[Achievement
– the name given in heraldry to the full pictorial representation of a coat of
arms.]
No, I’m not talking about firearms but a coat of arms. One
lgbt police officers to receive one of the highest honours in the UK is
Jennifer Hilton (b.1936). She was an officer in the Metropolitan Police,
reaching the rank of Commander. After retiring from the police force in 1990
she became a Life Peer and took the title Baroness Hilton of Eggardon. Her arms
are illustrated below.
Regular readers will notice several things different about
the illustration I’ve drawn for today. First of all it’s in a plain, flat,
style with no shading or highlights. I’m experimenting with new styles and haven’t found one that works yet
so have left it in its basic coloured format. Secondly, unmarried women like
Baroness Hilton don’t use helmets in English heraldry so there is no mantling
(the flowing cloth that is usually shown billowing around the shield). Rather
than use the garland of leaves that is usually included in the achievements of
unmarried women, as in my illustration of the arms of Dr. Sophia Jex-Blake, I
thought I’d surround Baroness Hilton’s arms with a representation of the
coronation robes of a baron.
As is customary I’ve also indicated the baroness’s rank by
putting a baron’s coronet at the top. As with my illustrations of the arms of
another peer of the realm, Sir Francis Bacon, Viscount St. Albans, I’ve chosen
not to include the supporters Baroness Hilton was granted with her arms (it doesn't suit my style).
However, below is the illustration of the baroness’s full coat of arms as given
in Debrett’s Peerage of 2003.
I’ll just mention the supporter on the right of the picture, the griffin.
This is a creature widely used in heraldry and has symbolic meaning. One
meaning is that the griffin is a guardian of treasure and you often find a
griffin in the coat of arms of banks or financial institutions. Another
symbolic meaning which is appropriate for Baroness Hilton in that the griffin
is associated with justice, being the creature who pulls the chariot of
Nemesis, the goddess of justice. It’s a fitting symbol for a police officer.
Moving on to the lozenge there is another element symbolic
of the police which also incorporates Baroness Hilton’s name. Heraldry often
uses puns and visual clues. One particular pun which is encountered quite a lot
of English heraldry is the green mound, or hill, an obvious pun on Hilton. The
oak tree, symbolic of England, is surrounded by a protecting fence. This
alludes to the baroness’s career as a protector of the English public.
The two bees represent Baroness Hilton’s education. She went
to Bedale’s School and Manchester University. Both of these establishments
currently use bees, in Bedale’s school emblem and Manchester’s coat of arms, as
shown below.
Suspended below the shield is the Queen’s Police Medal. This
was awarded to Baroness Hilton in recognition of her services to the police
force.
Finally there is the motto, “Poursuivre Raison Avec
Resolution”, which translates as “To follow right with resolution”.
There are two cousins who,
in their own way, helped to establish more acceptance of gay men in the UK.
They are both called Paddick.
The first, Hugh Paddick
(1915-2000), was a comedy actor and starred in a BBC radio comedy series in the
1960s called “Round the Horne”. His most memorable character was Julian of
Julian and Sandy, an overtly camp couple. In 2015 I gave a brief look at how
this character helped, however unconsciously, to
establish some form of acceptance of gay men in society.
The second, Brian Paddick
(b.1958), was one of the first openly gay police officers in the UK and rose to
become the highest ranking out gay police officer with the rank of Deputy Assistant Commissioner of the Metropolitan
Police. On his retirement he entered politics and was appointed a Life Peer in
2013, taking the title Baron Paddick. For the uncertain among you, a Life Peer
is appointed by the political parties to represent them in the House of Lords.
The title is not hereditary and dies with the owner. “Lord” is the general
title for all ranks of the peerage (except Duke), the lowest rank being Baron.
This is how the two men
are related. Technically they are second cousins once removed.
I’m going to concentrate
on the ancestry of Lord Paddick to tie in with my “Law and Citizenship : Police
and Law Enforcement” series. His ancestry shows the influence of the Essex
countryside, the aristocratic homes of Victorian London, and the persecution of
French Protestants.
It’ll be most appropriate
to begin with Lord Paddick’s grandfather, his most obvious influence.
Police Constable Peter
Perkin (1880-1940) joined the Metropolitan Police in 1901. He served for 26
years before resigning in 1927. During that time he met and married his wife
Eleanor and had several children, one of whom was Evelyn, Lord Paddick’s
mother. Peter Perkin died before Lord Paddick was born, but no doubt stories
about his grandfather’s career as a policeman is probably what inspired Brian
to enter the Metropolitan Police force himself.
But Peter Perkin was not a
London boy born and bred. He was a country boy. He was born in the village of
Great Bardfield in Essex some 51 miles north-east of London. The Perkin family
had lived there for several generations and were closely linked to the land.
Peter’s father was a hurdle-maker, someone who made fence panels and windbreaks
from willow and wattle. Peter’s grandfather was a sheep-dresser, someone who
killed and prepared sheep for sale in a butcher’s shop (there’s butchering of a
different animal later).
Lord Paddick’s male-line
ancestry had lived in London for a little longer than the Perkins. The Paddicks
originate in rural Hertfordshire. Lord Paddick’s branch of the family, starting
with his great-grandfather James Joseph (see family tree above), moved to
London in the early 1870s. James used his experiences working on the land with
horses (as a boy he helped to deliver milk around the villages by horse and
cart) by becoming a groom and coachman to the wealthy families of London. I
haven’t discovered the names of any of his employers, but I found that in 1881
he and his family were living at 14 Marylebone Mews which backs directly onto
the home of Maj. Herbert Gye and his wife the Hon. Adelaide Gye
(great-great-niece of Lord Nelson). Was James Joseph Paddick their coachman?
Lord Paddick’s grandfather
Horace, one of the 11 children of James Joseph, married Ethel Guerrier in 1915.
Without trying to denigrate Lord Paddick’s other ancestors his Guerrier family
line is a bit more interesting.
Guerrier is a French name.
The Guerriers were one of the many Huguenot families, French Protestants, who
were persecuted in France and who fled to other countries from the 1680s. The
earliest member of the family I have uncovered in London is one Mathieu
Guerrier in 1697. How he is related to Lord Paddick’s ancestor Edward Guerrier
is not known. Edward is recorded in the archives of the Worshipful Company of
Painter-Stainers, a London guild, as a fan painter (a stainer was an artist who
stained cloth for decorative coloured wall hangings). The Huguenots were
renowned as the premier fan painters in Europe. The influx of these skilled
artists into London led to the formation of the Worshipful Company of Fan-Makers
in 1709. However, In 1733 Edward enrolled his son George Guerrier (1718-1753)
as an apprentice to a member of the Painter-Stainers guild. By then there were
thousands of cheap printed fans being imported from Asia and the market was
flooded. Fans became cheaper and fan painters like Edward Guerrier found their
work in less demand. Perhaps this is why he enrolled his son with the Painter-Stainers
guild and not the Fan-makers.
George’s son William
Guerrier (1747-1821) was also a member of the Painter-Stainers guild. But then
something happened. Two of his sons joined the same guild in the 1790s, thereby
joining their father as Freeman of the City of London. However, neither of these
sons were painters. They were butchers!
What seems to have
happened is that William Guerrier, a skilled painter and stainer, had fallen on
hard times and by the 1770s was working as a porter in the London docks. I’ve
tried to discover if this was a different man, but the evidence suggests not.
The Guerrier family
fortunes declined, but not for long. They became a dynasty of successful
cattle-dealers and butchers until well into the 20th century. Lord Paddick’s branch
of the family descend from a younger son of one of these successful butchers
who went into labouring work (for a brewer in Bethnal Green, so it probably
wasn’t all that bad!).
Let’s end on one final
surprising link to law and order in Lord Paddick’s ancestry. Through his
grandfather PC Peter Perkin Lord Paddick’s family line can be traced back in
the census to Robert Perkin (1793-1875), a farm labourer who was born in
Thaxted, Essex. I’ve not found any proof of the Perkin family ancestry before
that but various family websites online give unverified information which says
that Robert’s grandmother was called Elizabeth Turpin. Does that surname sound
familiar? It should, because according to those online sites she was the
daughter of the infamous highwayman Dick Turpin. It’s a claim that needs
further research (by others, not me), but on the whole I am highly sceptical of
the link.
Yes, I know. The title is a
cliché of the tired-old Star Wars joke but with recent events in the news I
thought I’d bring this article forward a few weeks to today.
The murder of an openly gay
policeman in Paris a couple of weeks ago in a terror attack reminds us all of
the wonderful work they do to protect us. The same can be said of the police
officer murdered in a similar manner outside the House of Parliament in London.
On a more positive side the UK saw the coming out of the police officer who was
recently appointed to the highest rank in the UK, Cressida Dick, the new
Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police.
The relationship between
the lgbt community and the police around the world still throws up some serious
matters for concern (but then, so do the actions of some elements in the lgbt
community). However, that’s not the concern of today’s article. Since 2000
there has been an increasing acceptance of lgbt police officers within the
service itself, though the legacy of suspicion within the lgbt community has
been slower in acceptance. Sometimes it is difficult to believe that the police
are not homophobic when individual police officers express their homophobia.
There are many openly lgbt
police officers of all ranks around the world. Below is a 3-part table listing
some of them who have achieved notability. Because I live in the UK and have
more information readily to hand I hope you don’t mind if I concentrate on the
UK police today. I’m preparing articles on other police forces for later in the
year.
The titles of the higher
ranks vary between some forces and to produce the tables I’ve used the shoulder
epaulette insignia, which are much more unified and better at giving a visual
indication of equal ranks. The lowest ranks are listed first. At the bottom of
the third chart is Cressida Dick, the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police.
Her insignia seems to indicate a rank higher than a Chief Constable. The Metropolitan
Police doesn’t have the rank of Chief Constable, and has extra senior ranks
that other forces don’t have. Hence she appears to outrank the Chief Constables
when, in fact, she doesn’t (only in London, as the Chief Constable’s outrank
her in their own area of authority).
You can also see some
gaps. Because I brought this article forward a few weeks I haven’t had time to
research the ranks with gaps. I will update this article when I do.
On 29th September 2015 I
wrote about the pioneers of the women’s police force. One of them was Margaret
Damer Dawson (1873-1920). Today I’m going to look at her family tree to find
ancestors who represent each of the 5 categories in my Law and Citizenship series.
Margaret could
represent 3 of the 5 categories herself. As a pioneer of the women’s police
force she instantly represents the “Police and Law Enforcement” category. She
can also be included in the “Campaigns and Activism” category not only for her
work to create the police force but also because she was an active
anti-vivisection campaigner. In 1914 Margaret was a member of the Criminal Law
Amendment Committee, giving her a place in the “Parliament and Legislation”
category. Margaret’s nearest police connection before she began to fight for
the creation of the women’s police force came with her step-uncle who was a
Metropolitan Police magistrate from 1905 to 1919. Perhaps that was the biggest
influence on Margaret’s own interest in the police force.
If we have Margaret
representing the “Police and Law Enforcement” category let’s have a look at her
ancestry to see who can represent the other four and see how much influence
they had on her family.
The nearest
connection to a significant court case in Margaret’s ancestry comes with her
maternal grandfather, Frederick Shand Hemming (1825-1872). In 1865 at the
Divorce Court Frederick was cited as committing adultery with Rebecca, the wife
of Col. Gustavus Pollard. Polland was granted a divorce and Rebecca went on to
become Frederick’s second wife after the death of his first, Margaret Damer
Dawson’s grandmother.
There are several lawyers
and judges in Margaret’s ancestry. The nearest senior judge in the direct line
is Sir Roger Cholmeley (c.1485-1656). He rose from being called to the bench in
Lincoln’s Inn in 1520 to Lord Chief Justice in 1552. Roger’s career is
remarkable in that he was knighted and appointed a Chief Baron of the Exchequer
before being appointed a judge, a very rare distinction.
Sir Roger Cholmeley
sat in the House of Commons as Recorder of London. A good number of Margaret’s
ancestors were elected to parliament rather by virtue of their appointment. The
most recent of them is her stepfather, Thomas de Grey (1843-1919), who married
her widowed mother and sat as an MP before succeeding to the tittle of Baron
Walsingham and moving to the House of Lords (it was his brother who was
Metropolitan Police magistrate).
The nearest bloodline
ancestor to be elected as an MP was Sir John Hotham (1632-1689). He sat in 6
parliaments from 1660 to his death. His career is dominated by campaigns to ban
Catholics from standing for parliament and for the disbandment of the standing
army. Sir John was a very active parliamentarian and was appointed to many
committees. His political career appeared to end when he was defeated in the
1685 general election after being implicated in a Jacobite plot, but he joined
Prince William of Orange in his “invasion” in 1688 in the so-called Glorious
Revolution. He was re-elected to parliament in 1689 and died two months later
after catching a chill that winter.
When it comes to
“Campaigns and Activism” in Margaret’s ancestry there are several related
campaigns which are the most significant. These are the anti-Protestant
campaigns of the Tudor period known as the Northern (or Earl’s) Rebellion and
the Pilgrimage of Grace. This is where Margaret’s ancestry bumps into my own.
My direct ancestor Richard
Norton was the 71-year-old High Sheriff of Yorkshire in 1569 when a group of
Catholic aristocrats and opponents of the Protestant Queen Elizabeth I gathered
to rebel against her in the Northern Rebellion. Norton led an attack on Durham
Cathedral before joining his nephew Thomas Markenfield to attack Ripon Cathedral.
Markenfield was Margaret Dames Dawson’s ancestral cousin. The rebellion was
defeated and both Norton and Markenfield fled to Flanders where they died.
Markenfield’s aunt married
Robert Aske, the nephew and namesake of the leader of the Pilgrimage of Grace,
another attempt to depose Queen Elizabeth in favour of the Catholic Duke of
Norfolk.
Having taken arms
against the monarch both Robert Aske (Margaret’s ancestral uncle) and Thomas
Markenfield (her ancestral cousin) were found guilty of the ultimate crime of
treason. Even though Markenfield managed to escape Robert Aske was hanged.
Several members of both families were imprisoned for their parts in both
rebellions. Even Lord Chief Justice Sir Roger Cholmeley I mentioned earlier didn’t
escape the prison cell for opposing a Tudor monarch. In 1553 he added his
signature to the proclamation of Lady Jane Grey’s succession to the throne,
leading the Catholic Queen Mary I to imprison him and not reappoint him.
All these examples of law,
crime and campaigning in Margaret Damer Dawson’s ancestry may not have had much
of an effect on her decision to become a pioneering female police officer.
Whoever may have influenced her the most it is certain that Margaret herself
was an inspiration to many hundreds of women in the first half of the 20th
century who fought for their place in the modern police force.
A Merry Michaelmas to all
my readers.
Today is the Feast Day of
the asexual St. Michael and All Angels. It’s an important date in European
cultural tradition, being one of the four Quarter Days with which the Medieval
world divided the years, all roughly corresponding to the present day equinoxes
and solstices.
Of the many patronages
attached to St. Michael is that of the police force and armed services.
Consequently, the Catholic Church uses today’s feast day to hold a mass not
only for St. Michael (hence Michael-mass) but for police officers, the armed
forces, firefighters and emergency service personnel. Because of the colour of
the uniform which most of these people wear this special mass is called the
Blue Mass.
This year is the centenary
of the appointment of the first female police officers. There were several
women who had been given police roles before this but in 1915 the first female
police officer with full arrest duties was appointed and several organisations
were formed. One was the Women’s Police Service in England, and another was the
organisation which became today’s International Association of Women Police,
founded in the USA.
In salute to women who
serve in the police forces around the world here are some British lgbt female
police officers from past and recent history.
The origin of women
serving in the police force in the UK grew out of several social issues of the
period before 1915. One was the suffragette movement, another was the growth of
the prostitution and white slave trade, and a third was the outbreak of the
First World War.
As the majority of male
police officers were called up for war service the government called for
volunteers to replace them. They didn’t envisage women coming forward and
before too long a part-time Women Police Volunteer force was created. It was
led by Nina Boyle and Margaret Damer
Dawson (1873-1920). Within a year a disagreement between them led to
Margaret forming a new organisation called the Women Police Service (WPS). The
first uniformed female police officer with full powers of arrest was recruited
from the WPS in August 1915. Her name was Mrs. Edith Smith.
Margaret Damer Dawson
acted as Commandant of the WPS until it was disbanded by the government after
the war. They saw no need for a separate women’s police force once the war was
over. Her second-in-command was her life partner Mary Allen (1878-1964). They designed the WPS uniforms themselves,
and they continued to wear them long after the WPS was disbanded. They cut
their hair short and, in their military-style uniforms, gave a very masculine
appearance, as this photo of them both shows (Margaret Damer Dawson is on the
left). In 1918 they were both honoured for their service to the police force by
being awarded one of the recently created honours, the OBE (Officer of the
Order of the British Empire).
Margaret died in 1920. By
this time the Metropolitan Police had created its own women’s police division.
Mary Allen’s decision to wear her uniform for the rest of her life led to the
Metropolitan Police to accuse her of masquerading as one of their officers. All
accusations came to nothing. She travelled the world advising other nations on
how to set up their own female police forces. Because of her uniform she was
often mistaken for an official representative from the British police force.
Mary stood for parliament
in 1922 as an Independent Liberal but wasn’t elected. In between the World Wars
Mary’s political views were to dominate her life. She became an ardent
far-right supporter, and this was to place her pioneering work in the women’s
police force into shadow. Her membership of the British Union of Fascists and
outspoken views eventually led to her being accused of spying for the Nazis and
was she given restricted movement around her home in Cornwall. Mary Allen died
at the age of 86 in 1961 in a nursing home.
The role of women in the
police force has grown in recent decades. Their bravery and courage are
recognised by the British public with pride. No more so than when and police
officer loses his or her life on duty.
In September 2012 the UK
was on a high after the spectacularly successful Olympics and Paralympics. We
were jolted back down by the murder of two female police officers in
Manchester. British police are not armed when on normal duty, so the murder of
any of them is shocking. An extra unhappy aspect to this particular murder is
that one of the police officers was planning to get married.
PC
Fiona Bone was planning
her Civil Partnership to her girlfriend Clare Curran later that year. She and
fellow police constable Nicola Hughes were called to a house burglary. It was a
trap. When they arrived at the house they were met with a hail of 32 bullets
and a hand grenade attack. One died at the scene and the other died later in
hospital. The murderer gave himself up. Apparently he was wanted for the
similar-styled murder of a father and son in May 2012. Thankfully he was given
a whole life prison sentence.
The funerals of both PC
Bone and PC Hughes attracted huge crowds. Their lives and sacrifices were
honoured in parliament. Next week marks the second anniversary of their
funerals.
Before I finish todays
there’s a male police officer I’d like to mention on this day of recognition
for the world’s police.
Sam
Ciccone died in May
this year at the age of 71. He was co-founder of the first lgbt police
association in the USA. Sam became a police office in New Jersey in 1964 rising
to become a Detective Sergeant. In 1979 he moved to New York after its mayor
banned discrimination in the police force on the grounds of sexual orientation.
With fellow NYPD officer Charles H. Cochrane jr. Sam co-founded the Gay
Officers Action League (GOAL) in 1982. GOAL now has over 2,000 members and many
of them appear in uniform at various Pride parades across America.
I salute the work of all
police officers.
