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A snapshot of our history

Above: photograph found in the loft.

During September 2010 I decided to hang a couple of photographs of Newport Pagnell Police Station at that station, two in particular, one from 1908 and the other from around1910/12. I managed to find some old frames and enlisted the help of one of the stations facilities officers to hang the photographs on a wall close to the stairs at Newport Pagnell Police Station. After hanging the photographs we decided to look in the loft above the garage at Newport Pagnell Police station. No one had been up there for years it was dusty and very dirty. We found some old property books from the early 1970s a number of old roadside lamps from the 1950/60s and under some boxes an old sepia photo which could not been seen clearly owing to the years of dust and dirt. A quick clean and dust up of the picture and I saw it was headed Bucks Constabulary Northern Division Newport Pagnell, 1913 and on a close inspection of the picture I saw it was an original of the one we had just hung inside the police station. This picture must have been up there for well over half a century if not more. I have now had this picture framed and hung at Central Milton Keynes Station.

Above: Copy of the photograph.
Newport Pagnell 1913.

Back row standing from left to right as you look at the photo:

N/K, N/K, PC 65 Enos CLIMER, N/K PC 19 – (research still ongoing), PC 7 Henry TAYLOR, PC 54 Edwin STEVENS, PC 57 Henry SIBBALD, PC 155 Charles BONNER, N/K PC 80 Frederick Charles HOLLOWAY ( still to be confirmed), PC 40 Arthur GRACE

Middle row standing:

PC 147 Jesse WASHBROOK, N/K, N/K PC 70 Henry PEARSON, PC 163 Edward Ernest ADAMS, PC 29 Alfred COOPER, PC 140 Walter MILES, PC 150 Robert BOSHER, PC 1-3 (research still ongoing) PC 138 Ernest CROCKFORD, PC 144 Henry F. BARNETT, PC 58 Stephen JENNINGS.

Front row sitting:

PC 104 William BUNCE, Sergeant 160 Edwin TUCKER, Sergeant 8 William STRITTON, Sergeant 106 John GOVIER, Inspector N/K (at this time), Superintendent James PEARCE, Sergeant 4 George DOUBLEDAY, Sergeant 108 Edward CHILTON, Sergeant 34 Albert HONOUR, PC 95 Arthur SLATTER, N/K.

The two in the front:

Left PC 25 Alfred WASHINGTON, Right PC 132 Charles F.L. PELHAM


The lamps found at the same time were cleaned up and sold to officers in an auction and the money raised paid for another three original Bucks Police photographs to be framed and these will be hung along with one found above in the new CCTV room at Central Milton Keynes Police Station.

Above: Just three of the lamps found

The rest of the money raised at the auction enabled me to be able to frame around 70 photographs of Newport Pagnell Officers past and present which have be placed in one of the corridors at Newport Pagnell Police Station.


A similar thing happened in Slough back in 1977 by the then caretaker ex Police Constable 46 Albert Rosier. On the 6th December he had occasion to go into the attic at the police station where he found the below photograph of the Slough Division 1926/7, unfortunately this photo had some damage but it did have a ‘plan’ and a list written by a Jim Desborough who had a barber shop in Station Approach, Slough at the time and most officers use to go to him for their ‘short back and sides’ so he knew them quite well.

As with the other photograph I am still researching the names but unfortunately the collar numbers were not listed on the ‘plan’ by Jim only the names. As with all photographs I research, I still feel the officers I have named, so far, are the correct ones, I have looked closely at the collar numbers in the original photograph and although they are mostly indistinguishable in some you can see they are one, two or three numbers also where the officers were stationed in 1926/7, how old they look have gone into deciding who they are. I also recognise some from other photographs I have in my collection so I am fairly convinced I have the correct names from the ‘plan’ with the correct collar numbers.

Slough Division 1926/7

As stated I am still researching this photograph and have listed the names below.

Back Row standing from left to right as you look at the photo:

PC 169 Charles BEESLEY, PC 135 Percy Frank WOODWARDS, N/K, PC 26 Harry STANTON, PC 89 Edwin BOSWELL, PC 61 George William FIGG, PC 183 Hector Lionel ROLLES, PC 87 Joseph ALEXANDER, PC 192 Sidney SKINNER, PC 148 Albert MEAD.

Middle row standing from left to right:

PC 78 William KING or PC 3 William KING (research still ongoing), N/K, PC 109 William C. GLOVER, PC 37 John Frederick SIMPKIN, PC 83 Frederick WARNER, PC 194 William J. BECKETT or PC 187 Frank BECKETT or PC 47 Robert BECKETT (research still ongoing), PC 28 Percy BREWER, PC 137 John Best HALL, PC 13 Frederick Joseph MARTIN, PC 143 Frederick MILNER, PC 123 Charles CARTER, N/K.

Middle row sitting:

PC 22 Richard Henry DODD, Sergeant 67 Abraham NEWMAN , Sergeant 125 Leonard Henry GILES, , Sergeant 108 Edward CHILTON, Inspector Albert HONOUR, Superintendent James PEARCE, Inspector John Morbey NEAL, Sergeant 189 Hugh BARTLETT, Sergeant 5 William Henry CHILVERS, PC 85 Albert E. GARRETT, PC 120 William BIGGS or PC 195 Archibold BIGGS (research still ongoing).

Front row sitting:

N/K, PC 77 Joseph F. JONES, PC 35 Cyril JAMES, PC 41 Leonard WHEATLEY, PC 196 George Edward BARDEN, PC 49 John TOBIN. PC 7 Percy Henry WHEELER.


If you have any picture of Bucks Constabulary Police Officers please email a copy to me to add to my growing collection bucksconstable@btinternet.com

Mick Shaw