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After a 13 week training course at Sandgate, Harold Taylor joined the Horsham Police Division. He reminisces...
Horsham was one of the five Divisional Head Quarters, and comprised of about 50 men. The whole County strength at that time was perhaps not more than 350, in fact my number was 264, and was a new issue.
There was Superintendent Wright, Inspector Pennicot, a Station Sergeant, three Patrol Sergeants, one of whom had special responsibility for the Country beats, a Mobile Sergeant and a Detective Sergeant.
There were twelve constables for the town beats, but due to days off and leave periods, there was rarely more than three on duty at any one period. There was also the sub-division of Crawley, which had a Sergeant and ten constables.
For the first week of my patrol I was sent out with another officer to learn the geography of the town and the areas patrolled for each of the three beats.
This meant that I went with a different man almost every day, especially as they changed over shifts on the Thursday of each week. I do not think I completed the week accompanied, because circumstances took officers away for one reason or another and I finished up on my own.
One of the objects of the accompanying was to enable you to get one report in the book to get you started off. The day I did this I was with Fred Walton, a Liverpudlian from Scotland Road, and he got me to report a cyclist for failing to stop at a halt sign. This gentleman furnished another first for me some weeks later.
The three beats covered were East, West and Centre. The fourth man carried out station duty for the first period of his morning shift and then carried out point duty at Horsham Town Hall, or rather the junction of East Street with the Carfax.
If one was on the afternoon shift then he performed point duty until 6.00 p.m. and then performed office duty. During the same system it would mean that this constable would perform office duty for the night shift.
The duties were rotated so that everyone in turn had a period on each duty, thereby, failing any major alterations, each officer performed each duty over a period of 12 weeks.
Although duties of the policeman had changed considerably since the pre-war days, things were very primitive to what they are now.
The morning office man was expected to clean all the offices and polish the brass, both inside and out. In the winter he cleaned the hearths and lit the fires in the main offices and the two general offices as well as the CID.
He was also responsible for dealing with any prisoners that were held, and any stray dogs in the pound. Mainly however, the fellow who was on night duty did some of this work as well.
The difficulty with the Station Sergeant's office was that it was right below the Superintendent's bedroom and he used to complain of the noise transmitted up the chimney as the fire was raked out.
There was also what was called a parade room, where the constables assembled before going on patrol. Here they would collect all the notices that affected their particular beats and any information requiring immediate action.
Also where the duty Sergeant would read out the occurrence book which would detail all the calls received from the public that had been made to the station, so that we all should be aware of what was going on in the town.
If something was contained therein that was on your beat, you would make a note of it and attend if warranted. Then one would go out on patrol, those who had reports to write would request permission to do so, and be told to get on with it or told a time when they could come in and attend to it.
All reports were type written so you had to learn to type in some fashion. Most purchased a typewriter and performed the duty at home, mainly because we were expected to.
Before going out onto the street one would be given a list of contact points, which were telephone kiosks and a set of times to be there. With a small detachment like ours they were usually at 15-minute intervals so that at least one policeman was contactable in that period of time.
We had been to the station to see the last train out, as was customary in those days. We would see the last train in and out at night and see the first train out in the morning, the theory being that the criminals were either arriving or leaving. It very rarely paid off, but then I suppose it could equally act as a deterrent.
However, that night after seeing the villains out of town, as we were walking down North Street, we went behind the District Council Offices in the course of our patrol and checking of the buildings.
There was a wall that divided these premises from the next, which was a food and general wholesalers, Lintott's. Over the wall we went and found a suitable appointed toilet open. This was stored in the memory for future use.
None of the beats we covered were considered cycle beats, and it was only with the greatest of difficulty that one could get permission to use a cycle, even if you were covering two beats as one often was when covering the East and West. The centre beat was never left uncovered, neither was the point duty.
Early on we did have a general 'dog's body', who did a fair bit of station work in relation to cleaning, but he fell foul of a new incoming Superintendent and got pushed out onto the street. This in its way did have better fortune for us all.
The cells were on the ground floor of a long building at the back of the Police Station. There were about 8 cells there. On the floor above, which in yesteryear had also been cells, was the Police Club, where there was a bar and billiard table.
This spare constable had several duties: station spare doing a 9 to 6 duty, he was on call for any emergency, he carried out certain work on the station and was steward of the Club. He would keep the place clean and tidy, ironing the billiard table, stocking up the bar and attending to the draymen when they called.
We will call him Nobby as I do not recall his name. He would also be called upon to fill in for point duty when we were short handed, do escort duty for prisoners and court duty on days it was held.
The Superintendent in office when I arrived on station was in the doghouse, over drink and other things and I believe was forced to retire. He was replaced by Dusty Miller, who was Chief Inspector at Worthing, and did not have a very good reputation.
We found him a particularly miserable old devil and completely humourless. He very quickly employed as station cleaner, which let us all off the hook for many things, and also pushed Nobby out into the street.
His statement about Nobby, was that his motto was 'Never do today what you can put off till tomorrow'. He said this after Nobby had left the force and taken on the job of publican in Worthing.
I found that I was not exactly a stranger amongst the police of the force. There was one chap, Harry, I had been at the same school with, who was doing a spell of duty on CID at the time; he was older than I and had left the school to go to the High School.
He later entered the police as a cadet before being called up in the Air Force. There was also Jack, whom I had heard of but never met; he had played in a musical group with my elder brother, before and during the early part of the war.
There were also several faces I recognised as being on the street in Chichester during my youth and another on the CID who I knew by name, and he recognised me as having accompanied my half brother way back. They had played in the same football team in Chichester, The Corinthians.
He was surprised when I told him that my brother was a plumber, as he believed that all the players of that team were public servants, and I believe all but my brother were.
Several functions would call a constable away from the fold and make us short handed, one of these was sudden death. Performing the role of Coroners Officer put you out of service until the enquiry was completed and some used to make the job last as long as possible, because it took you off patrol and put you in civilian clothes.
Your duties were to inform the coroner, arrange for the body to be removed to the mortuary, compile a report for the coroner, and await his decision as to whether there would be a post mortem.
If there was, you had to make arrangements for the doctor and the mortuary attendant, and be present at the post mortem and report back to the coroner, who would then decide whether there was to be an inquest.
If there was, you had to make the arrangements for that to take place and notify all the witnesses to attend and take control of the enquiry. After that, before you returned to duty it was your responsibility to collect all the fees due from the coroner and then pay all the persons and authorities due to receive any payment.
There turned out to be a little bit of a perk attached to being Coroners Officer, which I found when I went to pay the undertaker, which in those days was £2 for removal of the body - he gave me 10/- back. No doubt later he gained the benefit of the burial expenses too.
So I suppose if one was dealing with the subject long enough and often enough it could be a nice little earner, although illegal. As I only acted as Coroners Officer three times at Horsham it made very little difference to me, but I suppose when our pay was only £5 per week it was well worth while.
Harold Taylor West Sussex, 2001
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