trying to trace the service history

[thedubdoctor]

hi ,my names nick ,im trying to trace my third cousin ,pc 743 james henry clarkson,he was the father of my great aunt,i have a picture taken on his last day of service ,i guess around the early /middle 50s as my aunt pasted away in the eighties in her late eighties,ive asked my family,who have given me all they know (whistle+chain)
im trying to find out more about his service history, where he was posted ,etc,
what can i do where can i go
any help greatly received

[Geoffers]

Welcome to the B-G forums.

Where you look for further information depends entirely on where your chap served as a policeman (remember, we don't have a national police force). Some police forces have their own archives/museums, others have deposited records at a local records office, The National Archives holds some records for the Metropolitan police.

Survival of information varies vetween police forces.

Begin with where he worked and ask the force which now covers that area where information is deposited.

[Procat]

Hi,

I have moved your post from Introduce Yourself to Policeman as it may get more attention there - though with Geoffers assisting you are already in very capable hands.

[thedubdoctor]

thank you guys ,unfortunately my mum has no memories of where he served,my nan who past away 7 years ago had all the info in her head,im assuming he served in west yorkshire, due to his last service picture which was taken by Westerman studios in hebden bridge, west yorkshire.

[Geoffers]

thank you guys ,unfortunately my mum has no memories of where he served.

A trip to Wakefield may provide some answers as the record office there has the archives of the West Yorks Constabulary - click here

If that doesn't help you may be able to narrow things down assuming that you have a rough idea of when he lived. Some ideas you might try include:

Looking for a marriage certificate for him - see where he lived when he maried and his occupation

Did he have any children? - Any of them still alive and can help with more detail? If you know the maiden name of the mother, searching the GRO index of births is quite easy and will proivde you with a registration district in which a child was born. Just the district from the index may help to narrow down where he worked.

Did his dad leave a will in which he mentions his son - the probate calendar (basically an annual index to wills) has been copied onto film and can be seen at many record offices around the country (phone to check for coverage and if you need to reserve a microfilm reader). If you find an entry in the calendar, you can apply for a copy of the will.