John Wright in police uniform - Newcastle upon Tyne 1871-1872

[Tom Wright]

I need some help identifying the uniform in the attached photo of my g-grandfather, John Wright born 29 Nov 1850 in Marnoch, Banffshire. The backside is printed with the name of the photographer "W. Sullivan, Newcastle on Tyne" who was in business at this location 1870-1871.

Was this police uniform of Newcastle police or was only the photographer from there?

I also added a close-up image. The helmet medallion appears to be 2 birds facing each other. The collar appears to be number 129 or something close to that.

Tom Wright

[conner395]

There were a number of Borough Police Forces in the North East back in the day. Collar number 129 tends to suggest one of the larger ones. It might possibly be Gateshead Borough - as one of their helmet badges was surrounded by a laurel wreath which would look rather like birds heads.
Best place to enquire would be North East Police History Society - https://www.facebook.com/NEastPHS/
They do not seem to have a stand-alone website so I should imagine you would need to be a member of Facebook to contact them by private message
Best regards
Dave

[conner395]

Worth checking out this website for Gateshead Police insignia:
https://www.gatesheadpolice.org/badgesandbuttons.htm
Also worth contacting the website owner on the email address quoted at:
https://www.gatesheadpolice.org/familyhistoryresearch.htm

[Tom Wright]

Thank you Dave Conner.  I have sent my request to the referenced contacts.

Tom Wright