Pembrokeshire Police

[John_Lewis-Spencer]

Hi All,

Narberth Museum has recently added this photograph to its archives.
Possibly Pembrokeshire policemen. The officer appears on a 1909 Haverfordwest police photograph.
We think that the photgraph has Narberth connections.
 Any help appreciated.

John

[Orielbenfro]

From my research into Pembrokeshire Military Headstones 1722 to 2006, and included in my free talks on stories behind those headstones, one of those shown in the photograph may well be ;

Thomas Bagnall James ~ who was a Pembroke Police Officer from circa 1910, served amongst other places at Milford, Spittal, Fishguard & Newcastle Emlyn retired as Supt., in 1936 and killed in an air raid(full details known) in W.W. 2, just one of at least 94 known related people to Pembrokeshire who died in such raids.

Bmder Arthur Edwards M.M. ~ of the Royal Horse Artillery died of wounds received while leading an ammunition wagon up to the guns 25 Mar 1918 aged 27 yrs, formerly of the Pembrokeshire Police Force. His M.M. was awarded posthumously.

J.J. Griffiths ~ He was among one of the few Pembrokeshire police men to attend the investiture of the Prince of Wales in 1911. From 1911 to 1915 he was one of only three mounted police men in Pembrokeshire and subsequently served in France 1917 to 1919 on Traffic Control.

William George Thomas ~ Ex Deputy Chief Constable of Pembrokeshire. Educated in USA he served H.M. Navy then joined the Pembroke Police Force in 1894 as a P.C. promoted Inspector Superintendent in 1908 and at some point served at Pemb Dock.

Mr S. Phillips ~ He was a Pembrokeshire Policeman for many years stationed at Letterston and believed but not confirmed at H’west. His son was David T.W. Phillips who was K.I.A. with 206 Sqdn 1942. David’s body was not found until after 1945 still in the crashed Lancaster along with two others, one body was identified, but David and one other was not so they lie together in a joint grave.

Police Sgt J.H. John ~ I am unsure when he joined Pembs Police, but he is known to have served at least at Tenby. His daughter had previous mrd Lieut Jack Garner Jones who was KIA with 42 R.M. Cmdo 31 Jan 1945 in Burma after having taken part in the invasion of Sicily and Italy.

P. C. Henton ~ ((This is a real long shot)) his son Cpy Qtr Master (also referred to as Sgt Major) John Henton died of Lung Cancer in Feb 1917. All that is currently known is that John Henton’s widow resided at Castle Terrace Narberth. Nothing further is currently known where Police Constable Henton served, but it might well include Wandsworth in London.

B. Williams M.M. ~ This gentleman is only a suggestion if the date of the photograph is expanded !! Born at Red Ford Farm Princes Gate joined Pembs Police Force served 40 ½ years served at locations including Fishguard H’west and Milford also served with the R.A. in W.W. 1 awarded M.M. for gallantry in action.

I have not included any reference to any police officers who do not appear to have possibly served pre W.W. 1.

As an aside my wife’s ancestor was the Manager of the Gas works at Weston Super Mare, followed by Hubberston and later Narberth Gas Works.

Trust the above is of interest.

Rgds
Orielbenfro
ORIEL a welsh window on a surname

[John_Lewis-Spencer]

Hi Researcher,

Many thanks for your very useful information.  I've had a look at the Narberth Census returns and don't think that the photograph is of  Narberth policemen.  Perhaps one of the officers lived in Narberth.  The Group has an excessive amount of senior staff and might a Pembrokeshire group.  Narberth was too small to support this amount of officers, it might even be connected to Tenby.  The Haverfordwest photograph shows even more personnel, about sixty policemen and four officers.

From 1850 to 1900 Narberth seems to have had only two members of the Constabulary in attendance.  There was a Sergeant living in the Police Station and one Constable living locally.

During the early 1900's Owen Evans was the Sergeant and James Evans was the Constable.  1890's the two were John Hart as the Sergeant and William Evans as his Constable.  Previous to that it seems that Edward Irving had a long run as the law enforcer and was Sergeant from 1860's to the later 1880's.

Thanks again for your interest and the quick response.

John

We are also interested in Narberth Gas Works and I will start another 'thread' to save mixing things up.

[John_Lewis-Spencer]

Hi Researchers,

I've had another look at the two photographs of Police Officers.

I've extracted the Officer in question from both photographs.


Do the officers look alike and are they the same person?

Regards

John

[gemma6677]

Hi Oriel,
My great grandfather was Stanley Henton (1899 - 1949), who was a police officer stationed in Narberth.  His number was PC28.  I believe he was the first traffic policeman on a motorbike either in Pembrokeshire or Wales at the time.  His father was also a local policeman named John Henton (1869 - 1927).  The information  i have is rather hazy, but am very interested in researching and finding out more.

[omega 1]

Hello Gemma

Welcome to Rootschat

Very sorry to say but Oriel ( Owen )died earlier this year 

Hopefully someone can help you

Kind regards

omega

[gemma6677]

Oh i'm so sorry to hear that .  It seemed he had a huge wealth of local information x x

[John_Lewis-Spencer]

Hi Gemma,
I looked into Narberth policemen some time ago and did not find any references to a John Henton but this was only up to 1900.  I looked at the Census returns and find him living in Robeston Wathen, which is very near Narberth and both were alive in 1871, a good starting point.
See attachment.
I've edited the photo of PC28 and added a little density.
First step I think is to follow the family forward in time through the Census returns. This should be relavity simple as most of the Pembrokeshire returns are available on line.  You may have to pay a small amount but this will be less costly than travelling to the record office. I've passed the query on to Narberth Museum, they might be able to help as well.
Regards

John

[etna]

Hi Gemma

RE: Stanley Henton - he was my great uncle - his father PC John Henton was my great grandfather and Stanley's sister Ivy was my grandmother. I would love to hear more about Stanley if you are willing to share. I didn't even realise he had been married so would love to know all his details. I knew he was one of the first speed cops in Pembrokeshire and he lived in Haverfordwest.

Anything you can share would be great. Also what a lovely photo of him - I've never seen this one before.

Regards

Gaynor