Rochdale Borough Police [leisure trust, arts heritage, sports centres, fitness health, rochdale, link4life, entertainment, Rochdale Boroughwide Cultural Trust, museum, middleton arena, gallery, touchstones, local studies, central, bowlee, springhill, marland, heywood, littleborough,]
Chief Constable Leonard Barry Riding in Jubilee Parade (c.1906)
Rochdale Police Band (1882)
Rochdale Detectives (c.1890)
Special Constables in Castleton in WW1
Police in centenery march-past, Rochdale (1957)
Police HQ (Rochdale) under construction (1970)
Leonard Barry, Chief Constable of Rochdale (1901)
DI Harry Stables as a young policeman (1919). DI Stables was killed on duty in 1941.
William Woolley, Rochdale's first beadle 1831-45
Hamer Police Station, formerly the Toll Bar. c 1970
Rochdale’s Borough Police Force came into force in February 1857, following the town’s Incorporation as a Borough in 1856. John Henry Callender was the first Chief Officer of the Borough Police, from 1857 – 1863.
Prior to this, Rochdale’s original ‘Watchmen’ had been disbanded in 1841 when the Constabulary Force Act meant that Rochdale was absorbed by the Middleton Division of the newly formed Lancashire County Constabulary Force. The Divisional HQ for this force was situated at the junction of Cheetham Street and Yorkshire Street. This ‘imposition’ was not to the liking of Rochdale’s Police Commissioners at the time, and they continued to protest regularly over the next few years.
Writing in ‘Cuffs & Handcuffs,’ a history of the Rochdale Borough Police Force, Stanley Waller tells us that the Lancashire Constabulary busied itself with the suppression of witchcraft & fortune telling in the town. In 1844, Superintendent Fowler prosecuted a man called John Hill on charges of fortune telling and astrology in front of the Rochdale Magistrates. During the hearing references were made to another 11 astrologists who were apparently practicing in the town. Evidence against John Hill was given by Ellen Clegg; her husband, James, was Captain of the Watch.
The Witchcraft Act was repealed in 1951, when it was replaced by the Fraudulent Mediums Act. However, most prosecutions for fortune telling & astrology were under Section 4 of the Vagrancy Act (1824).
The watchmen had been appointed by the town’s Police Commissioners (prior to the new Lancashire County Force) under the Rochdale Act, which was passed in 1825. The Police Commissioners were responsible for the ‘affairs’ of the town, although their functions were not, as Stanley Waller put it, in 1957, “as comprehensive as the present day Town Council.” One of their privileges was the appointment of ‘Watchmen, night patrols and beadles.’ In 1825 they enrolled twelve men as night watch-men, with a captain. James Clegg was the last of these captains. When he lost his post in 1841, with the coming of the Lancashire Police Force, he became Governor of Marland Workhouse.
In August 1829 the Police Commissioners appointed Charles Johnson as Constable, rate Collector and Inspector of Nuisances. He was granted a salary of £200, out of which he had to pay the wages of two assistants called ‘Beadles.’ Later on, in 1831, the position Charles Johnson held was re-named – to ‘Deputy Constable.’ This was to avoid confusion because the Police Commissioners had decided to appoint a Chairman for their meetings – who was to be called the Honorary Chief Constable. From 1844 the Chairmen of the Police Committee became known as High Constables.
Early Uniforms
Watchmen had worn a ‘uniform topcoat’ over their own clothes, and carried a stick and a dark lantern. In 1857, following the appointment of Captain Callender as Chief Officer of the Rochdale Borough Police Force, a more stylish uniform was decided upon. It consisted of a blue swallow tailed frock coat with bright buttons and blue trousers. A tall hat with a leather top was also to be worn, with a leather stock and brass buckle. For cold and wet weather a great coat and cloth cape were issued too.
Government Inspectors.
The first inspection of Rochdale’s Police Force by a Government Inspector took place on 8th September 1857. Lt. Col. Woodford, H.M. Inspector of Constabulary undertook this inspection and sent his report to the town council. He was of the opinion that the Police Force in Rochdale was short of men. By 1857, the Police Commissioners of the town had been replaced by the Town Council and its ‘Watch Committee.’
Captain Callender’s first report to the Watch Committee, which he made on 4th November 1858, included the following details about prisoners:
“The number of prisoners apprehended have been 679, or 2.09 per cent on estimated population of 32,380, but this comparison it must be remembered extends over a period of eighteen months. Of that number, 71. 2% or 480 were English; 27.1% or 184 were Irish; 1.47% or 10 were Scotch; .044% or 3 were Welsh; .029% or 2 were foreigners; 48.15% or 327 could neither read nor write; 33.28% or 226 could read only; 17.67% or 120 could read and write imperfectly; but only .088% or 6 had received a superior education. There were in work 232 when apprehended and 447 out of work.”
In 1863 Superintendent Callender was succeeded as police chief by Lieutenant W. C. Sylvester, at an annual salary of £140, plus house, coal and lighting. In 1864, Superintendent Sylvester opted for the new title of Chief Constable. Sergeants Cragg and Stead were promoted to the rank of Inspector in the same year, with their salaries increased to 26 shillings a week. The establishment of the Force was now a Chief Constable, two Inspectors, four sergeants, five first class constables, four second class constables and twenty-two third class constables. The policemen were given seven days leave of absence per year, and one Sunday in each month was also free. The cost of the policing of the town in 1864 was £1,928 7s 2d.
Chief Constable Sylvester was succeeded by Roland Davies in 1867; he in turn was followed by Samuel Stevens who served the town between 1869 and 1881. Stevens was responsible for taking drastic action to curb drunk & disorderly behaviour in the town and Rebe Taylor, writing in ‘Rochdale Retrospect,’ tells us that he received a letter of congratulation form the Home Office for his ‘prompt and drastic action.’ In 1870, prior to Steven’s ‘clamp down,’ there had been 790 reported cases of drunkenness – but by 1872 every public house in Church Lane had been either closed down or summonsed. He also obtained a Rochdale Bye-law in 1872 that allowed for the local exaction of fines of up to £10. That year also saw the transference of the Police headquarters to the newly opened Town Hall. The HQ had previously been in Union Street. The HQ of Rochdale Police was to remain at the Town Hall until the new Police Station for the County Police HQ (Rochdale Division) was built on the Holme in 1970.
Houses of Ill-Repute.
Church Lane, along with The Gank was Rochdale’s ‘red light’ district in those days, with many public houses known to be ‘houses of ill repute – the resort of thieves and prostitutes.’ Writing in ‘Cuffs & Handcuffs,’ Stanley Waller tells us that these streets ‘almost wholly consisted of dens of infamy; brothels approached by narrow passages in which robberies were frequent and brutal, and low class beer-houses.’ In 1869, when Stevens was appointed as Chief Constable, the licensing of public houses and beer-houses passed from the Inland Revenue Department to the Magistrates, who promptly refused licences to eight of the infamous houses in the area. These were:
The Church Tavern, Church Lane,
The Clogger’s Arms, Church lane,
The Coach & Horses, Church Lane
The Old Clock Lane, Church Lane
The Gadabout, the Gank,
The Globe Inn, Packer Meadow,
The Lower Anchor Inn, Packer Street,
St Chad’s Tavern, Packer Street.
Boundary Extensions & Police Sub-Stations.
When the Borough Boundaries were extended it was decided that there was a need for police ‘sub-stations’ to serve the new areas. As a result the old Toll House at Hamer, on Halifax Road, was purchased and converted in 1872 – for the total sum of £545. In 1873 the Toll House & Weighing Room at Cronkeyshaw were bought. This building was used as a police station until 1908, when it was replaced by another building in Mellor St.
Police Fire Brigade.
When John Eccles, the Superintendent of the Rochdale Fire brigade, retired in December 1877, the fire brigade was merged into the police force.
The personnel of the new Police Fire Brigade consisted of an inspector and seventeen sergeants and constables, who were reported to be efficiently trained by 3rd May 1878 – at which time the services of the old Fire Brigade were no longer required. The police-firemen (also known as ‘fire-bobbies’) received an extra allowance on top of their police pay. The sergeants received 3 shillings per week extra, and the constables two shillings.
Chief Constable Wilkinson oversaw the building of a new fire station at Alfred Street (in the vicinity of the Municipal offices and present Bus Station). It opened in 1893 and dwellings for the firemen were built nearby. In May 1933 the Fire Brigade Station on Maclure road was opened.
For more details about the brigade, go to Rochdale Fire Brigade.
Changes, Improvements & Innovations.
In 1886 the police began an ambulance service – first of all with a horse-drawn vehicle and later, in 1915, with a motor driven ambulance. They continued to supply this service until 1942.
When Leonard Barry was Chief Constable (between 1898 and 1917) he instigated the use of finger printing in the town, and advocated the use of police dogs. The first police dog arrived in the town in 1911. However, the next Chief Constable, Henry Howarth, disposed of the dogs. In 1926 he presided over the sale of the last of the fire brigade horses (Duke) too.
In 1902 police HQ was lit by electric light. Telephones had been installed for some time between the police and fire brigade stations – since the year after the Town hall Fire, in fact ( 1884).
In 1929 Henry Howarth had 22 police call boxes erected throughout the town. These were connected to the police switchboard.
Writing in Rochdale Retrospect, Rebe Taylor gave the following account of policing the town between 1906 and 1956:
“In the early years of the century, the Rochdale Police were in charge of three services which have since been separated from their parent body: in 1921, four years after Henry Howarth was appointed as Chief Constable, in succession to Mr. Barry, the Weights and Measures Department was separated from the Borough Police; in 1941 the Fire Brigade was nationalised and, consequently, became detached from the Police Force; in 1942 the Ambulance Service was transferred to the Health Department.
One of the most noticeable single features affecting the Police Force since 1906 has been the development of motor traffic. In 1903 there were about 20 owner-driven motor cars within the Borough and the Watch Committee soon considered the question of limiting the speed of SO motor traffic to 10 miles an hour, but abandoned this idea when, according to an article written by the late Mr. W. D. Watson, members of the Rochdale Motor Club pointed Out that the local steam tram cars were already flu achieving a speed of 30 miles per hour. In 1915 the first motor-driven 13 ambulance was purchased for the Police Force, although horse ambulances continued in use until the ‘20’s.
Increasing motor traffic led to Fleece Street being made the first One-Way street in Rochdale, during 1926, in which year motor cycle combinations superseded the police horses. In 1933 the Force purchased its first Police Car, three years after ma the Road Traffic Act of 1930 had abolished a speed limit for cars, and two years before driving tests were inaugurated for new drivers. On the formation of a Police traffic department in 1937, the strength of the Borough m Force was increased by 19 men, also the standardized Home Office uniform was adopted (except for head-gear).
Other innovations are as follows: in 1927 wireless equipment was installed on the Police Fire Engine (the Rochdale Police being the second Force in the country to be so equipped); 1929: 22 police telephone kiosks were installed; 1946: Rochdale’s first Women Police were established, a quarter of a century after police-women had been officially recognised; 1948: a Communications Room and two-way wireless system were inaugurated; 1949: an Aliens officer was appointed to deal with some that 3,000 Displaced Persons (of whom the majority were Polish); 1952: a Police Dog section was formed, Alsatians having now proved the most suitable breed of dogs for police work (Leonard Barry had experimented with Airedale police dogs early in the century).
The present Chief Constable, Major S. J. Harvey, formerly of the Metropolitan Police was appointed in 1945. At the end of 1955 the actual strength of the Force was 178 (including I Woman Police Sergeant and 5 Women Police Constables). Since 1906, three new stations had been built, one at Mellor Street (1908), another at Balderstone (1951) and a third at Halifax Road (1954), not including the Traffic Department offices at Alfred Street. By 1955, 66 new brick houses had been built for the Police Force since the War.
The day-to-day duties performed by the Police Force are multitudinous, and include traffic control, inspection of unattended houses, the issuing of certificates for fire-arms, supervision over the sales of dangerous drugs, together with training in First-Aid work and Civil Defence, but two of their greatest preoccupations are the prevention of crime and accidents—particularly those resulting in large numbers from road traffic.
As regards crime, at the end of 1955 Major Harvey was able to say “It is pleasing to be able to report that there was a drop in recorded crime “: 870 cases classified as crimes. Property valued at £24,081 was stolen but, of this, goods to the value of £14,249 were recovered, road House-holders and property-owners are advised to remember that the worst months were those of March, April and May.
Children under 17 years of age made up nearly a third of the persons dealt with for indictable, or serious offences. The number of such children (91) was 3 more than in 1954. Six of these children were sent to approved schools, and 45 were placed on probation. The largest numbers of such juvenile delinquents were of children aged either 14 or 13 years: born during the years of the war.
Close touch was kept with other Police Forces; during the year, help was received from the Forensic Laboratory at Preston on 13 occasions; one local Detective Constable was employed on work with fingerprints and photography, but “the beat man or patrol man on foot remains the basis of police work and, given proper supervision and the additional cover provided by wireless cars, we have a system which has proved itself sound and yet has the element of surprise which is so necessary.” The growth of “ 999 “ calls is almost fantastic: in 1948 there had been 112; seven years later there were 1,571 (apart from a further 597 calls which were passed on to the County Police). As a result of quick information and prompt action, 64 arrests were made in 1955. Amongst many other duties, the Women Police made 15 arrests. The Police Dogs were responsible for 9 arrests and it is known that their presence has caused intending criminals, including those armed with knuckle-dusters, to change their plans.
Two facts stand out with regard to present-day accidents; firstly that many are caused by people who board or step from moving buses, and secondly, that the main roads, where heavy traffic passed through busy shopping centres, have the worst accident records.
In 1955, out of 749 accidents reported to the Police, 504 persons were injured as a result of road accidents, 14 of these persons being fatally injured. 135 accidents involving injury (fatal or otherwise) concerned omnibus passengers. The worst months for road accidents involving injury were April, October and December; the worst thoroughfares were Manchester Road (particularly between Dunster Avenue and Law Street), and Oldham Road (particularly at the junctions with Kingsway and Crawford Street). In Drake Street, the worst point was at Wet Rake Gardens. Out of 118 children injured, 17 were on their way to or from school.
The Police and the Borough Surveyor work together in preventing “black spots” from developing at certain points within the Borough. There are now 12 sets of automatic traffic-lights within the Borough. As regards motorists, the forbearance and patience of the local policemen is emphasized by the fact that although proceedings were taken against 327 persons, 160 letters of caution were sent and 710 verbal cautions were given.
In spite of the excellent work performed by all concerned with road safety, the number of accidents continues to rise. Many are caused by misjudgement, but the Chief Constable emphasizes that “89% of personal injury accidents and 77% of the damage only accidents could have been avoided if someone or other had shown just a little more foresight, courtesy, or watchfulness.” In addition to routine duties, the Police are now giving talks to schools; in 1955 the Police organised cycle tests in school playgrounds.
The problem of increasing traffic and accidents is a national one; in 1954 an officer of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents complimented the Borough on its comparatively low accident figures. These, however, continue to rise. Now more than ever, it would seem, Rochdalians would do well to remember the Union Street Chapel tombstone of James Leach, composer and musician, who was killed in 1798 during a coach journey; the inscription on his tombstone ends with the warning: “Reader! There is but a step between thee and Death.”
Major Harvey has given an interesting summary of changes in Rochdale in the last fifty years. During this period, there have, for instance, been few serious or vicious crimes in the town, and indeed, it is greatly to the credit of the Rochdale Police that there has been no unsolved murder in the history of the Force.
As regards statistics, it is not always easy to compare figures of half-a-century ago with those of today, due partly to the use of different methods of analysis and due, also, to changed conditions. In 1906 only one motorist was summoned; in 1955 sentences were pronounced concern- fling 481 motoring offences, and, in addition, 870 motorists were cautioned.
Cases of drunkenness, perhaps, give the fairest comparison over the years: 297 persons, including 90 women, were proceeded against in 1906; in 1955 the total was 118, of whom 6 were women. Also, “perhaps the most noticeable change in the life of the town is reflected in the number of charges for begging: 43 in 1906; none in 1955.” Other examples, revealing historical and social changes, are as follows: gaming, 55 as against 3; prostitution, 51 against none; cruelty to animals, 23 as against 2.
Police surveillance has greatly increased: in 1906 the Police made 541 visits to licensed premises; in 1955 this number had risen to 2,375. Again, in 1906 the figure for houses specially attended at holiday times was only 164, compared with 2,083 in 1955.
Training methods are vastly improved: “at one time a young policeman was sent out on his beat without any training whatsoever. He now undergoes a three months’ course before doing any duty, and is a probationer for the first two years, during which time he attends a further course at a Regional Training School. He is also given tuition in all the departments of the Force.”
“Great strides have been made in scientific police-work, particularly in fingerprints, photography, ultra violet and infra red light, blood stains, etc. There is rapid co-ordination with the surrounding County Constabulary, and mutual assistance is rendered which is not always made public, but which is much appreciated by both Forces. It is not generally known that on the recent occasion when shots were fired in a Whitworth street, three of the Borough Police cars were rapidly on the scene, picked officers of the County Constabulary, and helped in effecting an arrest.”
Apart from, or perhaps partly due to improved training, efficiency and, speed, “there has been a general improvement in public relations. The public have come to regard policemen as a help in time of trouble, and turn to them when in difficulty. These difficulties may be serious or even laughable, like the woman who went on holiday and thought she had left the kettle on, or the man who telephoned and asked the police to contact his neighbour as he had forgotten the address to which he was going on holiday and his neighbour could help him. Not everyone is aware of the innumerable acts of kindness which are performed by members of the Police Force throughout the year. Dozens of letters are received annually from grateful citizens.”
Since 1956, of course, there have been many changes to the policing of the Borough, with the greatest changes being when the town’s police became part of the Lancashire Constabulary – and then part of the Greater Manchester Police, in 1974.
Rochdale Local Studies Library holds cuttings files and Chief Constable’s Reports (including those for greater Manchester). The Rochdale Observer, which reports on policing and crime in the area, is held on microfilm at the library.
