100 years of Woman Police in Gloucestershire 3

1920s to the 1960s

Katherine Beryl Gardner Joined 12/12/1927 resigned 31/12/1929. Father was a Gloucestershire Police Inspector who died in service 22/9/1931. (Gloucestershire Police Archives URN 7855)
Conditions of employment for policewomen signed by Edith Cooper 1922. (Gloucestershire Police Archives URN 7842)
Annie Josephine Fay Joined 12/12/1927 resigned 20/9/1929 to return to teaching. (Gloucestershire Police Archives URN 7853)
Newspaper articles from 1929 about Gloucestershire women Flying Squad showing Janet Gray on a motor cycle and Josephine Fay resigning. (Gloucestershire Police Archives URN 7838)
Janet Gray pictured between 1927 and 1931. (Gloucestershire Police Archives URN 6095)
Marriage condition for policewomen from 1927 signed by Janet Gray. (Gloucestershire Police Archives URN 7843)
Rosa Rouse later Ashby Joined 12.12.1927 from Bristol City pensioned ill health 4.7.1941 (Gloucestershire Police Archives URN 6061)
Copy of an advert in the Citizen December 6 1927 for Policewomen. (Gloucestershire Police Archives URN 7837)
Woman Police Constable Lodge in 1928. (Gloucestershire Police Archives URN 165)
Citizen January 3rd 1929 Woman Police Constable Lodge had to have her finger amputated after an accident on her motorcycle while on duty. (Gloucestershire Police Archives URN 7851)
Mabel Lodge on her motorbike. (Gloucestershire Police Archives URN 7850)
Daily Express February 1930 and Daily Mail February 1931. Policewomen Make Me Shudder and Police Brides. (Gloucestershire Police Archives URN 7847)
Citizen 18 March 1931 article about the lack of policewomen. (Gloucestershire Police Archives URN 7840)
Phyllis Bennett joined 1/1/1930 resigned 2/2/1940 to marry. (Gloucestershire Police Archives URN 7852)
Police women in the press 1930s. (Gloucestershire Police Archives URN 7846)
The Provincial Lead. Well. London is not the criterion by which we should judge. The London police are condemned to wear ugly, basin like hats, clumsy black tunics and skirts and boots which bear out the music-hall jokes about a policeman’s boots. Just contrast this with certain provincial towns especially in the midlands, where women police have met with unprecedented success and you will find that the uniform of the provincial policewoman is most becoming. She wears a pretty peaked cap, after the naval type, her uniform is quite attractive and she is permitted to wear black silk stockings and dainty shoes. In fact, she by far more likely to win confidences of the class of women which perforce she has to deal than her London prototype. It was Sir Leonard Dunning H.M. Inspector of Constabulary who said “Policewomen are building an influence which may shape the future of many a girl who has no one else to lean on.” The policewomen of the provinces is certainly the type that should be fostered for this class of delinquent. (Gloucestershire Police Archives URN 7841)
Betsy McCorquodale Twatt Cameron. Joined 18/1/1932 resigned 28/12/1933 to marry. (Gloucestershire Police Archives URN 7861)
Elizabeth Marjorie Millichip Joined 30/1/1930 retired 31/8/1958. Promoted Sergeant 14/10/1950. (Gloucestershire Police Archives URN 7859)
Mary Doris Gould Joined 15/1/1934 promoted Sergeant Gloucestershire June 1948. (Gloucestershire Police Archives URN 7856)
Women police 1938. Back row: Miss Millichip, Miss Gould, Police Sergeant Midwinter, Miss Rouse, Miss Bennett, Front row: Miss Lodge, Miss Sandover, Miss Ford, Miss Spooner, Miss Tonra. (Gloucestershire Police Archives URN 136)
Duties of Policewomen 1939. (Gloucestershire Police Archives URN 7844)
Cover of Policewoman's Review with article about Gloucestershire Women Police December 1935. (Gloucestershire Police Archives URN 7834)
Women's Auxiliary Police Corps badge. The Women's Auxiliary Police Corps was formed in 1939, and its members were afforded no police powers, but employed to take on clerical and driving duties. When the Corps was disbanded in 1946 many of its members applied to join the regular police force. (Gloucestershire Police Archives URN 6105)
One Police Constable, one Woman Police Constable and three Woman Auxiliary Police Constables at rear of Cheltenham Police Station Crescent Terrace. Left to right: Woman Auxiliary Police Constable Dorothy HALE (now GARDNER), Police Constable John ANGUS, Woman Auxiliary Police Constable Joyce PAYTON (now MOORE), Woman Police Constable Laura BALL (now CLARKE), Woman Auxiliary Police Constable Doreen WEBB (now SINCLAIR). (Gloucestershire Police Archives URN 1198)
County policewomen 1953. (Gloucestershire Police Archives URN 151)
Group photo of women police officers. Includes Jean Marsh, Olive Hinton, Mrs Herbert, Doreen Raper, Mrs Yeoman, Mrs Brimble, Miss Reed. (Gloucestershire Police Archives URN 191)
Woman Police Constable Yeoman on her retirement in 1958. (Gloucestershire Police Archives URN 165(2))
From left to right; Former Woman Police Sergeant Margery Herbert, Superintendent W Stapleforth, former Woman Police Edith Yeoman. Woman Police Constable Rosalind Edwards, former Woman Police Constable Rosa Ashby, (Gloucestershire Police Archives URN 308)

In 1922 because of the cost cutting measures imposed by the government many of the Gloucestershire Policewomen were given notice.

In 1927 more women joined Gloucestershire police but there were still only 7 of them. This number didn’t change much until the 1960s.

This page was added on 05/03/2018.

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