X Harry William Morrow ASCROFTDear Nigel,First off I must apologise for the delay inreplying to your enquiry, basically I have beenstranded in Germany due to the very bad weatherthere.Thank you for your nicely worded request forinformation concerning Harry you would besurprised how many enquires we get from people whonever say please or thank you, but first I have topoint out a few things. Sadly the Museum is notgoing to be of much help to you and to explainwhy.The Cheshire Constabulary was formed in April1857; there are many thousands of records, theseare held by the Cheshire Record Office, Chester. Ias a retired Police officer and voluntary PoliceMuseum Researcher 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. Post this datewhilst we do have a record of most officers'detailed information of their service has beendestroyed. I hasten add here that this is not thefault of the Museum but of successive civilianadministrations within the service. In essencewhen an officer retired his personal file wasreviewed and only enough information was retainedto administer their pension.The Museum holds the following PC1020 HarryWilliam Morrow Ascroft, joined 14th November 1956and retired to pension on the 7th November 1986.With regard to his Queens Commendation, from June1965/1966 I have researched the CheshireConstabulary Weekly Orders, these normally containthe daily running of the force and include "FullCommendations" awarded to all officers, for someinexplicable reason no Commendation is recordedfor Harry. The only information recorded is inPart 1 of Weekly Order Number 53, dated 31stDecember 1965 which states "The Supplement to theLondon Gazette of Tuesday, 21st December 1965contains the approval of Her Majesty the Queen tothe following award to the under mentionedofficers of the Cheshire Constabulary for theiraction in arresting an armed man on the 18th June1965. QUEENS COMMENDATION Sergeant 86 DennisScott, Sergeant 939 Douglas Joseph McGaskill,Detective Constable 1020 Harry William MorrowAscroft". I have also attached what is recorded inthe London Gazette. Of course what is not recordedare the events leading up to why the Commendationswas awarded to this end the only thing I suggestis that you contact the Editor of the currentCheshire Constabulary Newspaper the 'Catalyst' andask him if he could research the pre Catalystpaper the 'Cordon' and see if the event wasrecorded. Please when you do so mention that youhave contacted the Museum and they suggested youcontact them. I am aware that they do hold boundvolumes of the 'Cordon' the Editor may beIf you also read the history of the CheshireConstabulary "To the Best of Our Skill andKnowledge" which is on the Museum Web Site, I feelcertain that a useful picture can be obtained oflife in the force at the time, my own opinion isthat discipline was draconian and those whostrayed outside the rule's were fined way abovewhat they earned or dismissed. Also therestrictions on their private life, an officer wasnot allowed to drink on or off duty even in hisown home. It all comes down to the fact that upuntil the 1960's every Chief Constable of Cheshirewas an ex military officer and they of coursebrought with them the military codes of practice.Once again I am truly sorry I have been unable toassist you in any great detail, but can I ask youwhen you get a moment would you send a quick mailso I can mark of your enquiry as completed. If youhave any further questions please don't hesitateto contact me. Jim Talbot. Trustee and Researcher,Cheshire Museum of Policing.