Police records

Mention of police accommodation in Coventry prior to WW2 {in another thread) reminded me of a ship`s captain I sailed with in 1957/58. We were on the West African trade and I was his Assistant Purser and we met regularly. He was a larger than life colourful character with a fine beard and waxed ended moustache. From my discharge book he knew I came from Coventry and mentioned to me that he had worked as a police constable in the city, I assume pre-war. He was a Welshman so I don`t know if he would have served as a PC and then gone to sea or perhaps it could have been a period in the middle of his early sea service as there was a time of depression in the shipping industry when companies were laying up ships in rivers and sea lochs around this country and the crews would have had to find temporary work ashore. I can remember his full name (it is unforgettable), is it possible to verify his story through say census or police records?.

Roger, I got the previous information from the newspaper archives, there may be something to help you on there.

Thanks Heathite and Annewiggy, I followed your advice and started looking for Police Registers or archives on line and soon found impossibility for the amateur detective. So I threw caution to the wind and typed into my browser the chap's full name "Clifford Stanley Harbottle O`Sullivan" - (told you he was a Welshman) and blow me down there was an immediate reaction. A notice said "you mean the Aureol" and pointed me to another historical type site of which I am a member "Ships Nostalgia" So there you are the chap`s name is already out there in public, pity it didn`t help me with an answer to my question. However, someone had already observed "he had an eye for the ladies" - I had heard tell

In 1939 he was living in Cardiff, listed as a second mate, mercantile marines. He died in 1991 in the Wirral.

Thanks Annewiggy for finding that info - it doesn`t surprise me as I am only thinking there would be a period before 1939 when shipping was really in the doldrums, but I know it did recover in time for the war. I take it this info doesn`t preclude his being in Coventry Police Records

Hello everybody, I am new to the forum and apologize if this topic has already been discussed before. I live in Melbourne, Australia, but my 3x great-grandfather James Radburn (1853 - 1940) served with the Coventry Police Force from 1877 - 1886, before migrating to Australia where he served with the Victorian colonial and later state Police Force until his retirement in 1906. For many years I have been struggling to obtain a copy of James' service record from the Police Museum in Coventry, however one of our relatives was able to do so in the 1990s but unfortunately this copy was lost decades ago. Over the years I have attempted to contact the Police Museum, I believe the curator was, and still may be, Mr. Tony Rose, but my attempts at contacting the museum through many different channels have been unsuccessful, despite the fact that their website offers a service for locating former servicemen's records. I understand that the museum has been going through some turmoil and a change of location in recent times, but I have been trying to contact them via email for at least five years without any response. Would anybody possibly have any suggestions, possibly even any private researchers that may be able to assist me?

Hi Kody, welcome to the forum Might this article help? It might explain why it's hard to get hold of anyone. Somebody on the forum might be able to help but from the article 'West Midlands Police build a new central force museum at Birmingham's Victorian Lock-Up on Steelhouse Lane'.

Kody You need to contact the West Midlands Police Museum. Their e-mail for genealogy enquiries is 'museum@west-midlands.pnn.police.uk'. Their website asks for as much detail as possible with your enquiry. There has been a lot of local resentment to the West Midlands Police closing down the old museum at Little Park Street and basing their new museum at the old Central Lock Up in the centre of Birmingham. The new pop-up museum shop in Hertford Street is the result. I think Coventry City Council is keen to keep the historical Coventry exhibits in Coventry.

Hi Kody. There is a record listed for James Radburn 1877 to 1886 in the records in the Herbert Archives in Coventry Collections. I am sure if you contact them they will tell you how to go about getting a copy. If not someone who visits the archives may be able to help. Here is a link to the page - Coventry Collections.