LAW AND ORDER

Policing

From the late 16th century to the 18th the constables of each ward made monthly (occasionally fortnightly or weekly) reports to the Assembly on the numbers and lodging places of the unemployed poor and beggars, (fn. 1) often also reporting on fire hazards and nuisances. (fn. 2) From 1591 they were responsible for storing fire buckets, and from 1709 had oversight of fire-fighting. (fn. 3) References to constables are scarce after 1709. (fn. 4)

The earliest recorded watches, made up of unpaid citizens, were organized in 1625 and 1632 to exclude strangers from the city during the plague, (fn. 5) and an armed watch of 300 men was created to defend Chester in 1642. (fn. 6) There was a watch at the Pentice in 1659, (fn. 7) but the first clear reference to a permanent paid night watch was in 1703. (fn. 8) The Improvement Act of 1762 provided for the appointment of up to 60 able-bodied watchmen, but the commissioners had only limited powers to raise revenue. (fn. 9)

Under the 1803 Improvement Act the commissioners acquired more effective financial powers and set up a force of 18 paid watchmen and an officer, who patrolled the city between 11 o'clock at night and an hour before dawn. Most of the watchmen were middleaged or elderly labourers. (fn. 10) In 1811 the commissioners resolved to increase numbers to 24 and recruit younger men, (fn. 11) and from 1814 the Rows were patrolled also on winter evenings. (fn. 12)

Under the Municipal Reform Act of 1835 the council's watch committee took over responsibility for policing. The new force consisted of a superintendent, an inspector, two existing corporation constables, and 26 other constables, many of whom had been watchmen. (fn. 13) Eleven or twelve hours of duty a day were normal, mainly on the beat at night, (fn. 14) and from 1837 the police also acted as firemen; (fn. 15) the pay compared badly with that in nearby borough forces and did not attract good recruits. Dismissals, usually for drunkenness or sleeping on duty, greatly outnumbered resignations. (fn. 16) The basement of the Exchange was put into use as a permanent police station in 1839. (fn. 17)

The force was reduced in 1842 to a superintendent, two sergeants, and 16 men, (fn. 18) but was soon growing again, partly in response to public pressure. (fn. 19) Better pay for experienced officers was introduced in 1844 and extended in 1853. (fn. 20) Police work mostly consisted of patrols which reported the presence of prostitutes, drunks, and thieves in public houses. During race week additional constables were hired from outside the city, at the expense of the grandstand committee. (fn. 21) An old tradition was broken in 1837 when the police ceased to cry out the hour in order to increase their chances of capturing felons. (fn. 22) Their aim, like that of the watch, was crime prevention; there was little effort at investigation, and some financial pressure to refrain from prosecutions. (fn. 23)

The 1856 Police Act, establishing closer Home Office supervision and government grants, brought Chester into line with practice elsewhere, and the city soon had a police surgeon and its first detective. (fn. 24) The annual inspections exposed several weaknesses, notably the small size of the force and in 1864 the improperly close involvement in the management of the races of the chief constable since 1835, John Hill. He was compelled to resign. (fn. 25)

Hill's successor, George Fenwick, reduced the number of resignations due to low wages, (fn. 26) partly by introducing merit pay, a measure adopted by other forces in the mid 1860s. (fn. 27) A pay rise and new grading structure implemented in 1877 ensured much greater stability in the force. (fn. 28) Fenwick took an informed interest in the causes of criminality, (fn. 29) though his progressive ideas on dealing with juveniles were not always backed by the council. (fn. 30) As in the period before 1856, police work was still largely confined to coping with drunkenness, petty theft, and vagrancy. (fn. 31) Largescale public order offences were unusual, though there was an affray between the police and the militia in 1870 (fn. 32) and race week and parliamentary elections continued to require extra police drafted from elsewhere. (fn. 33)

The abortive Fenian plot of 1867 to seize the castle helped to sour relations between the city force and the county constabulary. (fn. 34) Relations between the two forces had perhaps never been good and matters reached a head in 1870. (fn. 35) By then it was probably becoming clearer to the authorities in Chester that the Home Office favoured the larger county constabularies over small borough forces. (fn. 36)

The scope of police duties widened greatly between 1870 and 1900, largely through the need to enforce new legislation. (fn. 37) Policemen were permanently stationed in Saltney by 1880 and Boughton in 1882. (fn. 38) Pay and conditions were improved in the 1890s to bring Chester more closely into line with nearby forces, (fn. 39) though a weekly rest day was agreed only in 1909. (fn. 40) By 1920 the council was introducing nationally agreed pay scales and training. (fn. 41)

In the 20th century traffic control came to be a burdensome responsibility. (fn. 42) During the industrial unrest of 1909–11 the chief constable made arrangements with other police forces for mutual assistance and registered men willing to serve as special constables. (fn. 43) Local women's groups sought the appointment of women constables during the First World War, (fn. 44) but although a female probation officer to work with children was appointed in 1924, (fn. 45) no policewomen joined the force until 1941. (fn. 46)

With a nominal strength of c. 70, (fn. 47) the Chester force was too small to meet the approval of the Home Office, which urged its amalgamation with the Cheshire Constabulary in 1932, (fn. 48) and again in 1946 after the Police Act of that year had abolished 45 non-county borough forces. (fn. 49) The Home Office hoped that Chester would agree to voluntary amalgamation but the watch committee first asked for permission to increase the establishment to 84 men, (fn. 50) and then demanded a public inquiry. (fn. 51) The inquiry was held in 1948, decided against the council, and the city police force was absorbed by the county in 1949. (fn. 52)

Figure 11: County constabulary headquarters

The ground floor of the new town hall, opened in 1869, was designed as the city's police station, (fn. 53) and remained in use after 1949. The county constabulary headquarters was located from 1884 in a building designed for the purpose by John Douglas in Foregate Street, of four storeys with a brick and terracotta façade and an elaborate Dutch gable. The county force moved in 1967 to a new building on the site of the medieval nunnery, 'severely rectangular' and eight storeys high with an abstract design in cast concrete on the blank end wall facing the castle entrance (Fig. 11). It was the work of the county architect Edgar Taberner. The Foregate Street building was used as a headquarters for the county library service until it was demolished in 1969. (fn. 54) The county force also had a police station in Hoole by the early 1870s. (fn. 55)

Fire Service

The Assembly provided fire buckets in 1570, and a hook and a ladder for each ward in 1591, to be maintained by the constables. (fn. 56) From 1599 to 1633 or later strangers obtaining the freedom had to provide two buckets. (fn. 57) In 1671 thatching was banned as a fire precaution from the roofs of houses in the four main intramural streets and Foregate Street. (fn. 58)

The city's fire-fighting equipment was still limited to buckets, ladders, and hooks in 1695, (fn. 59) but the new waterworks inaugurated the previous year made more effective methods feasible. The city probably bought its first fire engine in 1705, (fn. 60) and in 1709 issued a comprehensive set of fire regulations. The constables were in charge of operations. (fn. 61) In 1709 the Assembly built a fire-engine house abutting the bishop's palace and not far from the waterworks company's cistern in Northgate Street. Ornamented with Corinthian pilasters and battlements, it was perhaps paid for by James Butler, 2nd duke of Ormonde. (fn. 62)

After 1803 the improvement commissioners bought new equipment and appointed seven part-time firemen, one of whom was to maintain the engines and drill his colleagues. (fn. 63) The water supply was controlled by an employee of the waterworks company. (fn. 64) Fire insurance companies were expected to contribute towards the cost of new engines, (fn. 65) though there was also at least one private engine in 1811, (fn. 66) and another from the castle was frequently used in the city. (fn. 67) In 1828 the commissioners had four engines, under the command of the leader of the city watch. (fn. 68) Between 1824 and 1831 the engines were moved to a new building behind the potato market towards the north end of Northgate Street, (fn. 69) perhaps in 1828 when the waterworks company moved its cistern to that site. (fn. 70)

Under the Municipal Corporations Act of 1835 the improvement commissioners at first retained control of fire-fighting. They disbanded the fire brigade and transferred its duties to the city council's new police force. (fn. 71) Formal control of the fire service passed in 1838 to the city council's watch committee, which bought two new engines. (fn. 72) Because they were larger and required more water, the committee pressed the waterworks company for additional fire hydrants and an improved supply, (fn. 73) but until the 1860s fire-fighting was hindered by the lack of hydrants, low pressure, and water shortages; if fire broke out at night the supply had to be turned on especially. (fn. 74) A continuous supply was gradually provided through dedicated fire mains. (fn. 75)

Figure 12: Earl of Chester's Volunteer Fire Brigade, early 20th century

In 1843 the watch committee moved the engines to a rented building next to the Theatre Royal (the former St. Nicholas's chapel) and in 1854 from there to George Street. A new fire station in the potato market, planned since the 1840s, was opened only in 1856. (fn. 76)

Disputes between the watch committee and the waterworks company after a serious fire at the racecourse grandstand in 1855 led to the collective resignation of the police force as firemen, though they were persuaded back with extra pay. (fn. 77) At the end of 1862 the destruction of the Exchange in a fire which, ironically, started in the police office chimney, exposed the inadequacy of the water supply and the ill-discipline and ineffectiveness of the brigade, especially in comparison with the soldiers who assisted at the blaze. (fn. 78) In the wake of the disaster the brigade was disbanded and replaced by a new force, the Earl of Chester's Volunteer Fire Brigade, with volunteer officers, paid men, and a paid, full-time superintendent responsible for drill and equipment but subordinate to the officers. (fn. 79) The arrangement sometimes caused friction. (fn. 80)

Equipment was still provided by the city, which bought its first fire engine with steam-powered pumps in 1874, (fn. 81) installed telegraph wires between the police office and the waterworks in 1876, (fn. 82) bells in the firemen's houses in 1877, (fn. 83) and telephones in the station and the captain's house in 1893. (fn. 84)

The council bought the land off the west side of Northgate Street on which the fire station stood in 1900, (fn. 85) and completed a new station, designed by James Strong as a half-timbered building with three arched entrances, in 1911. (fn. 86) Old cottages in Valentine's Court behind the station were replaced in the 1920s with six firemen's cottages and a superintendent's house fronting Northgate Street. (fn. 87)

Meanwhile in 1914 the city council's brigade was revived, consisting of a full-time superintendent and assistant, three sergeants and 18 firemen paid retaining fees, and an unpaid reserve, whereupon the Earl of Chester's Volunteers voluntarily disbanded. (fn. 88) More full-time firemen were appointed in the 1920s and 1930s, starting with drivers, (fn. 89) and the unpaid reserve was dispensed with in 1937. (fn. 90)

The first motorized fire engine was bought in 1914. (fn. 91) The brigade began providing a service for rural areas outside the city boundary c. 1920, (fn. 92) and by 1937 covered Hoole urban district and Tarvin rural district, and was about to make similar arrangements with the rural district councils of Hawarden and Chester; in 1939 a substation was established at Ellesmere Port. (fn. 93)

As a preparation for war an auxiliary fire service was set up in 1938. (fn. 94) On the formation of the National Fire Service in 1941 Chester's brigade was taken over by a district which included Liverpool and Wirral, (fn. 95) and the city council regained control of the force only in 1947. (fn. 96)

It was apparent early in the 1950s that the Northgate Street fire station was too small and difficult of access, (fn. 97) but a new station was opened only in 1970, on the site of the Northgate railway station goods yard. Responsibility for fire services was transferred from the city to the county council in 1974 under the 1972 Local Government Act. (fn. 98)

Municipal Prisons

Northgate Gaol

There was a town gaol at the Northgate in the custody of the serjeant of the gate by 1294. (fn. 99) In the mid 14th century that arrangement was believed to have existed time out of mind, (fn. 100) and although there was no formal grant of the right to keep a gaol, the citizens were empowered in 1300 to lodge there anyone arrested within the liberties, awaiting gaol delivery according to city custom, which amounted to the same thing. (fn. 101) The prison, and the gallows and pillory associated with it, (fn. 102) were often in the later Middle Ages managed by an underkeeper who paid the serjeant of the Northgate for his office. The serjeanty was hereditary from the 14th century. In 1498–9 the mayor and citizens laid claim to it; perhaps then and certainly by 1541 they established their right, and control of the prison passed to the city sheriffs. (fn. 103) They paid rent to the corporation and appointed a gaoler, styled keeper or underkeeper, and a hangman. (fn. 104) The Assembly removed appointments into its own hands in 1618, (fn. 105) but by the 1660s and throughout the 18th century each October the incoming sheriffs reappointed the underkeeper or deputy keeper, who indemnified them against any escapes and undertook to find an executioner. (fn. 106) From 1767 the deputy keeper was paid an annual salary rather than left entirely dependent on fees and perquisites. (fn. 107)

Offenders were gaoled in the 16th and 17th centuries for gambling, adultery, insulting the mayor, debt, negligence on watch, and many other transgressions. Most seem to have been detained for only short periods, (fn. 108) except for debtors, some of whom in the 18th century remained in the Northgate for 10 years or more. Deserters from the army and convicts awaiting transportation were also held. Total numbers in the later 18th century seem rarely to have reached 20, and probably most of the time debtors were in the majority. (fn. 109) Charitable bequests and gifts made between 1594 and 1615 by Hugh and Robert Offley, Thomas Green, Valentine Broughton, and John Vernon provided small amounts of money for the prisoners to buy food and other necessities. (fn. 110)

The prison comprised a house built over the Northgate and dungeons below (Fig. 13). (fn. 111) By 1631 the gaoler had his own accommodation. (fn. 112) After St. John's hospital was rebuilt in 1717 the gaol had use of a garden and a room under the gallery in the chapel. (fn. 113) Debtors were lodged in the 'free house' over the gate, from where in 1540 they were at liberty to attend services in St. John's chapel, or to walk on the northern stretch of the walls or along Northgate Street as far as the Bull Inn. (fn. 114) About 1714 the recorder spent £140 on repairs. (fn. 115) An Assembly committee considered building a new gaol in 1773 but instead apparently repaired the existing buildings, (fn. 116) and in 1777 debtors were well housed in a series of rooms, gentlemen among them using the 'blue room' at a weekly rent of 5s. Felons had a spacious day room, but at night were confined in an underground cell merely 14 ft. by 8 ft., down a flight of 18 steps, without light, and ventilated only by two narrow pipes leading up to ground level. Women felons occupied a windowless upper dungeon. In the 1770s and 1780s there were rarely as many as eight debtors and ten felons imprisoned at any one time, and often far fewer. The authorities provided no food, and convicted felons and prisoners awaiting trial wore irons. (fn. 117) The cutting of the Chester canal in the 1770s separated the gaol from the chapel in the Blue Coat building, but in 1793 a footbridge was built to allow prisoners to attend chapel without going into the street. (fn. 118) In 1801 a new drop for executions was made, (fn. 119) but the prison was itself condemned from 1803, when the Assembly decided to build a new gaol. (fn. 120) The old one was demolished with the Northgate in 1808. (fn. 121)

Figure 13: Old Northgate and gaol, before 1808

House of Correction (Bridewell)

In 1576 the Assembly implemented the Act of that year permitting J.P.s to set up a house of correction by buying part of the Quarrel, a deep quarry outside the walls east of the Northgate, and re-erecting there the timber-framed building which had formerly housed the corn market. It included workrooms on two storeys. In its courtyard a narrow space in the face of the quarry was used in the 17th century to confine refractory youths, and during the Interregnum Quakers, for a few hours in a tortured position where they could neither stand, sit, kneel, or lie. It was known, euphemistically, as Little Ease. (fn. 122) The bridewell was pulled down by the city's defenders during the Civil War siege, but was replaced in 1655–7 by a new house of correction on the same site. Initially intended to provide corrective employment for the able-bodied destitute in tasks such as weaving cloth, (fn. 123) it came, like similar establishments elsewhere, to be used as a prison for minor offenders convicted by the magistrates. In the 1770s a workshop and two 'dungeons' were added. It was closed in 1808 and sold in 1817 to Joseph Fletcher, who converted the buildings into dwellings. (fn. 124)

New City Gaol

A new combined gaol and house of correction were built in 1807 and opened in 1808. The site, enclosed by a high wall, fronted the later City Walls Road between the Linenhall to the south and the infirmary to the north (Fig. 14, p. 34). The buildings, of brick, were designed by Thomas Harrison and had the gaol on the west and house of correction on the east, linked by a chapel serving both. The entrance from the walls had a neo-classical stone gateway, surmounted by the gallows. (fn. 125) The gallows was frequently used until 1867 because of the continuing custom that those convicted of capital offences anywhere in the county of Cheshire were to be hanged by the city sheriffs. (fn. 126)

The new gaol was built out of corporation funds, and the house of correction from the proceeds of a special city rate. They had a separate governor and keeper until the early 1830s, and were formally distinct, though in practice managed together, until the 1865 Prisons Act. (fn. 127) The gaol passed from the control of the sheriffs to that of the city's J.P.s in 1823. As originally built the two establishments could house 30 prisoners each, though not in separate cells. The Act of 1823, requiring prisoners to be classified, (fn. 128) necessitated alterations, completed by 1825. Twenty-seven separate cells, six workrooms, and two schoolrooms were made out of the existing accommodation, and at the same time a resident matron and turnkey were appointed. (fn. 129) Lodges on the east and west were demolished and the site was extended east so as to clear a space around the buildings and prevent escapes, which had previously been frequent. (fn. 130) Total expenditure down to 1831 was £7,400 on the gaol and £9,300 on the house of correction. (fn. 131)

Figure 14: New city gaol and nearby buildings, 1867

The number of cells was sufficient in the 1820s, but less so in the 1830s, when during one race week they held as many as 85. (fn. 132) The gaol was commended in 1833 for its cleanliness, orderly management, and healthy situation, (fn. 133) but those advantages were soon lost through increasing pressure of numbers and an ineffective governor: in the late 1830s defects were found in security, discipline, prisoners' employment, and staffing. (fn. 134)

Prison discipline was greatly improved under a new governor appointed in 1839, (fn. 135) but the shortage of cells and poor security were not remedied until 1847, when the day wards were converted into cells. (fn. 136) There were then 64 separate cells, again insufficient from the later 1860s. Overcrowding was especially acute in the women's quarters. (fn. 137) From the 1820s the prison regime included work, and after 1839 all prisoners were given regular employment. The staple tasks were mat-making and oakum-picking, with stone-breaking for men sentenced to hard labour, and laundry work and sewing for women. (fn. 138)

Most prisoners were locked up for breaches of the peace, vagrancy, or prostitution, and served short sentences. (fn. 139) In the year 1861–2, for example, only 9 of 413 prisoners were serving more than a year, and most were on summary convictions of less than a month. (fn. 140) Every race week saw the gaol filled beyond its capacity. (fn. 141) Perhaps the most severe problem was the inability, through lack of space, to segregate prisoners of different categories. As standards rose elsewhere the gaol's defects became ever more apparent. The government inspectors pressed for improvements, though were aware that the constricted site made enlargement out of the question. (fn. 142) In 1871 they condemned the gaol, by then grossly overcrowded, as 'most unsatisfactory', (fn. 143) and it was closed by the Home Office in 1872 under the 1865 Prison Act, the inmates being removed to the county gaols. (fn. 144) The buildings were demolished soon afterwards, (fn. 145) and the Queen's school was later built on the site. (fn. 146)

Police Lock-ups

By 1837 there were two overnight lock-ups for vagrants in the yard of the city gaol. (fn. 147) They were replaced in 1839 by two police cells next to the Exchange, which were far too small for the numbers confined there almost every Saturday and Sunday night. (fn. 148) The building was enlarged to six cells on two storeys in 1844 or 1845; (fn. 149) at least 1,000 people a year spent a night in them in the late 1840s. (fn. 150) They were destroyed in 1862 when the Exchange burned down, and two cells in the gaol were used as temporary lock-ups, causing much night-time disturbance, (fn. 151) until the new town hall, which incorporated a police station and cells in the basement, was opened in 1869. (fn. 152)

Footnotes