X PatronGerald Cavendish GrosvenorDuke of Westminster, KG, CB, OBE, TD, DLYour ref: JT60/2012Samuel WHITEHEADDear Julie,Thank you for your nicely worded request forinformation concerning Samuel 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 toSamuel's 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 5. 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 Samuel'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, with the exception of theBaptism etc. entries. You can of course have therecords 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 £15, and given theabove information I feel certain that you willagree that this represents value for money.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 ask.Jim TalbotTrustee and Researcher, Cheshire Museum ofPolicing.Collar Number/Rank. Police Constable 212 SamuelWHITEHEADBorn. 1874 (none of the early records gives asfull date of birth, however his Baptism isrecorded as 1st March 1874, at Raby, Birkenhead.Date of Entry. 5th November 1898Date of Leaving. 2nd February 1924Re-appointed. Not applicable.Final Date of Leaving. 2nd February 1924How Discharged. To pension.Initial Posting. HQ Reserve Division, Chester.Other Postings and Dates. 1st February 1899 NewBrighton, 26th April 1903 Weaverham, 1st May 1910Eddisbury Barrow, 19th May 1918 Tilston, 17thDecember 1921 Ellesmere Port.Miscellaneous Information. Previous OccupationLabourer. Religion Protestant, Height 5' 10", Age24, Eyes Brown, Hair Black, Complexion Fresh. Scarleft eye. 31st January 1924 Certificate of Servicewith Character marked "Exemplary" sent to him.1st March 1919 Police Representative at PoliceConferences (Equivalent to today's PoliceFederation).21st March 1917. During the World War1 a requestwas made by the Chief Constable for any officerwho was able to volunteer as a Ploughman, Samuel'sname appears on this list.17th November 1920 Cheshire Police Representativeat the London Police Conference.1901 Census. 10 Primrose Grove, Poulton cumSeacombe.1911 Census. Great Barrow, Near Chester.Age on retirement. 49 years 11 months.Total service. 25 years 90 days.Died. Wirral 11th October 1934 aged 60 years 7months.The Generations NetworkPromotion. None.Misconduct. 14th July 1899 (1) Absent from his 4amConference Point at "The Grove", Seacombe (2)Quitting his beat at Seacombe (3) Smoking when onpatrol duty at Seacombe, Fined 5/- by the ChiefConstable.Weekly Pay. 5th November 1898 25/1d, 1st December1899 26/3d, 1st December 1900 26/10d, 1st December1901 28/-, 1st December 1903 29/2d,1st December 1905 30/4d, 5th November 1910 31/6d,1st April 1912 33/3d, 1st July 1915 37/4d, 1stJuly 1918 38/6d, 30th September 1918 45/6d, 10thNovember 1918 54/2d, 1st April 1919 92/6d, 5thNovember 1920 95/-.Retired on annual pension of. £153.13s.3d.Total time on pension. 10 years 292 days.Total pension received. £1639.10s.2dAwards/Good Conduct/Other information. 1st July1918 Long Service and Good Conduct, Merit Badgeand 2d per day additional pay.Marriage RecordOfficer. Samuel WHITEHEADOccupation. Police Officer.Age. 27 years.Condition. Bachelor.Place of residence at Marriage. 2 Beatrice Street,Seacombe.Date permission granted to marryBy the Chief Constable. 8th January 1901.Inessence the intended wife of the officer had tosubmit 2 references to the Chief Constable to saythat she was a fit and proper person to marry apolice officer. (This very indignant procedure wasonly removed in Cheshire in the early 1970's)Date of Marriage. 6th February 1901.Place Married. St. Saviour's, Oxton, Wirral.Fathers Name. William WHITEHEADFathers Occupation. Farmer.Spouse. Martha E. TILSTONOccupation. None given.Age. 28 years.Condition. SpinsterArea of residence. 1 Gerald Road, Oxton.Fathers Name. John TILSTONFathers Occupation. Butcher.Museum of Policing in Cheshire,Warrington Police Station, Arpley Street,Warrington. WA1 1LQTel : 01606 36 3848/5803www.museumofpolicingincheshire.org.uk/