FOCUS ON: POLICE PENSION RECORDS
Explore the history of police pensions and track down surviving records with Clive Emsley
Police pensions can be a valuable source, according to Clive Emsley
Most transport was horse-drawn in the 19th century and police constables were often called upon to deal with runaway horses
Pensions were not something that working class men automatically expected in Victorian England. Accidents, sickness, retirement from regular work through age and incapacity often meant resort to charity or poor relief, as very few could support themselves through private means. This made the police pension a valuable asset to the unskilled or semi-skilled men who made up the majority of police officers in the 19th and early 20th centuries.
The Metropolitan Police of London were the first of the new police forces established in England. The founding act of 1829 gave the right to grant pensions, but there was no scale for them and no guarantee that a man would get one. A second Metropolitan Police Act passed in 1839 improved the situation in London by establishing a pension fund, which was maintained by deductions from pay, fines for misconduct and any fines imposed by the courts for assaults on police officers or being drunk and disorderly. The act authorised the payment of a pension for a man who was 60 years old or more and who had served for a minimum of 15 years. It was also possible for a man injured in the line of duty to receive a gratuity and even a pension. The pension was to be no more than half-pay for 15 years’ service, and no more than two-thirds pay for longer. But the fund was badly costed at the outset, so by the mid-1850s its capital was exhausted.
Yet Metropolitan police officers were much better served in respects of a pension than any provincial force. County forces had recourse to similar sorts of funds established by act of parliament; but borough forces were not required to establish a superannuation fund and some town councils scarcely bothered. The county magistrates who sat on county police committees were money conscious and could be tight-fisted, but they were not elected and were less responsive to ratepayer pressure than their urban counterparts. Town
councils, and their watch committees who were responsible for policing matters, were always conscious of costs and ratepayers’ reactions. When Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary was established and began its annual reports to parliament from 1857, abuses and shortfalls began to be publicised.
Shortage of funds
The lack of money available for Metropolitan police pensions was made up by a grant from the Police Fund. The force was the only one in the country directly responsible to the Home Secretary and thereby to Parliament, and it was Parliament which was able to authorise this. The police pension remained discretionary and there was considerable unrest over the situation. In 1875, a select committee was set up to investigate the issues affecting police pensions. Its final report in 1877 recommended that the pension should be awarded to all policemen after 25 years’ service. But it was another 13 years before the Police Act of 1890 introduced such a system. Immediately before the act, sections of the Metropolitan Police had gone on strike for, among other things, the right to a pension. In the event, the act encompassed the whole police service.
The 1890 act had a series of unexpected consequences. Since it applied to all forces, the number of young men who moved to London to join the police declined and the number of London-born Metropolitan officers increased. More men stayed on to get the pension; the turnover rate of recruits had previously been considerable. We tend to think of the factory as the toughest place to work in the 19th century, but the policeman’s lot was not a happy one. The constable had to patrol in all weathers leading to lung disease and rheumatism. There were physical dangers in confronting armed offenders and crowds – some of which thought it fun to assault a policeman – and runaway animals. Most transport was horse-drawn in the 19th century so constables often had to deal with runaway horses.
The Metropolitan Police Pension Registers are in The National Archives under MEPO 21. For 1852-1932 they are also available through Ancestry. These registers provide details of pensioners and the pensions awarded to men who retired or resigned from the force between 1852 and 1932, and who were granted, or after the 1890 act qualified for, a police pension. The records usually provide the constable’s place of birth, marital status, parents and next of kin, service details, and, from 1923, details of his spouse with her date of birth and their place of marriage.
The volume entries are arranged by pension number, which generally corresponds to the date of resignation, but in some instances this chronological order has not been strictly followed. The numbering system was altered periodically and reflects administrative changes within the Pensions Branch.