Policing in the First World War
Should the police have been used during the First World War to investigate people’s backgrounds and see if they were doing what they said they were doing when it came to being called up by the military?
That’s one of the surprising issues which has come out of examining administrative papers held in the Staffordshire archives at the Record Office in Stafford which I’ve come across having been researching the documents over the past few months. But before we hear more, a little context.
Tribunals
During the First World War, conscription was introduced in 1916 as the government realised it wasn’t meeting the needs of the armed forces through volunteers. This then also led to the setting up of tribunals for men appealing against their “joining the colours”. They would apply to a local tribunal, in somewhere like Leek or Stafford, for exemption from compulsory military service. This could be for a range of reasons, from moral grounds – such as conscientious objectors – to family grounds – looking after frail relatives – or economic reasons, such as keeping a business going. Then if they were unsuccessful, they could take their appeal to an Appeal Tribunal OR if they were successful but the military disagreed, the military could also take their case to an Appeal Tribunal.
These papers I’ve been researching in the Staffordshire Archive relate to those involved in official circles with administering the tribunals in Stafford – both the Local Tribunal and the Appeal Tribunal.
They are incredibly rare because, due to the sensitive nature of conscription during and following the war years, the Government orders all papers around the tribunals should be destroyed, with just official sample material kept in Middlesex. But in Stafford, probably due to what the Record Office call “benign neglect”, these papers weren’t destroyed.
People involved.
There are a number of characters that keep popping up while reading these papers and I’ll just mention 3 that are relevant to this article:
Eustace Joy – Sub Area Military Representative, Staffordshire – probably the key “hub” of the tribunals in Stafford and certainly the name which crops up more than any other in these papers, as Military Representative it was his responsibility to make sure all the able-bodied men meeting the criteria for conscription were called up – and to stop anyone from “shirking” those responsibilities. He was before the war the clerk of the county council
E.A Breton (sic) – the Acting Chief Constable of Staffordshire Police in the early part of 1916, until certainly April when he reverts back to being Deputy Chief Constable
GA Anson – the Chief Constable of Staffordshire Police either side of Breton becoming Acting Chief for a few months
Overview of examples
The use of the police force in Staffordshire to investigate men eligible for call-up and check out the reasons for their appeals starts pretty soon after conscription comes in. I came across a letter dated 18/1/1916 from the Acting Chief Constable to Eustace Joy saying he will “make inquiries” into an appeal by a grinder. Then on the 20th January 1916, the Acting Chief Constable writes to Eustace Joy to say “I am having the claims (referring we assume to Joy’s letter) enquired into and will acquaint you with the result in due course and not later than the dates specified”
This continues in the coming months, with requests from Eustace Joy for information (Letter 29/2/1916: from Joy to Chief Constable after whether man from Shooters Hill is physically fit enough to be a soldier) and coming back from the Chief Constable with information or attaching files from his inspectors/sergeants looking into people’s family situations.
There is an entire bundle of reports compiled by officers; for instance on the 23rd June 1916 a Sergeant Findlay writes to the Chief Constable about a man called George Wiseman, with a report into his background working at a milk factory. In another, an officer called Geo Heathcote compiles a report on the 23rd June 1916 looking into H Howard saying “as far as I know H Howard enjoys good health”.
All these letters and reports build up a picture of the administrative centre of the Appeal Tribunal in Stafford, led by Eustace Joy, making use of the police force to investigate cases of men appealing against their call-up papers, to find out if what they claim in their applications is true
Examples
To give more detailed examples of the kind of work the police are doing in Staffordshire during WW1 for the Appeal Tribunal, here are a couple of the kind of letters being sent back and forth.
On 25th January 1916, The Military Representative (Eustace Joy) writes to the Chief Constable saying
“I enclose herewith a communication which has been received from the District Manager of the London Central Meat Co. Ltd., with reference to one of their men named John Fellows who has been called to the Colours.
You will observe what is stated, and I shall be glad if you will instruct one of your Officer (sic) to make careful inquiries and let me know whether the statements made therein are correct.
At the same time will you kindly inform me how men shops (sic) the London Central Meat Co. have in Stafford at the present time, where they are situate (sic), and the number of men employed at each shop.”
This letter shows Eustace Joy wasn’t just asking the police to look into one particular case but, at the same time, to also let him know how many men worked for the London Central Meat Co in Stafford and, I think we can imply, that would then allow him to work out whether they had men to spare for the Front Line.
In another example, from 2nd Feb 1916, we have in the files a report from an officer at Stafford Borough Station who’s been asked to examine the background of one Bernard Dale. In the report, apart from detailing his family and work life, he writes
“and in my opinion the work now done by Dale could easily be done by the brothers, with a little extra assistance from the female clerks”
Again, the implication I think we can imply is that the police officer takes a dim view of Bernard Dale not being called up.
Finally, in an example from 23rd June 1916, we have a letter from the Military Rep (Joy) to The Chief Constable of WORCESTER:
In which he writes about a Frederick Latham, a single man who’s conscientiously objected to joining up and been given exemption from joining up as long as he continues working for a farmer. Eustace Joy however doesn’t just want to trust Mr Latham – instead he writes to the Chief Constable of Worcester, with the farm being near Redditch, to ask:
“I shall be much obliged if you could kindly arrange to let me know when he commences work. I should also be glad if the man could be carefully watched and if at any time he should leave Mr Johnson, perhaps you will instruct your officer to immediately notify me”
We then actually have a reply back from Worcester’s police, with a report from police sergeant Henry Young, stationed in Redditch, who ends his brief report, which confirms Mr Latham has indeed started work at the farm, with:
“I have instructed PC Kear to keep an eye on this man, and in the event of his leaving Mr Johnson’s to report at once.”
Summary
Although this is a snapshot of the situation in Staffordshire during the First World War, it is possible to show that, even in the early days of conscription, far from showing that the tribunals did not investigate individual cases (for which is has been suggested they had no power) my research has shown that instead they played a significant role in investigating individuals who were appealing against their call-ups through the tribunal system. It leads one to think that more research needs to be carried out as, given this is a small prism into the situation during the First World War, there is clearly much more to be done!
Allen Cook