History
History Notebook Titles
One of the worst murders whichever disgraced this County. The killers
of this popular officer at Purleigh were tracked down and brought to trial
in 1893.
By Martyn Lockwood
A most atrocious murder at Berden was that of Henry Trigg in 1814. It
took a year to track down the two thieves who had gunned him down.
By Fred Feather
Abraham Green, alias 'Little Abel', was shot dead at Strethall by the
occupants of the house he was attempting to burgle. Few seemed to care
about this in 1849.
By Fred Feather
A Merit Star is awarded for highly distinguished conduct in the discharge
of duty. Marden was one such officer to receive this, only to end his
career years later under a cloud.
By Martin Lockwood
Arsenic was one way to get rid of "bad husbands" in the 19th
century. Sarah Chesham was convicted of murdering her husband, but was
she a victim of circumstances?
By Maureen Scollan
Since its beginnings in the 1840s the history of photography has gone
hand in hand with that of the Essex Police but few photographs exist which
show officers wearing their hats or helmets.
By Fred Feather
By late Spring of 1916 the mid-Essex area was a regular target for air
raids by Zeppelins. Some were shot down and it was a police duty to arrest
any survivors.
By Martin Lockwood
In the autumn of 1905 there was a new and interesting subject for discussion
in the County town. Was an old lady tramp by the name of Jane Carpenter
assaulted by Sergeant Walter Peters or did she make it all up?
By Julie Rayner
A century ago Basildon was a series of straggling farms and homesteads.
Almost like the American Wild West, rights to land and use of water were
a constant cause of disputes. For the Watsons, it meant a violent death.
By Fred Feather
Witchunting had been going on for centuries. Still rife in 1863, an old
man living at Sible Hedingham died as a consequence of being "tried".
The shocking facts came to light when those involved were finally tried
in a court of law.
By Martin Lockwood
Mary May of Wix was accused and found guilty of poisoning her half-brother
for the insurance money. Did she alone murder Spratty Watts or were others
involved?
By Roy Clark
A naval officer, John McHardy, was the first Chief Constable of Essex.
Through his experience and guidance his County police became one of the
most efficient in the country.
By Maureen Scollan
The Essex courts in 1840/1 were faced with passing judgement on a series
of assaults upon the officers and men of the new Rural Police. Judgement,
in this case, was given for the additional crime of stealing and killing
a sheep.
By Fred Feather
Land disputes, morality issues, public affray and disorder, agricultural
hardships and political unrest have all been part of the village policeman's
lot.
By Ray Howard
This award was given for acts of exceptional courage and skill, or for
conspicuous devotion to duty. Some of the recipients of this and successive
awards are outlined in this Notebook.
By Martyn Lockwood
A Victorian sportsman's pastime? What did those charged with capital
crimes think as they sought justice from a system which stood them before
an "experienced amateur hangman"?
By Fred Feather
"Every omission to attend a point must be immediately reported."
With satellite communication decades away and motorised transport almost
non-existent this was a tall order for those policing the rural areas
in 1915.
By John Woodgate
A look at Force Orders in the context of their past needs and use. Human
nature being what it is some things and attitudes seem not to have changed.
By Ray Howard
Men went to the gallows as a result of the expert evidence uncovered
by Edwin and Robert Churchill. Their work in the field of forensic ballistics,
with the comparison microscope, brought fair justice at murder trials.
By Martin Lockwood
When is a Chief Constable not a Chief Constable? An insight into the
system of promotion which prevailed in the early years of the Police Force.
By Fred Feather
The Colchester Fire Murder was a case in which the accused was never
brought to trial. More than one hundred years later it still remains open.
By Ann Turner
There was no less violence for a policeman to face in the early years
than there is now. It was the attitudes and style of reporting which were
different.
By Fred Feather
The life and times of David Scott. Retiring after thirty-seven years
of service this man left behind a legacy of achievements.
By John Woodgate
During the Second World War, the Essex Police Headquarters presented
a natural bombing target for German aircraft. As a consequence lives were
lost and the neighbouring residential area received more than its fair
share of tragedy.
By Andy Begent
A pictorial look at police transport in use within the Southend-on-Sea
Constabulary up until the Second World War.
By John Oliver
The police, as one of the key services concerned with the preparation
for enemy invasion, were among the first to be selected for training in
the eventuality of war with Germany.
By Martyn Lockwood
The events which unfolded for the Essex Constabulary when the sea walls
along the East Coast were breached on the night of 31st January 1953.
By Dan Elford
P.C. Brian Bishop, 1947 - 1984. Shot in the line of duty this brave officer
has his name engraved on a memorial stone funded by the Police Memorial
Trust. This Trust was set up to commemorate those killed in the course
of their duty.
By Susan Bishop
Between 1844 and 1848 the inhabitants at Coggeshall went about in fear
for their safety - until justice finally came to those who were terrorising
the neighbourhood.
By Martyn Lockwood
Despite the high number of disciplinary actions, or maybe because of
them, the Victorian Essex Police force was regarded as one of the most
efficient in England. A light-hearted look at Victorian discipline.
By Fred Feather
As a result of Essex's long and historic association with the sea policing
its rivers and coastline has been an important part of the work of the
Essex Police.
By Martyn Lockwood
Executions at Springfield Prison, Chelmsford. From the first hanging
to be carried out there in December 1827 until the very last one in November
1914.
By Andy Begent
Two generations of the Cook family served in the Constabulary. Two were
a credit to the Force but the third seemed intent on bringing it into
ill repute.
By Fred Feather
The remarkable story of this unit from its inception in the 1950s up
and until the present day.
It was a tragedy waiting to happen. Archibald Brown was a tyrant but
his violent death left many things unexplained.
By Fred Feather
The last fifty years. Expansion of river policing from the lower reaches
of the Thames and across the main waterways in Essex.
By Ian Frakes
Only one man could have been responsible for the death of Camille Holland.
A serial womaniser, Samuel Herbert Dougal, was finally brought to trial
in 1903.
With a little help from a railwayman the manhunt that led from Essex
to Cumbria ended in the capture of some very violent criminals. The long
arm of the law.
By Fred Feather
Policing in Victorian Essex. The county was one of the first to establish
a police force under the provisions of the Rural Constabulary Acts.
By Martyn Lockwood
In February 1935 two young women passengers fell from a plane as it flew
over Upminster. Was it suicide? Their deaths created a great deal of public
speculation.
By Fred Feather
From its early days to the present. The story about the structure and
purpose of the Police Authority is told.
By Barbara Liggins and Colin Hetherington
At least twenty-two members of the Essex Police were killed on active
service during the First World War. This is the story of two of them.
By Adrian Jones
The story of the distinguished career of Sir John Nightingale and his
rise to Chief Constable, a post he held from 1962 until his retirement
in 1978.
By Martin Lockwood
How did three-week-old Stephen James Belsham Dean come to die some 20
miles from his birthplace, and could his mother, have been responsible
for his death?
By Adrian Jones
The principle of policing has been traced as far back as the reign of
King Alfred the Great, in the ninth century. So why has it taken one thousand
years since then for that principle to evolve into the shape of police
forces as we now know them?
By Maurice W. Back
In 1836 a full-time police force was formed in Colchester. It remained
an independent police force until its amalgamation with Essex County Constabulary
in 1947.
By Mervyn Fairweather
The story of police Air Support from its beginnings and its intriduction
to and development within Essex.
After five centuries of changes in the justice and social systems are
the children of today better off or worse?
By Maurice W. Back
In 1849 Saffron Walden was only one of four Essex towns with its own
Borough Police Force. When its High Constable died from shotgun pellet
wounds the murder trial which followed was big news.
By Fred Feather
When Pc Gutteridge was shot dead one September night in 1927 the killers
thought they would never be caught. They reckoned without the first-time
ballistics evidence painstakingly put together and produced at their eventual
trial at Chelmsford's Shire Hall.
By Martin Lockwood
Unguarded churchyards of villages became perfect targets as criminal
gravediggers foiled by ever-tightening security in the Metropolis sought
elsewhere for their gruesome plunder. The incidents at Little Leighs give
cause to wonder just how many graves are still, in fact, lying empty?
By Peter Durr
Women officers are now seen as an integral police force, but it was not
always so. This article traces some of the factors which eventually gave
women their equal role and status within the Force.
By Maureen Scollan
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The
Murder of Sergeant Eves
The
Slaying of Parish Constable Trigg
Rough
Justice For Little Abel
The
Rise And Fall Of Alfred John Marden
