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22 Comments

Another Police Inspection
Another Police Inspection
Photo: Rev David Long
Views: 3,665
Item #: 31007
I'm uploading this one because I'm hoping that someone can name the Mayor who is in the inspecting party - which would give the year this Inspection took place.
I think the leading Inspecting Officer is talking to Ina Duxbury. 'Big Amy' Dooley (later Holt) is hidden behind him.

Comment by: Albert.S. on 5th March 2019 at 15:28

Am I correct in my thinking, that the gentleman wearing civilian clothes, and separated from the police ladies, is Supt. Davies?.

Comment by: Albert.S. on 5th March 2019 at 15:37

Is the tall senior officer, the Ch/Const Mr Aitkin. Other previous officers’ of Wigan Borough Police, will say yea, or nae.

Comment by: Veronica on 5th March 2019 at 16:47

I feel sympathy for the WPCs in that unbecoming uniform - still it was just after the war. Far different these days!

Comment by: Aubrey on 5th March 2019 at 17:35

Albert, You are correct in naming ex. Supt. Davies, but I doubt if that is David Aitken. Sorry Rev. David I cannot name the then mayor.

Comment by: Albert.S. on 5th March 2019 at 18:57

Possibly the police lady at far end of the line appears to be Alice Jewel. When I was serving in the Wigan Police., she was the W.P. Sgt.

Comment by: Broady on 5th March 2019 at 21:14

Is the photo taken in the Grammar School quadrangle?

Comment by: Rev David Long on 5th March 2019 at 21:15

Albert - if 'at the end of the line' you mean at the opposite end, and just visible between the inspecting officers - you're probably right. In the earlier pic I posted, WPS Jewell is on that end of the line too.

Comment by: Albert.S. on 6th March 2019 at 10:43

I would think this is the early to late fifties. Aubrey I believe that that is Mr Aiken in the rank of superintendent, prior to him being appointed Ch/Cont.. Mr Davies would have been Det/Insp. I/c Wigan Borough Police, at that particular time Margaret Higham would have been amongst the Police ladies. She transferred to the Lancs Const. to rank of sergeant, in the late fifties

Comment by: Albert.S. on 6th March 2019 at 11:12

Wayne Dooley, England ruby union player, and served in the Blackpool Police, was Amy’s nephew.

Comment by: Albert.S. on 6th March 2019 at 11:17

Yes That is what I meant Reverend.

Comment by: Albert.S. on 7th March 2019 at 10:06

A. H.M.I. Inspection was one that each constable dreaded. After the parade in the grounds of the grammar school, we would all assemble in the magistrates court. The H.M.I. would select a constable, at random, pick a date that that constable was on duty, and ask the officer to tell him what incidents from the records of his pocket book he had dealt with that day. From the incident chosen, all officers’ mentioned in that incident would have to produce their pocket books, and relate to the H.M.I. Their involvement.. It sometimes involved several officers’ on their feet, that had been involved. So all pocket books would have to be in good chronological order.

Comment by: Ben on 8th March 2019 at 11:35

I now know why corroborating evidence is so important since my first reaction to the identity of the gentleman extreme left of the photo was Paul Foster who in 1956 was Chief Constable of the Borough Police Force.

Comment by: Albert.S. on 9th March 2019 at 14:13

Reverend. This photograph appears to be a different occasion than the previous one, In that photograph Amy is shown next to Mr Davies.

Comment by: Rev David Long on 9th March 2019 at 15:26

Yes, Albert - the HMI is also starting his inspection from the opposite end of the row - he was by the plain clothes officers in the first Inspection pic I put up.

Comment by: Albert.S. on 10th March 2019 at 09:40

Reverend From your searches. Did you discover how often these H.M.I’s. inspections took place?. I don’t recollect them being annually..

Comment by: Mick on 10th March 2019 at 12:29

Albert - I believe they did take place annually.
They did in later years (1970s and 1980s), but not on such a large scale.

Comment by: Rev David Long on 10th March 2019 at 12:55

Sorry, Albert, I don't know - the pics of Inspections are not dated. Next time I'm in the MoWL I'll look through the Chief Constable's Annual Reports, as I assume an Inspection would be reported on. That might give the frequency.

Comment by: Joe Harrison on 10th March 2019 at 21:51

Answering Broady yes this is the Grammar School Quad.

Comment by: Rev David Long on 11th March 2019 at 18:51

Another shot from this Inspection appears in 'Policing Wigan' by James Fairhurst (Landy Publishing, 1996). It was taken a few yards further back, showing Sgt. Jewell and ' Big Amy' and the policewoman between her and Ina Duxbury. The inspecting party (complete with the same Mayor) has just passed the 'mobile unit' - officers with pedal cycles. A police car in the distance is sporting a POLICE sign on its roof - which none of the cars in the Inspection picture already featured here appears to have.
The date of the Inspection is given as 'about 1954' - which is when I reckon Ina Duxbury joined up, at the age of 21.

Comment by: Rev David Long on 13th March 2019 at 19:10

Ron Hunt has a series of scans of the Wigan Almanac showing the respective Mayors for each year. Going by the photographs there, I reckon this is Cllr. Ralph Fisher, who was Mayor for 1959/60. Judging by the shadows, I would say this Inspection took place in the summer of that year.

Comment by: Albert.S. on 14th March 2019 at 07:58

I went on the H.M.I inspectionn on just one occasion. 1959. This makes me believe they were not held annually, as there were numerous Borough forces within the north. I was in the Wigan Police 1958 to1964.

Comment by: Pete Schofield on 21st March 2019 at 12:24

When I was a pupil at Wigan Grammar School from 1960 to 1966 I can remember Wigan Borough Police being inspected in the quadrangle of the Grammar School. I learnt more about it when I joined the force as a Cadet in July 1967 and became P.C. 52 in July 1968. On the 1st April this year it will be exactly 50 years since the demise of the Borough Force when it and every other Borough Force still operating in Lancashire were amalgamated into the Lancashire Constabulary Force

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