Archivist lifts the lid on secrets of Fife’s policing past
A local history expert has been scouring Fife’s archives to gain fascinating insights into policing in days gone by.
Local Studies Manager Andrew Dowsey – based in the archives of cultural charity OnFife – will share his findings at a free public talk in Methil.
The town’s Heritage Centre will host What a Policeman Should Know on Saturday 19 October – the latest in its series of monthly local history talks at the venue.
Andrew will focus on some intriguing cases from the Fife Constabulary archives. Among them is James Varley, a commercial traveller who was sentenced to one month in prison by Cupar Sheriff Court in 1913 for embezzlement and ‘uttering’. Uttering was an offence associated with circulating counterfeit money.
And he will review the celebrated case of suffragette Ethel Moorhead. Ethel was arrested and taken to Methil Police Station in January 1913 after trying to disrupt a speech by Prime Minister Herbert Asquith. Ethel smashed up the police cell and tipped a bucket of water over a police sergeant!
Andrew will also pay tribute to Fife’s first full-time policewoman, Elizabeth Niven, who took up her post at county constabulary HQ in Cupar in 1945. And he will highlight Methil’s first full-time female police officers – PW Georgina Bryson and PW Isabella Rollo – who were appointed the following year.
There will be time as well to consider some of the recorded examples of opposition to the recruitment of women to the police force.
The talk will reveal archive information about police officers who served in three forces that were established in the 1830s and 40s – Dunfermline City Police, Fife County Constabulary and Kirkcaldy Burgh Police. The three forces merged into Fife Constabulary in 1949.
The constabulary archives also include police records kept during the General Strike of 1926 and the miners’ dispute of 1984-85.
Among the interesting facts that Andrew has unearthed is that potential female recruits needed to be good at shorthand and typing before being considered for the post.
Another curiosity is the old police house in North Queensferry. It was close to the Forth Railway Bridge – so some of the coins thrown out of train windows for good luck fell into the policeman’s garden.
A further fascinating tale has come to light from 1910 when a Mr Raynor of Haddington was paid £5 a year so that Fife police could borrow his bloodhounds to track suspects. There are, however, no records of these bloodhounds ever being used in Fife.
Intriguingly, the Chief Constable’s instructions on how to use the dogs include a timetable for the Burntisland-Granton ferry so that the police officer could go and fetch the dogs.
What a Policeman Should Know takes place at Methil Heritage Centre, 272 High Street, on Saturday 19 October from 1-2pm. Admission is free. Refreshments are available. No booking is required.
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For further information contact Sheona Small, Press Manager, 07809 727 989 or email sheona.small@onfife.com
Notes to editors: OnFife is a registered charity and manages and operates theatres, libraries, museums and galleries and cultural partnerships on behalf of Fife Council for people living, working and visiting Fife. Further information can be found at www.onfife.com
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