit pleaseforward a quick mail a couple of weeks before andI feel certain the Curator Mr. Peter Wroe andStaff will do everything possible to accommodateyou.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 Talbot Trustee and Researcher, Cheshire Museumof Policing.Collar Number/Rank. Acting Sergeant 400 CharlesCHALLENORBorn. 1877 Aldford, Cheshire. (None of the earlyrecords detail a full date of birth)Date of Entry. 4th February 1899Date of Leaving. 21st September 1912Re-appointed. Not applicable.Final Date of Leaving. 21st September 1912How Discharged. Resignation.Initial Posting. HQ Reserve Division, Chester.Other Postings and Dates. 1st April 1899 Egremont,4th May 1899 New Brighton, 30th September 1899Egremont, 23rd March 1901 Upton, (Chester) 1stJuly 1906 Little Sutton, 21st January 1912 NewFerry. (All these locations fall within the policeDivision of WIRRAL.Miscellaneous Information. Previous OccupationLabourer. Religion Protestant, Height 5' 11", Age21, Eyes Light Blue, Hair Dark, and ComplexionFresh. Cut mark on knuckle 1st finger left hand.21st September 1912 Certificate of Service withcharacter marked "Good" sent to him.Age on retirement 35 years 0 months and 19 days(from Baptism date)Total service. 13 years 7 months 17 daysDied. Unknown.The Generations NetworkPromotion. 1st January 1912Promoted Acting Sergeant.Misconduct. 26th December 1904 under the influenceof drink when on duty at Upton at 8.20pm, Fined10/-.Weekly 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 April 1912 33/3d.Unfortunately it does not state in the recordswhat his weekly pension contributions were,however on his resignation all these amounts wouldhave been returned to him in a lump sum.Awards/Good Conduct/Other information. No goodConduct or other information recorded.Marriage RecordOfficer. Charles CHALLENOROccupation. Police Constable 400Age. 24 years.Condition. Bachelor.Place of residence at Marriage. Overchurch,Wirral.Date of Marriage. 13th August 1901.Place Married. St. Mary's Church, Bruera, Nr.Chester.Fathers Name. James CHALLENORFathers Occupation. Groom.Spouse. Elizabeth WOODCOCK.Occupation. Nil.Age. 22 years.Condition. Spinster.Area of residence. Huntington, Nr. ChesterFathers Name. Daniel WOODCOCK (Deceased)Fathers Occupation. Labourer.Having confirmed with you that Charles left forNew Zealand with his new wife Elsie I checked fortheir marriage in Halifax, Yorkshire on theNational Database, there being no Parish Recordsavailable for Halifax at Chester. It will be seenthat they married in the April-June Quarter of1925 in Halifax. I also checked the 1911 Censusfor Halifax and found an Elsie Teal 24 years,single and a School teacher resident with herwidowed Mother Annie Teal at 32 College Terrace,Halifax. (Census attached)I then returned to Cheshire Parish Records, LocalBirth Marriages and Deaths Records (This site maybe viewed free of charge at www.cheshirebmd.org.uk) and then National BMD, I was unable to find anytrace of Elizabeth dying or remarrying under thenames CHALLENOR (CHALLINOR) or WOODCOCK.Unfortunately the Matrimonial Divorce Records forCheshire only go up to 1903.Museum of Policing in Cheshire,Warrington Police Station, Arpley Street,Warrington. WA1 1LQTel : 01606 36 3848/5803www.museumofpolicingincheshire.org.uk/