Essex Police Memorial Trust
The Trust commemorates the officers and support staff who have been killed on duty whilst serving in Essex Police or any of the predecessor forces to Essex Police. The Trust also commemorates those officers who lost their lives during World War 1 and World War 2.
The Essex Police Memorial Trust commemorates officers who have served in the seven (non-Metropolitan) Police Forces which have covered the county since 1840. It was in that year that the Essex County Constabulary was established, Essex being one of the first county forces to be set up after the 1839 County Police Act. There were also four small police forces in the ancient boroughs of Saffron Walden, Harwich, Maldon and Colchester. Saffron Walden and Harwich were absorbed into Essex in 1857, Maldon in 1889 and Colchester in 1947.
In 1914 the newly formed County Borough of Southend-on-Sea set up its own police force which existed independently until 1969. In 1969 Southend-on-Sea Borough Police amalgamated with Essex to become the Essex and Southend-on-Sea Joint Constabulary; the title was shortened to Essex Police in 1974.
Can you help?
The Essex Police Memorial Trust is keen to find out as much as it can about the officers included on this website, and any details of those that may have been inadvertently missed. If you have any further information please contact us as detailed below.
The Essex Police Memorial Trust (The Trust) is a registered charity (number 1026884) which was established on 7th October 1993. On that date it was formally incorporated with the much older Essex Police Benevolent Fund, which originally had been set up as the Essex County Constabulary War Memorial Fund on 8th July 1918, and the Essex Police Memorial Fund dating from 1990.
Formal moves to establish The Trust can be traced back to 1991, but it was the tragic murder of Pc Brian 'Bill' Bishop seven years earlier which may be seen as the real catalyst. The murder prompted Brian Hindley, then a Superintendent in Essex Police, to begin researching a Roll of Honour of Essex officers killed on duty in order that their sacrifices could be recognised. Around the Force, other officers shared the same sentiment, realising that there was no memorial to officers killed on duty. Following a proposal by Police Constable Mick Hall in November 1988, these various strands were drawn together and a small fund-raising committee was set up in early 1989 to instigate the erection of a Memorial Stone and Book of Remembrance, initially intended to be in time for the 150th anniversary of Essex Police in 1990.
The committee's work was given added impetus by the deaths of two police divers, Police Constable Andrew Morrison and Police Constable Stephen Taylor in June 1989. Their colleagues in the Force Support Unit were at the forefront of many of the fundraising efforts. These included the sale of specially commissioned and authenticated 'Matchbox' type models of Police vehicles in Essex Police and Colchester Borough Police liveries, and events such as sponsored parachute jumps. In March 1991 a large number of serving officers donated £2 from their monthly pay cheques.
While this work was going on the difficult problem of drawing up practical criteria for determining those eligible for inclusion on the memorials was tackled. Finally, in March 1991 the criteria was defined as follows:
"An officer or employee of the Police Authority who receives injuries in the execution of his/her duty from which he/she subsequently dies, subject to there being no attendant circumstances which might cause the Chief Constable to determine otherwise."
With the criteria now defined, an initial list of 29 officers for the Roll of Honour was formally approved and in October 1992 The Memorial Stone and the Roll of Honour were unveiled by the Lord Lieutenant of Essex Lord Braybrooke, at Police Headquarters. Five years later, in November 1997, The Trust's original vision was fulfilled when the Book of Remembrance was unveiled at Headquarters by the Chief Constable, John Burrow.
The current Trustees of Essex Police Memorial Trust are:
- Deputy Chief Constable Andy Prophet (Chair)
- Martyn Lockwood (Secretary)
- Jack Williamson (Treasurer)
- Geoff Markham
- Brian Hindley
- Roy Scanes
- Bob Ward
- Alan Cook
- Andy Hastings
- Jim Dickinson
This website would not have been possible without the help and co-operation of a large number of people and organizations including: Maureen Scollan, Dick Giggins, Gordon Oakley, Martyn Lockwood, Andy Begent, John Grainger, Adrian Jones, Richard Goring, Essex Police Museum, David White, Steven Pollard, Phil Fazzini, David Waring, friends and relatives of those commemorated, and Essex Police.
Contact the Trust
The Secretary
Essex Police Memorial Trust
PO Box 2
Sandford Road
Chelmsford
CM2 6DA
Email: [email protected]
Our memorial items
The Essex Police Memorial Trust has overseen the development of three separate memorial items at Police Headquarters to commemorate officers killed on duty.
The first to be completed were the Roll of Honour and Memorial Stone which were unveiled at Police Headquarters in Chelmsford by the Lord Lieutenant of Essex, Lord Braybrooke, on Wednesday 7th October 1992. He was accompanied by the Bishop of Chelmsford who conducted a Service of Dedication.
For many people connected with Essex Police, the day was tinged with sadness as thoughts turned to those who had died. However, there was also satisfaction that after months of effort by many people at last Essex Police had fitting memorials for those officers who had paid the ultimate sacrifice in the course of their duties.
The ceremony was attended by members of the Police Authority, the judiciary, Members of Parliament, the current and past Chief Constables, 123 relatives of those remembered, and was open to all serving or retired police officers and support staff.
Around the same time a commemorative booklet on the Roll of honour was produced by staff at the Essex Police Museum as part of the 150th anniversary celebrations of Police in Essex.
The third and final phase of work by the Trustees was the hand-scripted Book of Remembrance. On Sunday 30th November 1997 the Chief Constable, John Burrow, announced the inauguration of the Book in a dignified ceremony attended by many of the relatives who had been present for the earlier events.
Roll of Honour
The Roll of Honour, which is crafted from American Oak with 24 carat gold leaf lettering, is situated in the Reception Foyer at Police Headquarters. It was created by Lomas Pigeon & Co of Chelmsford.
Memorial Stone
The Memorial Stone is situated at the end of a short paved path on the lawn opposite the main reception entrance at Headquarters. It consists of a Portland Stone rectangular block carved with the Essex Police Crest and the simple inscription 'In Honoured Remembrance'.
Its overall dimensions are 3' 2" wide, by 5' 4" long and 2' high. Beyond the Stone is the Essex Police flag pole.
The provision of the Stone and related works was undertaken by Abbey Memorials Ltd of Benfleet.
In November 2004, two marble stones, backed by English Ash trees, were installed on either side of the main Portland Stone memorial and flagstaff, which provides a place for relatives of 62 officers fallen during the World Wars to place their tributes in tranquil settings.
One is for the policemen of the three police forces (Essex Constabulary, Colchester Borough Police and the Southend on Sea Constabulary) who were killed whilst in the armed services during the Great War. The other is for those of those same forces who were killed whilst serving as policemen or in the armed services during World War 2.
Book of Remembrance
The Book of Remembrance was created by the calligrapher, Sam Somerville, and the bookbinder, George Kirkpatrick. It is housed in a glass display cabinet in the Reception Foyer at Police Headquarters, close to the Roll of Honour and the First and Second World War memorial Plaques.