By Nick Pollard
With the former police station in Staines Road East, Sunbury, being converted into flats, I thought it would be an opportune moment to look at the history of policing in Sunbury. The photo shows the staff of 5 sergeants and 2 acting sergeants (with two stripes) surrounded by 18 constables in front of the station in 1919. There would have been an inspector in charge of the station who is not in the photo – maybe he was taking it? Judging by the patriotic decorations this must have been at the time of the signing of the Versailles Peace Treaty which formally ended the First World War. Several of the men are wearing medal ribbons, probably from the recently ended war, but some possibly from earlier campaigns. They are all men of course, but things were beginning to change in 1919, with the recruitment of 110 women as the first female constables in the Metropolitan Police, although there had been volunteer ‘Specials’ serving during the war due to the shortage of men. The shield, besides helpfully dating the photo, also records that Sunbury was part of ‘T’ Division of the ‘Met’ which covered an area of South-West Middlesex from a line drawn roughly from central London to West Drayton, and bounded to the south by the River Thames. There was an earlier police station in Sunbury however, the original site was at 10 Thames Street in Sunbury village which was acquired in 1840, then as part of ‘V’ or Wandsworth Division. There were 21 constables and 4 sergeants at the time, including a horse patrol. In 1865 the transfer to ‘T’ Division took place, and in 1882 when the new station in Staines Road opened, the old station closed except for occasional use as a court house for a year or so – the building is today named ‘The Old Court House’. Although it finally closed 10 years ago as part of a round of cost savings by Surrey Police (who had assumed responsibility for policing Spelthorne in April 2000), this was not the first time the Sunbury station had come under threat of closure. In 1932 the Home Secretary, Sir Herbert Samuel, had to fend off questions from the MP for Spelthorne, Sir Reginald Blaker, as to why it was proposed to close Sunbury. He was told that it would save £2,500 per year, which sounds a derisory sum now but equates to more like £180,000 today. I don’t know if Sir Reginald’s protestations of ‘rising crime and murder rates’ hit home, but clearly the closure was not proceeded with at the time.
The next Sunbury and Shepperton Local History Society talk will be ‘The Centenary of Halliford School’ by Nick Pollard at 8pm on Thursday 25th November at Halliford School. All welcome, admission £2 for non-members of SSLHS..