Oxford City Police was the police force of the City of
Oxford
Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
,
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
. It policed the city from 1 January 1869 until 31 March 1968.
It was established to succeed a "watch and ward" force that had been founded in 1835. On 1 April 1968 it and four other forces merged to form the Thames Valley Constabulary, which has since been renamed
Thames Valley Police
Thames Valley Police is the territorial police force responsible for policing the Thames Valley, covering the counties of Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire.
It the largest non-metropolitan police force in England and Wales, coverin ...
.
Foundation
The
Municipal Corporations Act 1835 required each incorporated borough in England or Wales to form a
watch committee
In England and Wales, watch committees were the local government bodies which oversaw policing from 1835 until, in some areas, 1968.
Establishment
The Municipal Corporations Act 1835 required each borough to establish a "watch committee" and to ...
, and for that committee to establish a force of constables to police their borough. But the
Oxford University Police
The Oxford University Police, or Oxford University Constables (popularly known as Bulldogs or Bullers), was the private police force of the University of Oxford between 1829 and 2003. They carried warrant cards and were empowered to act as police ...
, which had been founded in 1829, already policed the city at night, so the new municipal "watch and ward" force policed the city only by day.
In 1868
Parliament
In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...
passed the Oxford Police Act, which empowered the Corporation of Oxford to supersede its "watch and ward" force with a modern one that would be modelled on London's
Metropolitan Police Force
The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS), formerly and still commonly known as the Metropolitan Police (and informally as the Met Police, the Met, Scotland Yard, or the Yard), is the territorial police force responsible for law enforcement and ...
and whose duties would including night policing of the city.
The first Chief Officer was Charles Head, who had been an Inspector with "D" Division of the Metropolitan Police. Head served as the force's Chief Officer for 28 years.
Toward the end of 1868 Head and six other Metropolitan Police officers moved to Oxford to form the nucleus of the new force. Two were made Inspectors of the new force: Malcolm Hunter and George Barratt. Other recruits included five men from the Oxford University Police and four from the preceding "watch and ward" force. The new force's initial complement was between 25 and 30 officers.
Oxford's police station had since at least 1843 been based in an office on the corner of Queen Street and St Aldate's, but in 1870 it moved into Kemp Hall, a
Jacobean timber-framed
Timber framing (german: Holzfachwerk) and "post-and-beam" construction are traditional methods of building with heavy timbers, creating structures using squared-off and carefully fitted and joined timbers with joints secured by large woode ...
house built in 1637 in a narrow yard south of the
High Street
High Street is a common street name for the primary business street of a city, town, or village, especially in the United Kingdom and Commonwealth. It implies that it is the focal point for business, especially shopping. It is also a metonym fo ...
. Necessary alterations to the building were not complete by 1 January 1869, so the new force was at first accommodated in a committee room in
Oxford Town Hall
Oxford Town Hall is a public building in St Aldate's Street in central Oxford, England. It is both the seat of Oxford City Council and a venue for public meetings, entertainment and other events. It also includes the Museum of Oxford. Although ...
. In October 1870 Kemp Hall was finally ready for the force to move in. As well as offices and cells, the station included lodgings upstairs for 14 or 15 unmarried officers.
At first the force did not have uniforms for all its officers. On 4 February 1869 two constables named Gilkes and Wilkes, who lacked uniforms, were sent to patrol
St. Ebbes, which then was a poor parish of the city. Little is known of Wilkes, but Joseph Gilkes was originally from
Great Rollright and had served as a constable with the Metropolitan Police.
Gilkes and Wilkes found a crowd of about 30 people outside a shop in Blackfriars Road, whom they tried to disperse. A man called John Cox assaulted Gilkes, and his wife Keziah Cox threw a meat dish at him, striking him in the head. Gilkes was knocked to the ground and Wilkes fled back to the police station.
Gilkes got to his feet and tried to escape, but was pursued by the crowd throwing plates and saucepans at him. Blackfriars Road ended at the
River Thames
The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the second-longest in the United Kingdom, after the R ...
. Gilkes tried to ford the river to escape, but it was in flood and he was swept away and drowned.
Blue Boar Street police station
In 1893 work began to build a new
Oxford Town Hall
Oxford Town Hall is a public building in St Aldate's Street in central Oxford, England. It is both the seat of Oxford City Council and a venue for public meetings, entertainment and other events. It also includes the Museum of Oxford. Although ...
, which was to include a new police station to succeed Kemp Hall.
The Prince of Wales
Prince of Wales ( cy, Tywysog Cymru, ; la, Princeps Cambriae/Walliae) is a title traditionally given to the heir apparent to the English and later British throne. Prior to the conquest by Edward I in the 13th century, it was used by the rulers o ...
opened the new building in May 1897.
University of Oxford
, mottoeng = The Lord is my light
, established =
, endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019)
, budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20)
, chancellor ...
undergraduates were expected to mount a large demonstration at the opening ceremony, so a detachment of the
Metropolitan Police Mounted Branch
The Metropolitan Police Mounted Branch is the mounted police branch of London's Metropolitan Police. It is part of Met Operations.
History
The Bow Street Horse Patrol was formed in 1763, but ceased after eighteen months when funding ran out. Rev ...
was deployed to reinforce the small Oxford force. The Metropolitan officers were unused to Oxford undergraduates, and considered the boisterous crowd to be a danger. The officers attacked the crowd with batons, causing several serious injuries. The crowd reciprocated, unhorsing one officer and trampling him.
![1stEarlOfBirkenhead](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3a/1stEarlOfBirkenhead.jpg)
A young law
don
Don, don or DON and variants may refer to:
Places
*County Donegal, Ireland, Chapman code DON
*Don (river), a river in European Russia
*Don River (disambiguation), several other rivers with the name
*Don, Benin, a town in Benin
*Don, Dang, a vill ...
,
FE Smith, who had taken no part in the violence, saw police mishandling his college servant. Smith went to rescue his servant but was arrested. He became the first prisoner in one of the cells of the new police station in the new Town Hall.
But the new police station was not completely ready for use. The force continued to operate from Kemp Hall, and did not move to the town hall until nearer the end of the century. It was called Blue Boar Street police station, after the street down the side of the Town Hall in which it had its entrance. As at Kemp Hall, accommodation was provided for unmarried officers to live on the premises. The officers' new rooms were at the top of the Town Hall.
A house called
Ebor House was built in Blue Boar Street as accommodation for the Chief Officer. Charles Head retired on 12 March 1897,
[ so its first occupant was probably his successor, Oswald Cole. Cole was born in Manchester and had spent his boyhood in York. He joined the Metropolitan Police in 1886, enjoyed rapid promotion and had transferred to the Oxford force in 1891. Upon Cole's appointment the title was changed from Chief Officer or Superintendent to Chief Constable.
Cole was a keen cricketer. He did much to develop the force's sporting activities, including its ]tug of war
Tug of war (also known as tug o' war, tug war, rope war, rope pulling, or tugging war) is a sport that pits two teams against each other in a test of strength: teams pull on opposite ends of a rope, with the goal being to bring the rope a certa ...
team which became very successful.
Other police stations
By 1903 the force had stations in Cowley and Summertown. In October 1909 East Oxford police station opened at the junction of St Mary's Road and James Street.
First World War
When the First World War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
broke out, seven officers who were Army reservists were recalled to their regiments. In 1916 conscription was introduced in Great Britain. 36 Oxford officers were called up, leaving the force under strength. In 1917 the force recruited its first woman constable, Grace Costin.
In August 1918 and June 1919 there were two national police strikes. Officers of the Oxford force did not take part.
The Interbellum
On 5 March 1924 Oswald Cole died at his desk in his office. He had been ill with pneumonia
Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severi ...
. Chief Inspector Osbourne took over as acting chief constable, but it was Charles Fox who was appointed as Cole's permanent successor. Fox was born in Hove
Hove is a seaside resort and one of the two main parts of the city of Brighton and Hove, along with Brighton in East Sussex, England. Originally a "small but ancient fishing village" surrounded by open farmland, it grew rapidly in the 19th c ...
in East Sussex. He had served with Portsmouth
Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council.
Portsmouth is the most dens ...
Borough Police in Hampshire
Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English cities on its south coast, Southampton and Portsmouth, Hampshire ...
, transferred to Oxford in 1914 and been promoted to Sergeant. In 1917 he joined the Royal Field Artillery, with whom he served in India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
. After the war he returned to Oxford and resumed his police career. Fox was only 28 when he was put in charge, making him one of the youngest Chief Constables in the country.
The force continued to have a diverse sporting and cultural life. In 1925 it even had its own Morris dancing
Morris dancing is a form of English folk dance. It is based on rhythmic stepping and the execution of choreographed figures by a group of dancers, usually wearing bell pads on their shins. Implements such as sticks, swords and handkerchiefs may ...
side.
The force introduced its first police motorcycle
A police motorcycle is a motorcycle used by police and law enforcement. They may be custom designed to meet the requirements unique of a particular use. A police motorcycle is often called a "motor" by police officers in the United States. Units t ...
, a Sunbeam, in 1928. Thereafter it used both solo machines and sidecar
A sidecar is a one-wheeled device attached to the side of a motorcycle, scooter, or bicycle, making the whole a three-wheeled vehicle. A motorcycle with a sidecar is sometimes called a ''combination'', an ''outfit'', a ''rig'' or a ''hack''.
...
combinations. Soon afterward police cars were introduced, initially Morris
Morris may refer to:
Places
Australia
*St Morris, South Australia, place in South Australia
Canada
* Morris Township, Ontario, now part of the municipality of Morris-Turnberry
* Rural Municipality of Morris, Manitoba
** Morris, Manitob ...
cars built in Oxford and MG T-type
The MG T-Type is a series of body-on-frame open two-seater sports cars that were produced by MG from 1936 to 1955. The series included the MG TA, MG TB, MG TC, MG TD, and MG TF Midget models. The last of these models, the TF, was replaced by t ...
sports cars built in nearby Abingdon.
On 15 October 1931 the force suffered its second death of an in the line of duty. PC Alfred Needle, aged 23, was fatally injured by a motor car which failed to stop.
In 1938 a serial blackmailer, Patrick Tuellman, tried to kidnap William Morris
William Morris (24 March 1834 – 3 October 1896) was a British textile designer, poet, artist, novelist, architectural conservationist, printer, translator and socialist activist associated with the British Arts and Crafts Movement. He ...
, the head of Morris Motors
Morris Motors Limited was a British privately owned motor vehicle manufacturing company formed in 1919 to take over the assets of William Morris, 1st Viscount Nuffield, William Morris's WRM Motors Limited and continue production of the same veh ...
, for a £100,000 ransom. Tuellman had an accomplice, who betrayed his plan to the police. On 28 May 1938 the Oxford police ambushed Tuellman in his car. Officers found him to be in possession of two automatic pistols, ammunition and items of disguise. Two months later Birmingham Assizes tried him and he served seven years' penal servitude.
In 1936 Fox called for a new, larger police station. This was built lower down St Aldate's Street, opposite the junction with Speedwell Street, and completed in 1938.
Second World War
When the Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...
broke out, Charles Fox was made Air Raid Precautions controller in addition to his duties as Chief Constable. Some of his officers were trained as firefighters or ambulance drivers in addition to their police duties. As in the First World War, numerous officers were enlisted in the armed forces. 39 War Reserve constables were appointed to cover their absence.
At the end of the war the force's strength was 134 officers and one woman sergeant. In 1946 a war memorial at St Aldate's police station was unveiled to commemorate those officers who were lost serving in the armed forces.
Final decades
After the war the force continued to modernise. Its vehicle fleet became somewhat mixed, including two 1945 MG TC Midget sports cars, a 1948 Riley RM saloon built in Abingdon, three Wolseley saloons built in Cowley, at least two other saloon cars, a large van and a BSA motorcycle
The Birmingham Small Arms Company Limited (BSA) was a major British industrial combine, a group of businesses manufacturing military and sporting firearms; bicycles; motorcycles; cars; buses and bodies; steel; iron castings; hand, power, and ...
.
In 1956 Charles Fox retired as Chief Constable and the Watch Committee appointed Clement Burrows as his successor. Burrows was an outside appointment. He had joined the Somerset Constabulary
Somerset Constabulary was the police force responsible for policing the county of Somerset, England, between 1856 and 1967. It was formed as a result of the County and Borough Police Act 1856
The County and Borough Police Act 1856 or the Police A ...
in 1927, risen to Chief Inspector, and from 1953 he had been Assistant Commandant of the Police College.
Burrows modernised and diversified the force, introducing a police dog section in July 1959 and asking for his foot patrol officers to be equipped with portable police radio
Police radio is a radio system used by police and other law enforcement agencies to communicate with one another. Police radio systems almost always use two-way radio systems to allow for communications between police officers and dispatchers.
...
. New motorcycles were introduced, including a 1957 single-cylinder Royal Enfield, two 1958 or 1959 Triumph
The Roman triumph (Latin triumphus) was a celebration for a victorious military commander in ancient Rome. For later imitations, in life or in art, see Trionfo. Numerous later uses of the term, up to the present, are derived directly or indirectl ...
twins and a 1959 or 1960 Triumph twin. New cars included a Morris Isis
The Morris Isis name was first briefly used by Morris Motors Limited on a 6-cylinder car made from 1929 until 1931. It was resurrected on a new 6-cylinder midsize car from the British Motor Corporation in the 1950s to replace the Morris Six MS. ...
, a 1959 Wolseley 15/60
The Wolseley 15/60 is an automobile which was produced from 1958 to 1961, and then, as the Wolseley 16/60, from 1961 to 1971. The 15/60 was the first of the mid-sized Pininfarina-styled automobiles manufactured by the British Motor Corporation ( ...
saloon and 1962 Morris 1100
Year 1100 ( MC) was a leap year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar, the 1100th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 100th year of the 2nd millennium, the 100th and ...
.
Burrows introduced the city's first portable speed radar in 1961. With it his officers caught 508 offenders in the second half of that year. In 1964 Traffic Wardens were introduced, and a telex
The telex network is a station-to-station switched network of teleprinters similar to a telephone network, using telegraph-grade connecting circuits for two-way text-based messages. Telex was a major method of sending written messages electroni ...
machine was installed in St Aldate's police station.
The dog section used German Shepherd
The German Shepherd or Alsatian is a German breed of working dog of medium to large size. The breed was developed by Max von Stephanitz using various traditional German herding dogs from 1899.
It was originally bred as a herding dog, for ...
s. Initially it had only two handlers and two dogs, "Kim" and "Danko". In 1961 "Kim" contracted an incurable eye infection, was put down and replaced with a new dog, "Kim II". In 1962 the section was doubled with two additional handlers and their dogs "Micky" and "Rex". "Danko" was the force's longest-serving dog. In his career he made 30 arrests. But in 1965 he suffered a leg injury and had to be put down. In 1966 "Micky" retired from the force with his handler. They were succeeded by a new handler with the Oxford force's final dog, "Kelly".
In his Annual Report for 1957 Burrows had said he wanted beat officers to have portable radios "within five years". In fact they were not introduced until November 1965. Until then the force had a network of Police telephone pillars. These were soon removed except for one at Carfax, which survived until at least 1979.
The force was growing and was restructured into three divisions. "A" Division was administrative, "B" Division policed central Oxford and "C" Division policed Cowley. The original Cowley police station was replaced by a new one in Oxford Road that was opened on 14 September 1966.
Drug abuse was an increasing problem, notably among some of Oxford's students. In 1967 the Oxford force formed the country's first drug squad.
Since the 1930s most of the Oxford force's police cars had been built by the Nuffield Organization
Nuffield Organization was the unincorporated umbrella-name or promotional name used for the charitable and commercial interests of owner and donor, William Morris, 1st Viscount Nuffield. The name was assumed following Nuffield's gift made to form ...
: Morris, MG, Riley and Wolseley. In its final year the force changed its practice by acquiring from Hartwell, a local dealer, four of Ford
Ford commonly refers to:
* Ford Motor Company, an automobile manufacturer founded by Henry Ford
* Ford (crossing), a shallow crossing on a river
Ford may also refer to:
Ford Motor Company
* Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company
* Ford F ...
's newly introduced Escort Mk I saloons.
Dissolution
From the late 19th century to the mid 20th century many incorporated boroughs in Great Britain had their own police forces. Separately, each county
A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposes Chambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...
also had its own police force. By 1962 Great Britain had 158 civil police forces, and of these 97 had fewer than 350 officers. Many forces had standing arrangements to co-operate with neighbouring forces. Oxford City Police, for example, cooperated with Oxfordshire Constabulary
Oxfordshire Constabulary was the Home Office police force for the county of Oxfordshire, England, excluding the city of Oxford itself, from 1857 until 1968.
History
Oxfordshire Constabulary was established in 1857. It absorbed Chipping Norton Bo ...
and until 1961 the two forces had shared a joint scheme for police radio. But it was not clear that such small forces were the best way to police Great Britain.
The question was compounded by corruption cases, notably involving Brighton borough police in 1958 and Nottingham
Nottingham ( , locally ) is a city and unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east of Sheffield and north-east of Birmingham. Nottingham has links to the legend of Robi ...
City Police in 1959. There was no suggestion of such corruption involving the Oxford force. But in 1960 a Royal Commission, the Willink Commission, was established to review the governance of police forces in Great Britain and make recommendations.
In 1962 the Wellink Commission submitted its report, which recommended that a police force should have more than 500 members and should police an area with a population of at least 250,000. It recommended exempting small forces of between 200 and 350 officers, but "justifiable only by special circumstances such as the distribution of the population and the geography of the area".[
Parliament accepted Wellink Commission's findings and passed the ]Police Act 1964
The Police Act 1964 (1964 c.48) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that updated the legislation governing police forces in England and Wales, constituted new police authorities, gave the Home Secretary new powers to supervise lo ...
, which provided ''inter alia'' for small forces to be merged. Oxford had too small a population and too few officers to remain independent, and no special circumstances that qualified for an exemption. Therefore, on 1 April 1968 the Oxford force merged with Oxfordshire, Berkshire and Buckinghamshire County Constabularies and Reading Borough Police
Reading Borough Police was a police force for the borough of Reading in the United Kingdom. The force was created on 21 February 1836, at which time it had a strength of 30 constables, two sergeants and two inspectors. Towards the end of the 19th ...
to form Thames Valley Constabulary.
Clement Burrows was made Assistant Chief Constable (Administration) of the new force, and in 1970 was promoted to Deputy Chief Constable.
Thames Valley Constabulary was later renamed Thames Valley Police
Thames Valley Police is the territorial police force responsible for policing the Thames Valley, covering the counties of Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire.
It the largest non-metropolitan police force in England and Wales, coverin ...
. It remains the police force for Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire.
In popular culture
ITV's fictional drama series '' Endeavour'' portrays Detective Constable Endeavour Morse as he investigates crime in Oxford as a member of Oxford CID
CID may refer to:
Film
* ''C.I.D.'' (1955 film), an Indian Malayalam film
* ''C.I.D.'' (1956 film), an Indian Hindi film
* ''C. I. D.'' (1965 film), an Indian Telugu film
* ''C.I.D.'' (1990 film), an Indian Hindi film
Television
* ''CID'' ( ...
, based in Cowley police station. The first series starts some time after the General Election in October 1964. Its fifth series starts in April 1968, just after the Oxford force's absorption into the new Thames Valley Constabulary.
The series are a prequel to the ''Inspector Morse
Detective Chief Inspector Endeavour Morse, GM, is the eponymous fictional character in the series of detective novels by British author Colin Dexter. On television, he appears in the 33-episode drama series '' Inspector Morse'' (1987–2000), ...
'' drama series, in which a much older Endeavour Morse, by then a Detective Chief Inspector, investigates murders in and around Oxford with Thames Valley Police.
See also
*List of defunct law enforcement agencies in the United Kingdom
Due to various Parliamentary Acts the numbers of law enforcement agencies in the United Kingdom has varied drastically since the Metropolitan Police Act of 1829 set up the first modern police force in London.
There are currently over 60 law enf ...
References
Bibliography
*
*{{cite book , last=Rose , first=Geoff , year=1979 , title=A Pictorial History of the Oxford City Police , place=Oxford , publisher=Oxford Publishing Co , isbn=0-86093-094-7
Defunct police forces of England
Constabulary Constabulary may have several definitions:
*A civil, non-paramilitary (police) force consisting of police officers called constables. This is the usual definition in the United Kingdom, in which all county police forces once bore the title (and som ...
1968 disestablishments in England
1869 establishments in England
History of Oxford