Tag: History of the Metropolitan Police

William Charles Tegg was born in Froxfield, Hampshire on 27th November 1876 and joined the Metropolitan Police on 25th October 1898.

He lived at Chelsea Police Station until married in 1906 and was pensioned on 31st December 1923. William died in Gillingham, Kent on 3rd July 1948.

King Edward VII Police Coronation Medal

The Police Coronation Medal was sanctioned in 1902 as an award to policeman, firemen and members of ambulance units on duty during the official celebrations of the Coronation of King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra on 9 August 1902.

The medal continued the practice of awarding a special medal to police and support services on duty during major royal celebrations established with Queen Victoria’s Golden and Diamond Jubilee Police Medals. It was presented in silver or bronze, according to rank, with the silver medal awarded to superintendents and above in the police and fire brigade. A total of 67 silver and 19,885 bronze medals were awarded.

The reverse indicates the service in which the recipient served, there being five types:

Metropolitan Police: 51 silver, 16,709 bronze medals.

City of London Police: 5 silver, 1,060 bronze medals.

L.C.C. M.F.B. (London County Council Metropolitan Fire Brigade): … Read the rest

1887 Golden Jubilee Metropolitan Police Medal awarded to PC J. Molt, Wandsworth Division.

Queen Victoria Police Jubilee Medal Award

A Police Jubilee Medal was awarded to those on duty at Queen Victoria’s Golden and Diamond Jubilee celebrations. The Police Golden Jubilee Medal was sanctioned by Queen Victoria in 1887 as an award to all members of the Metropolitan and City of London Police on duty in London during the official Golden Jubilee celebrations, including the Jubilee procession on 21 June 1887.

Ten years later, the Police Diamond Jubilee Medal was awarded for duty at the principal Diamond Jubilee events on the same basis as the 1887 medal, eligibility having been widened to include firemen and members of ambulance units. Those in possession of the earlier Golden Jubilee Police Medal who again qualified, received a dated clasp to be fixed to their existing medal.

The medal was worn in date order with other Royal commemorative medals. These were worn before campaign medals until November 1918, after which the order of wear was changed, with such medals now worn after campaign medals and before long service awards.

For the first thirteen years there was no detective branch in the Metropolitan police. Down to 1839 the Bow Street runners and the constables of the seven police offices established in 1792 continued in existence and were regarded as the experts in crime detection or “thieftaking” but they were Criminal investigation, that is to say, the function of making inquiry into the circumstances of a crime and collecting information with a view to tracing and prosecuting the criminal, was, under the old system, one of the duties of justice and constable. It had, however, been very much neglected, outside of the limited sphere within which the Bow Street runners operated, and its revival was one of the great improvements that followed on the establishment of the Metropolitan police. The Bow Street runners were more of a private detective agency than a public service. As a witness before the parliamentary Committee of 1837 put it, they  “were private speculators in the detection of crime rather than efficient officers for the ends of justice.” They moved when they were sufficiently paid to do so, and, although normally only eight in number, they did not confine themselves to London, being available to the … Read the rest