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You are here: Home>Police History>180th Anniversary of Hertfordshire Constabulary

180th Anniversary of Hertfordshire Constabulary

  • 180th Anniversary 1
    180th Anniversary 1
    HERTFORDSHIRE CONSTABULARY 180th ANNIVERSARY TIME-LINE: 1. On 12th April 1841, Captain Archibald Robertson is attested as Chief Constable of a new countywide police force, to be known as the Hertfordshire Constabulary. Robertson sets about recruiting officers but has to wait nearly a month before he has anyone to manage.
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  • 180th Anniversary 2
    180th Anniversary 2
    HERTFORDSHIRE CONSTABULARY 180th ANNIVERSARY TIME-LINE: 2. On 6th May 1841, Robert Dunn is appointed as the first police constable of the Hertfordshire Constabulary and is posted to Hitchin. He will go on to complete 23yrs service, retiring as a Superintendent in 1865.
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  • 180th Anniversary 3
    180th Anniversary 3
    HERTFORDSHIRE CONSTABULARY 180th ANNIVERSARY TIME-LINE: 3. September 1841, Chief Constable Robertson completes his initial recruitment campaign for the newly formed Hertfordshire Constabulary, which by then comprises four superintendents, six inspectors and sixty constables.
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  • 180th Anniversary 4
    180th Anniversary 4
    HERTFORDSHIRE CONSTABULARY 180th ANNIVERSARY TIME-LINE: 4. October 1857 – 25yr old Police Constable 13 John Starkins goes missing whilst on duty at Stevenage. His body is found three days later near Six Hills. He is the first officer of the Hertfordshire Constabulary to be killed on duty. A local man named Jeremiah Carpenter is charged with ...
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  • 180th Anniversary 5
    180th Anniversary 5
    HERTFORDSHIRE CONSTABULARY 180th ANNIVERSARY TIME-LINE: 5. October 1880 – Chief Constable Archibald Robertson retires due to ill health, having run the force for thirty-nine years. Sixty-seven people apply to fill the vacancy. The job is given to 41yr old, Major Henry Smith Daniell. Once in office, Daniell sets about making sweeping changes, which include splitting the ...
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  • 180th Anniversary 6
    180th Anniversary 6
    HERTFORDSHIRE CONSTABULARY 180th ANNIVERSARY TIME-LINE: 6. April 1889 – The small Hertford Borough Police force, which has been independent since 1836, is finally absorbed into the Hertfordshire Constabulary. The Hertford Borough Police’s two sergeants and six constables transfer into the constabulary.
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  • 180th Anniversary 7
    180th Anniversary 7
    HERTFORDSHIRE CONSTABULARY 180th ANNIVERSARY TIME-LINE: 7. 1893 – Watford Police Station on King Street (pictured) becomes the first in the county to have a telephone installed. The station’s telephone number is ‘38’. It is expected that the wives of policemen will answer the phone whilst their husbands are out on patrol.
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  • 180th Anniversary 8
    180th Anniversary 8
    HERTFORDSHIRE CONSTABULARY 180th ANNIVERSARY TIME-LINE: 8. 1911 – Lieut Col. Alfred Letchworth Law becomes the Constabulary’s third Chief Constable. Renowned for his attention to detail, Law insists that the county’s police officers were immaculately presented and highly disciplined. He would go on to run the force until 1928.
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  • 180th Anniversary 9
    180th Anniversary 9
    HERTFORDSHIRE CONSTABULARY 180th ANNIVERSARY TIME-LINE: 9. January 1914 – Tring Police Station opens for business. It remains in use to this day and is the oldest operational police station in the county.
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  • 180th Anniversary 10
    180th Anniversary 10
    HERTFORDSHIRE CONSTABULARY 180th ANNIVERSARY TIME-LINE: 10. 1914 The Constabulary purchases its first police car. The two-seater Swift cost £119 and was allocated to Hitchin Police Station.
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  • 180th Anniversary 11
    180th Anniversary 11
    HERTFORDSHIRE CONSTABULARY 180th ANNIVERSARY TIME-LINE: 11. 1914 – World War I is declared. Eighty-five regular police officers leave the constabulary to fight in the conflict. Back in Hertfordshire, a shortfall in officer numbers is compensated for through the recruitment of some 3,000 special constables. Meanwhile all of the constabulary’s thirteen horses are requisitioned by the army ...
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  • 180th Anniversary 12
    180th Anniversary 12
    HERTFORDSHIRE CONSTABULARY 180th ANNIVERSARY TIME-LINE: 12. 1928 – George Thomas Knight succeeds Lieut Col. A. L. Law as Chief Constable. George Knight remains the only Chief Constable to have joined the Hertfordshire Constabulary as a constable and attained each police rank without transferring to another force. He retired in 1939, having been Chief Constable for eleven ...
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  • 180th Anniversary 13
    180th Anniversary 13
    HERTFORDSHIRE CONSTABULARY 180th ANNIVERSARY TIME-LINE: 13. 1928 – Sisters Margaret and Annie Johnson are appointed as the constabulary’s first female constables. Despite being stationed at Watford, the Chief Constable orders that Margaret and Annie can be deployed anywhere in the county, should the need for a female officer arise.
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  • 180th Anniversary 14
    180th Anniversary 14
    HERTFORDSHIRE CONSTABULARY 180th ANNIVERSARY TIME-LINE: 14: 1939 – World War 2 is declared and 98 police officers from the Constabulary join the armed forces to fight in the conflict. Seven will lose their lives. Back in Hertfordshire, a large number of special constables and War Reserve officers are recruited to assist regular officers with policing in ...
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  • 180th Anniversary 15
    180th Anniversary 15
    HERTFORDSHIRE CONSTABULARY 180th ANNIVERSARY TIME-LINE: 15. 1944 – The Constabulary’s Headquarters at Hatfield are severely damaged when a V1 flying bomb explodes nearby. Eight people are killed and 26 are injured. Most of the damage is repaired voluntarily by police officers on their days off.
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  • 180th Anniversary 16
    180th Anniversary 16
    HERTFORDSHIRE CONSTABULARY 180th ANNIVERSARY TIME-LINE: 16. 1945 – Colonel Arthur E. Young is appointed Chief Constable of Hertfordshire. He launches an energetic project to build hundreds of police houses across Hertfordshire to provide accommodation for police officers and their families.
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  • 180th Anniversary 17
    180th Anniversary 17
    HERTFORDSHIRE CONSTABULARY 180th ANNIVERSARY TIME-LINE: 17: 1947 – The small St Albans City Police force, which has been independent since 1836, is absorbed into the Hertfordshire Constabulary. The city’s police station, built in 1893, is handed over to the Constabulary and remains in use until 1963.
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  • 180th Anniversary 18
    180th Anniversary 18
    HERTFORDSHIRE CONSTABULARY 180th ANNIVERSARY TIME-LINE: 18. 1947 – The Constabulary fits radio sets to some of its police vehicles for the first time. A new ‘Information Room’ is established at the force’s Victorian Headquarters, in Hatfield, to handle the radio traffic.
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  • 180th Anniversary 19
    180th Anniversary 19
    HERTFORDSHIRE CONSTABULARY 180th ANNIVERSARY TIME-LINE: 19. 1951 – The constabulary forms a permanent dog section, which initially consists of just two constables and two dogs.
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  • 180th Anniversary 20
    180th Anniversary 20
    HERTFORDSHIRE CONSTABULARY 180th ANNIVERSARY TIME-LINE: 20. 1962 – A Traffic department is formed and initially consists of six sergeants and sixty-two constables, using a fleet of ten cars and twenty-six motorcycles to cover a road network of over 2,000 miles.
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  • 180th Anniversary 21
    180th Anniversary 21
    HERTFORDSHIRE CONSTABULARY 180th ANNIVERSARY TIME-LINE: 21. 1967 – The Constabulary’s Headquarters moves to its current site at Welwyn Garden City. The first department to move is the force’s control room, known then as the ‘Information Room’, which had previously been housed in the Victorian headquarters at Hatfield.
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