June 2021 – British Transport Police History Group

K9 Memorial UK

News that after the passing of retired Police Dog Bobby (08/07/2009 – 26/04/2021), he has been added to the K9 Memorial UK Tribute Wall page.

Bobby’s handler PC Beal said :

“Bobby served the British Transport police dog section with dedication and distinction, working through the London Olympics, countless operations, high profile searches and major incidents including the aftermath of the Manchester bombing and the London Bridge attack.

Bobby was awarded the PDSA Order of Merit medal for his courage in the most harrowing of conditions for the London Bridge attack.

Bobby also served on the Birmingham CT Hub and the Manchester CT Hub until he retired in Nov 2018 .

Bobby was a credit to the British Transport police dog section and is much missed by us and leaves an unfillable void in our family”.

Other BTP dogs are remembered on the Roll of Honour.

K9 Memorial UK is the official campaign to raise funds for K9 memorial and roll of honour, in memory of our brave police dogs. It is a registered charity.

Also see:

The Railway Dogs Benevolent Fund

Police Dogs

Police Dogs Gallery

BTP officers recognised in Queen’s Birthday Honours 2021

Lucy D’Orsi, the Chief Constable of the British Transport Police has been awarded the Queen’s Police Medal (QPM) for Distinguished Service to the Policing of Specialist Operations in the UK, in Her Majesty The Queen’s 2021 Birthday Honours.

As reported in the London Gazette.

Chief Superintendent Dennis Murray, who is BTP’s Lead for Legitimacy, Trust and Community Policing and on a three-year secondment from Northamptonshire Police, and a BTPHG member, was also honoured with a Queen’s Police Medal for improving diversity within policing and building trust and strong relationships with local communities.

BTPHG Chair Phil Trendall has written to both recipients on behalf of the group to congratulate them on their awards.

Full report in the HistoryBank section of the website: BTP officers recognised in Queen’s Birthday Honours 2021

Also see: Honours, Decorations & Medals table

The last Days of British Steam

Malcolm Clegg, retired BTP Sergeant, HG member and BTP History Writer, has a new book out. This time he leaves the field of the railway police and looks at the last days of steam railways in the 1960s.

From publishers description:

“This volume covers the final decade of British steam, looking at steam traction in a wide variety of geographical locations around the British Railways network. The book covers a wide variety of classes of locomotives, that were withdrawn during the last decade of steam traction, some of which examples are now preserved. Malcolm Clegg, has been taking railway pictures since the early 1960s and has access to collections taken by friends who were recording the steam railway scene during this period. This book is a record of his and other peoples journeys during the last decade of steam in the 1960s.

Malcolm Clegg is a retired British Transport Police Sergeant who served for almost thirty years both as a uniformed and CID officer at various railway and dock locations in England and Wales. Ten years were spent working in London. Malcolm comes from a railway family, his father was a station master at several locations on the national network and passed on a passion for railways to Malcolm at an early age. He currently resides in Swansea and his interests include history and photography. In recent years, Malcolm has carried out extensive research and written a number of articles for the British Transport Police History Group”.

The book is available from Amazon and various book shop websites, or directly from the publishers at Pen & Sword Books

Also see: Nineteenth Century Railway Crime and Policing