In part one of this blog, we met PC 148 of Northumberland Constabulary. He joined in 1930 and was
posted to Wallsend, then he has subsequently worked at Lynemouth. We rejoin the story in the
early 50’s and he is now based at Kirkwhelpington.
PC 148 attended another Refresher Course (number 25) in 1952, which was held in Yorkshire, as the
paperwork is headed Northallerton, North Riding Constabulary. He is complimented as having been
a good influence, due to being one of the senior members of the course.
In early 1956, reports record that PC 148 was stationed at Amble, but on 20th July that same year he
was posted to Berwick Upon Tweed and he and his family occupied a house in Castlegate.
By October 1962, PC 148 was approaching his 55th birthday, which was retirement age for
constables. He submitted a report requesting to extend his service past the age of 55. He was asked
to attend Morpeth to be medically examined by the Constabulary Surgeon at a surgery on Bridge
Street. The request to extend his service was authorised, but PC 148 only served an extra few
months before retiring in November of 1963 – which also required another trip to Morpeth for yet
another medical examination.
Ten days before the retirement date, the Chief Inspector at Berwick submitted a report to the Chief
Constable, asking for permission to carry out a collection from staff at the station. Naturally, this was
approved, but there is no record of what retirement gift was purchased.
There are documents recording the process by which PC 148 applied for his pension. He was entitled
to the sum of £660 8s 2d per annum, but as is frequent practice today, he chose to commute (give
up) 1/6 of his full pension to give him an immediate lump sum payment. By choosing this option,
upon retirement, PC 148 received a deposit into his account at the Berwick and Tweedmouth
Savings Bank of £1309 7s and 4 pence.
One of the final documents in the file is a record of sickness. In 33 years of service, this officer had
only six periods of sick leave, totalling 64 days off work and his character was described as
Exemplary.
The answers to the two example questions in the first part of this blog are as follows:
The fraction of the book remaining to be read is 13/60ths
The time taken to walk the 16 miles from Rothbury to Morpeth is 5 hours, 7 minutes, and 12
seconds.
Northumberland Archives hold police records for Northumberland but please note that they are subject to a 100 year closure period.