Writing police history: 2017

Folkestone Police and immorality in the First World War

@drmaryfraser

Shorncliffe is less than two miles from Folkestone and housed 40,000 Canadian soldiers who landed in Plymouth in February 1915 on their way to barracks at Shorncliffe, with the officers based in private houses throughout Folkestone. This transformed the previously genteel holiday resort overnight into a home for soldiers, who were welcomed into the town by the local people and developed strong ties with them, to the extent that there is still an annual parade through the town to remember them, the image below shows their enduring memories by a plaque in the town:

Canadian troops were based in Shorncliffe and Folkestone for the duration of the war, returning for periods of leave from France. The picture below shows them marching along The Lees, an exclusive promenade on the seafront in Folkestone.

Both pictures courtesy of Folkestone Then and Now http://www.warrenpress.net/FolkestoneThenNow/FolkestoneThen_Now.html

Although very much welcomed by the local community, they were thought by some residents to have money to spend and inevitably crime developed. A further problem was the level of venereal disease in the troops [1]. The police said the town developed a particular problem of brothel keeping and solicitation in 1915, when they closed four brothels [2; 3], seen by the Chief Constable in evidence to the Watch Committee as insufficient. In February 1916, the month in which Defence of the Realm Act (DORA) Regulation 13A was passed, 37 convicted prostitutes and those convicted of brothel keeping were evicted from Folkestone [4]. Considerable discussion at the Watch Committee in March 1916 involved members being told, three months into the employment of two women police, that now Magistrates had increased powers to expel certain women from the town, the Committee no longer saw the need for women police, although they were said to have carried out their work to the satisfaction of the Committee and the Chief Constable, the decision to employ them should be revoked. Those convicted under 13A had entered the town since the start of the war and as they had now been evicted there was no further need for the women police. However, the Archbishop of Canterbury intervened writing that he “had been following the doings of the women police all over the country with great interest.” He promoted them as carrying out work which it was almost impossible for a man to do. Following a vote, the motion to revoke the appointment of the women police was lost by 12 votes to 6 and they were retained [5].

References

[1] Beaupré, D. (2007/2008) En Route to Flanders Fields: The Canadians at Shorncliffe During The Great War. London Journal of Canadian Studies. 23, 45-65.

[2] Wynn, S. (2017) Folkestone in the Great War. Barnsley: Pen and Sword Military.

[3] Correspondence concerning the desire for special regulations (13B) for treating venereal disease in Folkestone (1916). 3AMS/B/05/01. London School of Economics, The Women’s Library.

[4] Levine, P. (2003) Prostitution, Race, and Politics: Policing venereal disease in the British Empire. New York and London: Routledge.

[5] Folkestone, Hythe, Sandgate and Cheriton Herald, March 4^th, 1916 p. 2

@drmaryfraser

Police control of women and girls in the First World War

@drmaryfraser

The start of the war in August 1914 saw young women and girls overtly chasing men in khaki and swarming around military camps where men were in training before being sent to the Front, this behaviour became known as "khaki fever". Initially the police did not feel it was their job to try to stop it, but when huge public protest erupted, they took action to curtail it. Married women could lose their government separation allowance if accused of such behaviour, which would also be made known to their husband serving in the army or navy. Patroling around the military camps by women police patrols was also said to be effective in some areas, such as Carlisle.

1915 saw the public scandal of war babies, said to be in their thousands around Britain, born to unmarried women as well as the illigitimate children of married women. However, investigations by religious and women's organisations showed their numbers to be vastly exaggerated - they numbered around 20 rather than thousands.

But the more hidden consequences of immoral liaisons were also suspected. The police were taught how to recognise abortion and concealed births and how to secure a prosecution. Under the Offences Against the Person Act 1861, Section 58, a woman could receive a sentence of penal servitude for life, if found guilty. It was also an offence to supply a substance to a woman for such purposes.

@drmaryfraser

Temporary Police in the First World War

@drmaryfraser

As well as retaining time-expired policemen (who had served their full number of years to retire on a full pension, but were prevented by Act of Parliament from retiring until after the war), and encouraging businessmen to become Special Constables for part-time hours, many Police Forces recruited Temporary Policemen to take the places of those who had left to join the army or navy. Unlike the Special Constables, Temporary Policemen were sworn in, so could arrest suspects. But they were employed only for the period of the war, with the understanding that they would resign at the end of the war. In most forces they were welcomed, however in some they were fiercely criticised by their employers and the public, being accused of only joining the police to escape being called up to join the army.

@drmaryfraser

Police due to retire retained in 1915

@drmaryfraser

In order to prevent the number of regular police from dwindling dramatically, the Police (Emergency Provisions) Act, 1915 prevented the retirement of policemen who were "time-expired"; they had served 25 or 26 years - the ususal time by which policemen could retire. Only those who had a medical certificate declaring them unfit, or had the permission of the Chief Constable, were allowed to retire. Time-expired police were retained until the end of the war. Many were said to agree with this, however, some complaints were heard, especially when they continued to have deductions of pension contributions from their pay when they were already due to receive a full pension. This was raised in the House of Commons in October 1915 and led to the deductions being reduced to a minimal amount.