X PatronGerald Cavendish GrosvenorDuke of Westminster, KG, CB, OBE, TD, DLYour ref: JT63/2012Thomas JACKSONDear Peter,Thank you for your nicely worded request forinformation concerning Thomas 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. Therefore, I would like totake you up on your very kind offer of sending theMuseum his picture also 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 3. 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 Thomas'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 yourreport is £10, and given the above information Ifeel certain that you will agree that thisrepresents value for money. (Please seeMiscellaneous Information)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. 486 and 238 Sergeant ThomasJACKSON. (The reason for the two different numbersis to do with being posted from one Division toanother)Born. Circa 11859 Lymm, Cheshire. (None of theearly records contain a full date of birth)Date of Entry. 16th May 1881Date of Leaving. 31st July 1907Re-appointed. Not applicable.Final Date of Leaving. 31st July 1907How Discharged. To pension.Initial Posting. HQ Reserve Division, Chester.Other Postings and Dates. May 1881 Nantwich, 16thApril 1886 Runcorn, 1st July 1890 Macclesfield,22nd November 1890 Crewe, 1st August 1891 HeadQuarters, Chester, 14th November 1891 EllesmerePort, 9th November 1895 Hazel Grove, 1st November1897 New ferry, 1st November 1903 Macclesfield(Gawsworth)Miscellaneous Information. Previous OccupationFustian Cutter. Prior service of 5 years 74 dayswith 2nd Battalion, 8th Regiment of Foot(Liverpool Regt) left May 1881. ReligionProtestant, Height 5' 8", Age 22, Eyes Hazel, HairBrown, Complexion Fresh, Build Proportional. Moleon right side of? This word is indiscernible inthe record. 1st August 1907 Certificate of Servicecharacter marked "Exemplary" sent to him.9th March 1897 Petition to the Chief Constable ofCheshire (at this time the Chief Constable wasJohn Henry Hamersley) signed by 65 persons fromHazel Grove stating"We the undersigned residents of Hazel Grove andneighbourhood most respectfully submit ourpetition for the removal of Sergt Jackson fromHazel Grove in consequence of the malicious,domineering, meddlesome and objectionable mannerin which he performs his duties, being without anytact or discretion and a dangerous man, in whom wehave lost all trust" Yours most respectfully JohnPeter Bardsley.I suppose this petition can be construed inseveral ways in that Thomas was as they state inthe petition or it was just sour grapes by thepeople because Thomas was efficient in the mannerin which he carried out his duties. Either way theChief Constable did not remove him from theDivision until November 1897 when Thomas wasposted to New Ferry. It was the case in those daysthat officers would normally be moved around thecounty every couple of years. I am uncertain ifthe original petition is held at ChesterRecord Office, however I do know that there is aphotocopy of it and it is recorded under thereference CJP27/31/4. I you would like a copyplease bear in mind the prices charged by the PRO,so in the first instance I would contact the PROgiving them the above reference number and askingthem the cost of a copy. I have known them withminor searches that they have sent it out free ofcharge. I have also attached a photograph of HazelGrove police station all be it not the bestquality but the caption below it interesting andshows that after Thomas had been posted to NewFerry a new sergeant was posted in and wasobviously more easy going than Thomas, but at somepoint this sergeant must have been posted and asergeant who perhaps policed in the same manner asThomas was brought in and this led to disorder bythe residents. It perhaps shows that the people ofHazel Grove were a little anti police.Age on retirement 48 years 7 monthsTotal service. 26 years 59 daysDied. 18th December 1914 aged 56 years.The Generations NetworkPromotion. 1st July 1890promoted acting sergeant. 22nd November 1890promoted sergeant.Misconduct. No Misconduct reports recorded againstThomas.Weekly Pay. 16th May 1881 23/11d, 12th November1881 24/6d, 11th November 1882 25/8d, 17th May1884 26/10d, 26th March 1885 28/-, 22nd November1890 Sgt 30/4d, 1st July 1891 33/3d, 1st December1892 34/5d, 1st December 1894 36/2d, 20th November1904 37/4dAnnual Pay on retirement. £97.6s. 8dRetired on annual pension of. £64. 17s 9dTotal pension received prior to death. £479. 2s.0d.Awards/Good Conduct/Other information. 17th May1884 for Service, 1 Good Conduct Badge. 20thNovember 1904 Long and Meritorious Service, MeritBadge and Pay of 2d per day additional pay.Marriage RecordName. Thomas JACKSONOccupation. Police Constable.Age. 25 years.Condition. Bachelor.Place of residence at Marriage. Crewe, Cheshire.Date of Marriage. 9th January 1882Place Married. St. Silas Church, Liverpool.Fathers Name. William JACKSON.Fathers Occupation. Labourer.Spouse. Elizabeth LEWISOccupation. Housemaid.Age. 22 years.Condition. Spinster.Area of residence. Liverpool.Fathers Name. Thomas LEWISFathers Occupation. Labourer.Museum of Policing in Cheshire,Warrington Police Station, Arpley Street,Warrington. WA1 1LQTel : 01606 36 3848/5803www.museumofpolicingincheshire.org.uk/