During the late 19^th century Berwick Police Force received posters from all over the country looking for criminals, missing persons and stolen goods. These two posters in bundle 2 (BA/C/PO/15/2)  show that behind each poster there is a story not necessarily about the incident but about the individuals.

This poster is very striking, a young boy, aged 12 who was missing from his home in Newport on Tay near Dundee.  Who was John Doctor, what do we know about him before his disappearance in 1895 and what happened to him ? The poster includes a lovely line drawing of John and a detailed description – his appearance and clothing . From this he appears to be from an affluent family and  well educated.   

On checking the 1891 census, John Doctor, born c 1884 was the son of William F Doctor, a jute merchant and his wife, Jane. They lived  at Ashleigh in Forgan parish near Dundee with John’s younger sister, Jane, aged 3 and two servants – a definite sign that the family were well off. His parents had married in 1882.

The poster indicates that there was no apparent reason for John’s disappearance on 20^th May and the family and police must have been concerned to send this out to various police forces on 22^nd May. The Berwick Police Force acted upon it as it is annotated “Enquiries Made RT [Robert Tough]” – one of Berwick’s Policemen. Despite searching through the online newspapers, I have been unable to find any reference to John’s disappearance. He must have returned home at some stage because he appears on the 1901 census, now aged 17 as a Mercantile Clerk living his father, sister and a servant at Tayview Terrace in Forgan. His mother isn’t listed which may indicate that she had died.

By the next year 1902, John Doctor had married Jane Irvine in Glasgow. I struggled to find the couple in the 1911 Scottish census. The trail had gone cold but quite by chance I found electoral register entries for John in Dundee and also an entry in 1922 indicating a connection with Moor Law in Canada. I thought John must have emigrated around then but a search of the 1911 census in Canada picked him up living in Moose Jaw City in Saskatchewan. He was there with his wife, Christina, daughter Janet, born in Scotland in 1905 and two further children – James (1907) and Caroline  (1909), both born in Canada which suggests they arrived in Canada between 1905 and 1907. I can’t find much more on the family – John and his three children sailed from Canada to Glasgow in 1919 – did they come home to visit relatives ? – but after that the trail goes cold. So what happened to him – did the family go back to Canada, had his wife died ?  Always more questions than answers.

The second item isn’t a poster but a letter, dated 7 September 1885 from John W Logan of Tweedside Works to the Superintendent of Berwick Police requesting his assistance. It reads

Dear Sir,

I have again to complain of damages being done to Windows in my Works. 12 Panes of glass having been broken between Saturday night & Monday morning. I shall be glad if you can arrange to keep a look out & stop such in future

John Walker Logan was born in Berwick in 1850, the first son of David and Isabella Logan. His father was a corn merchant and the family lived in Hide Hill. John had an interest in machinery and must have served an apprenticeship. In 1871 he is described in the census as a former engine builder and in 1890 he became a member of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers. In the 1870s he went into partnership with William Elder and ran the business, Logan and Elder in Berwick. However by February 1880, this partnership was dissolved and both started their own businesses as agricultural implement makers in Berwick. John Logan operated the Tweedside Works, based in Tweedmouth which made various implements. He carried on this business until 1888 when he emigrated to South Africa to work as an engineer. There is an advert in the local newspaper in October 1887 giving notice of a sale of the equipment in the Tweedside Works. He appears to have initially worked in Johannesburg but by the start of the Boer War, he had moved to Cape Town where he sadly died on 17^th March 1901. An entry in the Berwickshire News on 26 March 1901 read “ At Cape Town, March 17, of typhoid fever, John Walker Logan, engineer, formerly of Berwick. “. Another entry in the paper gave some additional information –  The death is announced in South Africa of Mr John W Logan, eldest son of Mr David Logan, JP, the Avenue, Berwick, formerly of Brow of the Hill Farm. This is the second son of Mr Logan’s who dies buried in the Colony.

I haven’t been able to find anything about John’s time in South Africa. Did he marry over there, why did he go and was his brother killed in the Boer War ?

These are the stories behind just two of the items in this bundle of police posters. If you can tell us more about any of the incidents mentioned in BA/C/PO/15/2, please do get in touch. To find the entries for all the posters in this bundle in our electronic catalogue, enter BA/C/PO/15/2* in the search field – https://calmview.northumberland.gov.uk/ . Happy browsing !