News, Views and Comments (BLOG)

It is with great sadness that we have to report the death of Colin Sinclair. He died peacefully on the evening of Thursday 17th November 2022.

Colin was a founder member and former Committee Member of the BTP History Group, joining in 2009, and elected to the committee at the March 2012 Annual General Meeting. Eventually ill health forced him to leave the committee, but he remained a valued member of the Research Group. It was as part of these researches that Colin set out to record the history and current whereabouts of both the Whitbread Shield and the Keith Winter Cup (Project page).

Colin was also an active member of Facebook, and made many history related posts. One of his last entries was to celebrate the 50th anniversary of his joining the BTP (see below).

He was also a former committee member of the National Association of Retired British Transport Police Officers, and was for many years the editor of their newsletter – Retired Lines.

Colin joined the BTP at Victoria in November 1972, and subsequently served at East Croydon, Bricklayers Arms and London Bridge, before transferring to the LT as a Temporary Detective Constable in July 1977. His stay at Baker Street was a short one, however, as promotion to Uniform Sergeant at Liverpool Street came in March 1978.

He moved north to Leeds in March 1980. A change from uniform beckoned in 1986, when he became the Divisional Crime Prevention Officer at Leeds DHQ. He then became the Area CPO at York AHQ from 1992 until retirement in June 1996.

Colin won the PMAS Book Prize during his recruit course at Dishforth PTC, and was also awarded the above mentioned Keith Winter Cup for the highest aggregate exam marks during probation training.

Colin’s recent post on the Retired Lives (BTP related) Facebook group:

“50 years ago today, a rather nervous me reported to the BTP office in Hudsons Place, at London Victoria.
Over the next week, I was sent to Glasgow to be fitted for a uniform (this involved getting the Glasgow sleeper from Euston, collecting my uniform, killing time in Glasgow until I caught the sleeper back to London).
Back at Vic, I was told to go home and spend the day fitting my divisional numbers (162S) to my tunic, gaberdine mac etc. 
On Friday I was taken to Bow Street Mags Crt to be sworn in. That afternoon I donned my uniform for the first time – but only to walk across the station to find a Photo-Me booth and get a photo for my warrant card.
And that was it: I was now a police officer- like my dad (Ramsgate Boro/Kent County) and grandfather (East Sussex) before me!”

RIP Colin.

A busy few months for new content on the website, so time for our occasional reminder that in the ‘Pages’ column to the right of the screen we have a link called ‘Website Updates’.
Unsurprisingly this links to the Website Updates page. If you are a regular visitor to the site it’s a handy page to look at to see what new articles and items of interest have been added to the website recently.

Of course smaller items, such as photographs in the Photo Gallery, are being added all the time – so it’s still worth having a look around the site to see what you might find!

November is the season of remembrance and across the country fund raising efforts are taking place to support the work of the Royal British Legion (RBL).  The work of the RBL is, as we enter another period of economic difficulty, as important as ever.

This time of year is an opportunity to reflect on the sacrifice of our forebears who gave their lives in war, fighting with the colours or in the execution of their duties on the Home Front.  At least 162 officers or former officers were killed in the two World Wars.  Their names are included in memorials across the railway network and in the places they fell beyond the seas.  A plaque marking the sacrifice of these officers in the Great War was erected in 2009 in Ypres and BTPHG maintain, research and update a Roll of Honour.

BTP officers are part of the police contingent on Remembrance Sunday at the Cenotaph and officers of the constituent forces have marked the armistice since the arrival of the Unknown Warrior at Victoria Station in 1920.

BTP and its predecessor forces has always welcomed ex-service personnel, many of whom served in the conflicts of the 20^th and 21^st centuries.  We are grateful for the contribution of all who have worked to protect our country from its enemies.

BTPHG will continue to ensure that the names of the those who made the ultimate sacrifice are not forgotten.  We will remember them.

When you go home, tell them of us and say,
For your tomorrows these gave their today.
(Edmonds, 1919)

Phil Trendall, Chair

BTPHG member Mike Joyce found this interesting piece in the Edinburgh Evening news from Saturday 14th August 1920.

The accompanying text reads:

“POLICEWOMEN AT RAILWAY STATIONS.
The Caledonian Company is the first in Great Britain to employ policewomen in railway service, and our photograph is of one at the Central Station, Glasgow. Ladies travelling on the railways know how objectionable it is to have rub shoulders with undesirable characters who may have escaped the observation of the male staff on the platforms and who loiter and the waiting rooms with no intention travelling by the train services, although they provide themselves with tickets give them a footing in the waiting rooms, and the difficulty eradicating this element is one which has been receiving the attention of the railway authorities. The Caledonian Company have instituted a staff of women police and secured the services a number of women who have been trained for the Women’s National Police Service and who have had practical experience among women in munition and military centres, and who are, therefore, specially suited for this work. These women police will be able to identify and clear out any objectionable female characters who may make use of the waiting rooms the stations however well they may be attired to give them the air of respectability.”

We know, of course, that these were not the first policewomen on the railways in Great Britain, many having served in WWI (see Police Women on the Railways).

However, this may be the first recorded instance of a railway company recruiting females during peacetime. Also interesting that they were using officers who had experience working during the war.

See other examples of early policewomen in our Photo Gallery.

In response to our request for Royal Anecdotes, Len Causton has written an article about his time with the Royal Train in the 1970s.

You can find it here: Memories of the Royal Train. Just one of many articles in StoryBank.

If you have any anecdotes, stories, or even fancy writing an article you can contact us at any time.

Inspired by some entries in BTP related Facebook groups, we thought it might be a good idea to collect any anecdotes members might have about meeting the Queen or other incidents related to the Royal Family whilst on duty. These could be humorous, but it would also be good to capture the more serious side as well, planning, the cordons, working with other forces, etc. All these would be good to have in the archives, and we can put a selection on the website. Anything from the sixties or even the fifties would be great.

Of course, if you have something more substantial to relate, we always welcome the submission of articles for the website or our publications – History Lines or the Year Book.

You can make your submissions in the comments below, or use the Contact form, or you can add to the post on our Facebook page.

Thanks to Colin Sinclair for the suggestion.