Gloucestershire Constabulary

History

The Gloucestershire Constabulary is the second oldest County Constabulary in the United Kingdom having been founded in December 1839, Anthony T. Lefroy was appointed it’s first Chief Constable. The many Borough and City Police Forces who existed around the Country prior to 1839 were subsequently absorbed into the larger Forces as time went by.

The Constabulary, then intended as a “Force” rather than as considered today a “Service”, was formed as a local response, rather than calling out the Militia or Armed Services, to the potential unrest and rioting of workers during the Industrial Revolution.

This was principally as a result of the introduction of power looms in the many Flemish originated cloth mills of the Stroud valley’s as well as in the North Cotswold’s, where farm labourer’s were protesting about the use of threshing machines.

In 1919 retired officers from Gloucestershire gathered with others from around the country in London to create the then embryonic “NARPO”.

In 1922, the fourth Chief Constable, Major F. L. Stanley-Clarke OBE , formed an “Old Comrades Association” for local retiring Police Officers.

In September 1947 the Gloucestershire Branch of the National Association of Retired Police Officers was founded.

These two Associations continued until 1965 when the “Old Comrades Association” was disbanded.

Today the Gloucestershire Constabulary, its Police Federation and the NARPO Branch are custodians of that heritage.

  • Chief Constable Anthony T. Lefroy 1839 - 1865

    lefroy

  • Chief Constable Major F L. Stanley-Clarke OBE 1918 - 1937

    Chief Constable Major F L. Stanley Clarke OBE
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A brief History

  • 1919

     

    Inaugural National Executive Committee

    First meeting of the National Executive Committee takes place on 25th July. Five hundred retired police officers from all over England and Wales gathered at Essex Hall, London. William Turner was formally elected as the first national secretary and George Hodder was appointed as the first president.

  • 1919

     

    Police Federation is created

    The Police Federation is created on 15th August 1919 as the only internal representative body for all ranks from constable to chief inspector.

  • 1921

     

    National Executive Committee meeting

    The earliest surviving record of a National Executive Committee meeting, which was held on 30th September at Ecclestone Hall, London. Sir James Remnant, MP for Holborn and known as ‘the policeman’s friend’ urged the committee to “enrol all the pre-war police pensioners, also the widows of the pensioners”.

  • 1922

     

    Coventry Branch Established

    One of the earliest recorded branches is established in Coventry. The annual subscription was set at one shilling. By 1924, the number of members had reached 40 and the subscription had been doubled.

  • 1935

     

    Equality of pensions

    NARPO’s campaigns for the equality of pensions for pre-war and post-war former officers, and for police pensioners’ widows to receive pensions irrespective of the date on which their husbands left the force.

  • 1945

     

    More branches established

    By 1945 there were still very few NARPO branches, so the National Executive Committee and the County Chief Police Officers’ Committee work together to form more county groups. In the following two years, 36 more branches are added to the Association, almost doubling the total number.

  • 1948

     

    Police Pensions Act 1948

    By 1948, some police widows from before September 1918 had been denied a widow’s pension for some 30 years. The Police Pensions Act 1948 granted them a weekly pension of 26 shillings, which was the same as the state pension, but there was no compensation for ‘their long years of undeserved poverty’.

  • 1948

     

    Quarterly Bulletin

    The first issue of the Quarterly Bulletin was published. Described as ‘the organ of the association’ it had a readership of 14,000.

  • 1949

     

    Oaksey Committee

    NARPO representatives submitted evidence to the Oaksey Committee, which was tasked with inquiring into police pensions and conditions of service. Following discussions between the Oaksey Committee, members of NARPO and the Committee on Police Conditions of Service, it was ruled that police widows had to relinquish their police pension if they wished to receive their state pension. During the intervening period, they risked receiving no pension at all.

  • 1949

     

    Four regions

    In April 1952 NARPO was further divided into four regions, with the creation of the Midlands region, which included the newly-formed Burton-on-Trent branch. This branch had existed for some time as Mid-Staffordshire.

  • 1954

     

    Public Service Pensioners’ Council

    NARPO took the lead in forming the Public Service Pensioners’ Council, with NARPO president A. D. Blower as the new council’s first chairman. The PSPC campaigns for the protection of pensioners’ interests and public service pensions.

  • 1960

     

    ‘The Widow’s Champion’

    Throughout her service to NARPO, ‘the widow’s champion’ Doreen Cooke campaigned tirelessly for fair pensions for police widows. Her work led NARPO to lobby for an increase in all pensions and for a standard widows’ pension throughout the country. Doreen was appointed a Life Member of NARPO in 1960.

  • 1964

     

    Philip Smith

    Philip Smith is appointed NARPO’s first paid general secretary and treasurer following his retirement from the Somerset constabulary. He was awarded an MBE for his work with NARPO in the New Year’s Honours List in 1985.

  • 1971

     

    Subscriptions

    Over the years NARPO’s membership has continued to grow but the collection of subscriptions was a challenge for all branches, with only a small percentage of member paying their annual subscription. In 1971 NARPO finally solves the challenge of securing payment of its members’ subscriptions by deducting it directly from pension payments.

  • 1979

     

    Diamond Jubilee

    Diamond Jubilee celebrations take place at the annual conference in Scarborough

  • 1995

     

    NARPO News

    The first issue of NARPO News was published, replacing the Quarterly Bulletin. The aim of the magazine was ‘to take our fine organisation into a new era’ The General Secretary welcomed the first readers: ‘It is my belief that the production of this new style magazine is the first step towards achieving that goal’.

  • 1999

     

    NARPO moves to Wakefield

    NARPO moved into its current headquarters in Wakefield. President ldwal Jones conducted the official opening.

  • 2000

     

    NARPO is granted a coat of arms

    NARPO is granted a coat of arms by the Royal College of Arms. It features a griffin with chequered wings sitting on a blue and gold wreath. The motto is inscribed in Latin on the scroll ‘Eis Servire Qui Serviverunt1 -‘Of Service To Those Who Served’.

  • 2004

     

    Divided into eight regions

    NARPO is further divided into eight regions -North West, North East, Midlands, Eastern, South East, South Wales, Wales and London. Regional representatives increase to 16, making them more accessible to branch members.

  • 2015

     

    ‘Later Life Ambitions’

    NARPO joins forces with other pension organisations to campaign for the needs and aspirations of older people, forming Later Life Ambitions.

    Alongside the National Federation of Occupational Pensioners and The Civil Service Pensioners’ Alliance, NARPO members sought to bring politicians’ attentions to those issues directly affecting older people, including social care, housing reform and pensions.

  • 2018

     

    Representing over 89,000

    NARPO has grown to become one of the largest public sector pensioner organisations in the country, representing over 89,000 retired police officers as well as their widows, widowers and former partners.

  • 2019

     

    100 year anniversary

    NARPO celebrates its 100 year anniversary with a number of nationale and regional branch-led events around the country.

    NARPO remains committed to working with its members to provide advice and sipport in Life, Work and Leisure after the Police.

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