X William and John GOSLINGDear Lorraine,Thank you for your nicely worded request forinformation concerning William and John you wouldbe surprised how many enquires we get from peoplewho never say please or thank you, but first Ihave to point out a few things. Sadly we do nothave a photograph, that is to say there will notbe a photograph of William, photographs ofofficers for this period were very rarely taken,we may have one for John, there are literallyhundreds of photographs of officers, but theirnames were never recorded on the reverse of thephotographs, so from our point they remainunidentified.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 concerning William is retained inVolume 1, and with William only serving a shortperiod little is recorded. John is recorded inVolume 3 information regarding John's marriage isretained in CJP24/2, 1847-1966, and with regard tohis pension CJP20/2/1, 1857-1965.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 total bill wouldbe in excess of £100, so please be aware or ofcourse visit the PRO at Chester. The Museumcharges, for searching the three volumes are on areducing scale i.e. dependant on the informationrecorded, the maximum amount payable is £10, whichrepresents good value. Your remittance is £8 andas we are working on a trust basis please forwardpayment by cheque made payable to the 'Museum ofPolicing in Cheshire' and forward it to TheCurator, Mr. Peter Wroe, Museum of Policing inCheshire, Warrington Police Station, ArpleyStreet, Warrington, Cheshire. WA1. 1LQ.The Museum is situated at the main Police Stationin Warrington however, it is currently closed forrenovations, but please re contact in severalweeks if you wish to visit, it is open by priorappointment on Mondays and Fridays and the Curatorwill be happy to show you around.If you also read the history of the CheshireConstabulary "To the Best of Our Skill andKnowledge" which is on the Museum Web Site, underthe drop down bar marked 'History' I feel certainthat a useful picture can be obtained of life inthe force at the time, my own opinion is thatdiscipline was draconian and those who strayedoutside the rule's 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 an exmilitary officer and they of course brought withthem the military codes of practice.Can I ask you when you get a moment would you senda quick mail so I can mark of your enquiry ascompleted? If you have any further questionsplease don't hesitate to contact me. Jim Talbot.Volunteer Trustee and Researcher Cheshire Museumof Policing.Collar Number/Rank. William GOSLINGBorn. Circa 1826 Macclesfield, Cheshire.Date of Entry. 7th July 1857Date of Leaving. 25th March 1863Final Date of Leaving. 25th March 1863How Discharged. Resigned.Initial Posting. Broxton.Other Postings and Dates. 12th July 1859 Bucklow,25 March 1863 Eddisbury.Miscellaneous Information. None recorded.Promotion/Misconduct. No promotion or Misconductreported.Weekly Pay. 15th July 1858 19/- to 20/-. 16thNovember 1861 20/- to 21/-.Awards/Good Conduct/Other information. Nonerecorded.Collar Number/Rank. Sergeant 21 and 127 JohnGOSLING. His collar number would have changed from21 to 127 on promotion to Sergeant.Born. Circa 1851 Stockport, Cheshire.Date of Entry. 25th July 1873Date of Leaving. 31st July 1899Final Date of Leaving. 31st July 1899How Discharged. To pension.Initial Posting. HQ Reserve Division, Chester.Other Postings and Dates. July 1873 Wirral. August1879 Broxton. December 1880 Northwich (Wharton).17 April 1888 Runcorn. 01 February 1894 StocktonHeath.Miscellaneous Information. Census returns 1881Northwich, Winsford. 1891 Runcorn. ReligionProtestant, Height 5' 8", Age 22, Eyes Hazel, HairDark Brown, Complexion Dark, Build Proportional.Character "Most Exemplary" sent 10th August 1899.Age on retirement 48 years. Total service 26 years21 days. Died 8th April 1917 aged 75 years 9months.Misconduct. No Misconduct reports recorded. ( Ishould perhaps make a comment here and say thatJohn appears to be an exception to the rule asthere are not many officers of this period, inparticular 1878-1881 who did not fall foul of thethen Chief Constable, Captain Arrowsmith, who wasrelentless in his discipline of the officers, andwhom I can only describe him as nothing short ofan autocratic bully.Promotion. December 1880 Promoted SergeantWeekly Pay. June 1873 20/-. July 1873 21/-.December 1873 22/-. December 1873 23/4d. August1874 24/6d. December 1874 25/8d. January 187626/10d. October 1876 28/-. November 1878 promoted2nd Class Sgt. November 1879 promoted Merit Class29/2d. December 1880 promoted Sergeant at 30/4d.2nd December 1882 32/8d. 1st July 1891 36/2d. 1stFebruary 1894 37/4d.Discharged with a pension of £64.17s.9d per annum.Total time on pension 27 years 267 days.Total pension received £1796.12s.4d.Awards/Good Conduct/Other information. November1879 for Service, Merit Badge and Pay of 2d perday. March 1880 Service, 2 Good Conduct Badges.2nd December 1882 Bravery in Bostock PoachingAffray, Promoted to £1.12s.8d per week, 1stFebruary 1894 Long and Meritorious Service, MeritBadge and Pay of 2d per day.1881 Census address. Police Station, West DudleyStreet, Wharton, Winsford.1891 Census address. 1 Speakman Street, Runcorn,Cheshire.Marriage RecordOfficer. John GOSLINGOccupation. Police Constable.Age. 26 years.Condition. Bachelor.Place of residence at Marriage. Birkenhead.Date of Marriage. 29th April 1876Place Married. St. Mary's Church, Birkenhead.Fathers Name. William GOSLINGFathers Occupation. Ex Police Constable.Spouse. Alice COPELAND.Occupation. Nurse.Age. 23 years.Condition. Spinster.Place of residence. Bebbington.Fathers Name. Joseph COPELANDFathers Occupation. Forester, Cheshire.