Invisible Men Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Tables
- Acknowledgments
- List of Abbreviations
- Introduction: Invisible Men
- 1 Putting on the Uniform
- 2 Multifarious Duties
- 3 Discipline and Defaulters
- 4 Factions and Friendships
- 5 Police Unions and Federations
- 6 The Police and the Public: Animosity
- 7 The Police and the Public: Fraternizing
- 8 The Police and the Public: Women
- 9 Domestic Life
- 10 Taking off the Uniform
- Conclusion
- Appendix: Chief Constables in Birmingham, Liverpool, and Manchester, 1900–1939
- Bibliography
- Index
5 - Police Unions and Federations
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Tables
- Acknowledgments
- List of Abbreviations
- Introduction: Invisible Men
- 1 Putting on the Uniform
- 2 Multifarious Duties
- 3 Discipline and Defaulters
- 4 Factions and Friendships
- 5 Police Unions and Federations
- 6 The Police and the Public: Animosity
- 7 The Police and the Public: Fraternizing
- 8 The Police and the Public: Women
- 9 Domestic Life
- 10 Taking off the Uniform
- Conclusion
- Appendix: Chief Constables in Birmingham, Liverpool, and Manchester, 1900–1939
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
There is no comparison between what is expected from the policeman of to-day and the policeman of old … [But] because we have evolved from the ‘Bobby of old’ to what we are today, you are not paying us as much as the lowest paid labourer.
PS George Miles, Liverpool City PoliceWe believe that policemen have for years suffered in silence; they have had no medium through which they could voice their grievances excepting through a few friends in Parliament.
PC William Sinclair, Birmingham City Police[I]t was considered by the authorities that we had means of representation. We put forward that it was not so and that up to the present we have many grievances but have no means of airing those grievances.
PS Matthew Seaman, Manchester City PoliceDuring the nineteenth century, policing had been ranked as an unskilled working-class job, comparable to unskilled agricultural labourers. Three-quarters of constables left with under five years' service, and only fifteen per cent made it to retirement age. Few of the men patrolling the streets qualified as experienced policemen. With the 1890 Police Act and growing police responsibilities, this began to change. In Manchester, of the men joining between 1900 and 1914, only a third left with under four years' service, and nearly a quarter put in at least twenty-six years of service. The numbers remaining in the force might have been higher if the First World War had not drawn away so many men.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Invisible MenThe Secret Lives of Police Constables in Liverpool, Manchester and Birmingham, 1900-1939, pp. 132 - 166Publisher: Liverpool University PressPrint publication year: 2010