X PatronGerald Cavendish GrosvenorDuke of Westminster, KG, CB, OBE, TD, DLYour ref: JT49/2012Alfred DUTTONDear Paul,Thank you for your nicely worded request forinformation concerning Alfred 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 or for that matter any otherinformation you may have that could be added tohis 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 4. 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 a very long and slow process, only the yearsfrom 1857 to 1884 are complete, however I havechecked through from Alfred's joining date untilhis retirement and any information between theseyears 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 your report is£10, and given the above information I feelcertain that you will agree that this representsvalue 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. PC116 Alfred DUTTONBorn. 1867, none of the early records record atfull date of birth, but I have checked and itwould appear that Alfred perhaps was born in theJuly or August of 1867, his Christening Recordshows he was Christened on the 25th August 1867(attached).Date of Entry. 12th January 1886Date of Leaving. 31st October 1898Re-appointed. Not applicable.Final Date of Leaving. 31st October 1898How Discharged. Discharged on ill health. Normallyit would state in the Pensions Register if hereceived a pension or a one off Gratuity paymentfor his service, it does not give any information.In this instance it would more than likely be asmall gratuity of about £25.Initial Posting. HQ Reserve Division, Chester.Other Postings and Dates. 3rd April 1886 Wirral.20th May 1887 Runcorn. 2nd November 1889 Nantwich.23rd November 1895 Mobberley.Miscellaneous Information. Previous OccupationLabourer, Religion Protestant, Height 6' 0", Age20. Eyes Blue, Hair Light Brown, Complexion Fresh,Build Proportional.Age on retirement. 31 years 2 months and 6 days.Total service. 12 years 9 months and 19 days.Died. Unknown.The Generations NetworkPromotion. None recorded.Misconduct. 1st May 1897 Contracting a debt of3/2d with W. Prince of Audlem, a Provision Dealerbetween the 7th March 1895 and 1st February 1896,Fined 2/6d by the Chief Constable.Weekly Pay. 12th January 1886 23/11d, 26thDecember 1886 24/6d, 26th March 1888 25/8d, 1stApril 1889 26/10d, 1st April 1891 28/-, 1st July1891 29/2d, 1st February 1893 30/4d, 1st February1898 31/6d.Awards/Good Conduct/Other information. No goodconduct remarks recorded. It is noted from the1871 Census he was resident with his parents atHollow Moor Heath, Barrow, Chester. 1881 Censusnot found. 1891 Audlem Village. It is also notedthat the following children are to Alfred and hiswife Jane, (1) Edith Annie, Christened 1886. (2)Ethel Christened 1888. (3) Jane Christened 1891.(4) Alfred Christened 1897. (all Christeningrecords attached).I appreciate you already have this information butit is perhaps worth just cross referencing withyour information.Marriage RecordOfficer. Alfred DuttonOccupation. Labourer.Age. 21 years.Condition. Bachelor.Place of residence at Marriage. Picton Hall.Date of Marriage. 9th January 1886Place Married. Registrar's Office, Chester.Fathers Name. John DUTTONFathers Occupation. Labourer, Chester.Spouse. Jane HOPLEYOccupation. Servant.Age. 24 years.Condition. Widow.Area of residence. Picton Hall.Fathers Name. William Jones.Fathers Occupation. Collier.Museum of Policing in Cheshire,Warrington Police Station, Arpley Street,Warrington. WA1 1LQTel : 01606 36 3848/5803www.museumofpolicingincheshire.org.uk/