Policing History explores historical interactions between police and the policed.
Queensland Police Museum Treasures: Helmets, Hats and Caps
For nearly two hundred years, helmets, hats and caps offered head protection for police, be it from the climactic or criminal elements, enabling safer duty. In this Queensland Police Museum Treasures post, I will be looking at police headwear. Colonial policemen were helmets, hats, or high caps. Mounted men, ordinary duty police and bush police each had their own headgear.
Queensland Police Museum Treasures: Police Batons
This is the first entry in, hopefully, regular series showcasing the treasures held at the Queensland Police Museum, located in the Queensland Police Service Headquarters, Brisbane. The physical requirements for entry into the force were meant to compensate for the lack of armaments. An eligible applicant must have measured a clear 5’8 inches without their boots (which I do not), have been of strong constitution, and free from any bodily complaint.2 Apart from fulfilling the physical requirement, the applicants had to possess basic literacy skills. Candidates for the Force had to be under the age of 30, unless they had previously been engaged in Police duty, in which case they may be admitted up to the age of 35 years. Stout uniformed men standing at near or over six feet in height with their batons at the ready were judged to present an imposing enough sight to discourage potential depredators without the additional aid of a pistol. Prevention of crime was the primary objective of Brisbane City Police.
William E.D.M. Armit, the Qld Native Police Officer (Part 1)
Guillaume Edington Armit, later William Edington de Marguerittes (de Margrat) Armit, was born in Liege, Kingdom of Belgium on 10 May 1848, to John Lees Armit Esq of Kildare St, Dublin, formerly an army agent, and Elizabeth Yeldham. William’s father’s first wife, Noemie Augustine Eugenie de Teissier, was a granddaughter of Jean-Antoine Teissier de Marguerittes, Baron de Marguerittes, guillotined in 1794, during the French Revolution. This explains the later addition to Armit’s name. Armit had four half-siblings from his father’s first marriage and five full siblings from the second. William went on to have a large family of his own.
A Busy Constable Polices Gamblers and Larrikins
George Charles Rayner was born at Moraby, near Yeulba, on 28 October 1876. Before joining the Queensland Police Force he was employed as a stockman. His employer, Mr. Moore at Miles described him as ‘a willing and hard worker, honest and sober’.
Rayner was sworn in as a Constable on the 4 March 1899. He was stationed at Charleville for about 18 months, before being transferred to Bundaberg in January 1901. Three months later Rayner resigned to help his mother and brothers at Moraby Station. On the 6 August 1901 he married Edith Bunt, whose family lived in Chinchilla.
Duties and Regulations: 'An Unpopular Policeman is Useless as a Detective'
By and large, the majority of duties of the Queensland’s Policeman were spelt out in, very great detail, in numerous rules and regulations guidelines. Due to the intricate and precarious nature of police service in a metropolis, and the police and public relationship, a police manual meticulously outlined the duties and definitions of virtually everything a policeman could encounter on the job.
A Verbal Portrait: Victorian Criminal Identification Methods
In 1882, Alphonse Bertillon developed anthropometry, a criminal identification system also known as bertillonage. Bertillon devised three kinds of signalment: anthropometrical (based on series of specific body measurements), descriptive and signalment by peculiar marks (such as tattoos, scars, birthmarks).
Mysterious Explosion at the Brisbane CIB, 1927
On 14 August 1927, the Criminal Investigation Branch building was rocked by a violent explosion in a property room. ‘The roar of the discharge was heard for miles around, being audible in the suburbs.’ (BC, 15 Aug 1927, p. 13) Numerous crime records and exhibits in cases before the Police and Supreme Courts were destroyed, and nearly all windows and doors were shattered. Considerable damage from timber, iron and plaster hurled through the air was done to the buildings in the area.