Genealogy Chat

I visited Kew last Tuesday to see if I could track down my ancestor George Adams who I knew was a policeman in London in 1861 and 71. Living in Marylebone I guessed it would be Metroplitan police....

I was right when I thought there would be lots of his name joining but searching through the index to find his warrant number it was not difficult to discount every one I found - just by joining or leaving dates. Unfortunately some of these records had been destroyed - supposidly the ones I wanted! No doubt his records are there somewhere but without his warrant number I have no idea how to find them . Anyone else had this problem? Is there a way round it - or do we have to wait until someone computorises the records I am seeking? Alice

Would this site be any use? It might be worth a look it starts at 1829-Now! http://www.met.police.uk/history/remembrance.htm Regards Ann

Thank you ann - looks as though I may be able to look and see if he got a pension and try to crack it that way! Alice

Good Luck Alice. Regards Ann

You know that if he lived in Marylebone he could have been in the City Police? The only requirement was for him to live within a mile of the city, but I think they were relaxed about that rule because my police ancestor lived in Clapton! If so, his records would be held by the Corporation of London, not the National Archives. Also, have you tried to find him on the Black Sheep Index website yet? It's an index of newspaper articles in which police officers were mentioned.

My Gt. Gt. Grandfather showed up on the census as being a policeman and he lived in Cripplegate. He joined the Police Force around 1851 but I didn't know if it was the Metropolitan or City. I wrote to Metropolitan and never got an answer but then wrote to City of London Police Museum and had a very nice letter back from the Museum Curator who advised me to write to Corportation of London Records Office, PO Box 270 Guildhall, London EC2P 2EJ. Tel. No. 020 7332 1251 or e-mail [email protected] my contact was a Jim Sewell City Archivist. He was absolutely wonderful and came back with my Gt. Gt. Grandfather's warrant number - when he joined the police which was October 1851 and retired in November 1875. He was one of the first officers to receive a pension (apparently pensions were granted on a discretionary basis prior to the Police Pensions Act 1890 which provided a legal right after twenty-five years service). As you say a lot of the records have not survived and my Gt. Gt. Grandfather's was one of those so couldn't get any more information but I was very pleased with the information he did supply. Unfortunately my Gt. Gt. Grandfather died in 1881 but his pension with passed on to my Gt.Gt. Grandmother who lived to be 100 years old and had the benefit of the pension for all that time. Good luck with your research and hope you are as lucky as I was.

Thank you Carol- it seems worth giving the city police a try - I am pretty sure he would have been serving at about the same time as your rellie - perhaps they even knew each other! Will put pen to paper and write as you suggest. Good luck with your searches alice