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POLICE OCCURRENCE BOOKS – Supt. William Donaldson (1807-1855). Three volumes of the Occurrence Book of the Dorking Police, 12 November 1838 - 1 April 1849, autograph (each volume signed ‘William Donaldson, Superintendent’) entries for each day, oblong 8vo, brown calf memorandum books.
A RECORD OF THE DAILY ACTIVITIES OF DORKING POLICE FORCE IN ITS EARLIEST YEARS. Superintendent William Donaldson notes the ‘occurrences’ faced every day for eleven years by himself and the two constables who made up the small force. These include frequent commonplace misdemeanours, many resulting from drunkenness – though there seems to have been some relief on Sundays during Divine Service. Theft is perhaps the most common offence, from a watch stolen by a prostitute necessitating a trip to Guildford to arrest the suspect, to a pair of trousers – ‘very near new’ – stolen from the Black Horse. This pub appears on more than one occasion; Donaldson also reports an old man robbed ‘by a prostitute that he went to bed with at the Black Horse’. Many other small offences are included here, such as the boy caught bathing in the brook who ran off wearing just his shirt; Donaldson simply notes ‘I then bundled up the rest of his clothes and took them home with me’. Although less frequent, more serious crimes did occur; in addition to one manslaughter charge, an apparent attempted murder by one Henry Percival, found attacking a woman ‘with a knife in one hand and a poker in the other’, is recorded. Then there are the more strange events, as with the woman found threatening to drown herself in a brook ‘almost in a state of nudity’. The punishments meted out – the details of which are included in Donaldson’s accounts of the magistrates’ courts – are harsh, from 14 days hard labour for begging, to transportation ‘beyond the seas’ for theft.
Before the formation of the county-wide Surrey Constabulary in 1851, local police forces were responsible for public order; Donaldson and his two deputies were formally sworn in on the 15 November 1838. The insight lent here into the wider workings of the 19th century judicial system is as compelling as that into the daily experiences of the officers. William Donaldson would become the first Surrey police officer to be killed on duty in 1855, struck on the head by an iron bar during a riot.
A RECORD OF THE DAILY ACTIVITIES OF DORKING POLICE FORCE IN ITS EARLIEST YEARS. Superintendent William Donaldson notes the ‘occurrences’ faced every day for eleven years by himself and the two constables who made up the small force. These include frequent commonplace misdemeanours, many resulting from drunkenness – though there seems to have been some relief on Sundays during Divine Service. Theft is perhaps the most common offence, from a watch stolen by a prostitute necessitating a trip to Guildford to arrest the suspect, to a pair of trousers – ‘very near new’ – stolen from the Black Horse. This pub appears on more than one occasion; Donaldson also reports an old man robbed ‘by a prostitute that he went to bed with at the Black Horse’. Many other small offences are included here, such as the boy caught bathing in the brook who ran off wearing just his shirt; Donaldson simply notes ‘I then bundled up the rest of his clothes and took them home with me’. Although less frequent, more serious crimes did occur; in addition to one manslaughter charge, an apparent attempted murder by one Henry Percival, found attacking a woman ‘with a knife in one hand and a poker in the other’, is recorded. Then there are the more strange events, as with the woman found threatening to drown herself in a brook ‘almost in a state of nudity’. The punishments meted out – the details of which are included in Donaldson’s accounts of the magistrates’ courts – are harsh, from 14 days hard labour for begging, to transportation ‘beyond the seas’ for theft.
Before the formation of the county-wide Surrey Constabulary in 1851, local police forces were responsible for public order; Donaldson and his two deputies were formally sworn in on the 15 November 1838. The insight lent here into the wider workings of the 19th century judicial system is as compelling as that into the daily experiences of the officers. William Donaldson would become the first Surrey police officer to be killed on duty in 1855, struck on the head by an iron bar during a riot.
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