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Home » Law and Order » Police and policing » Police journals

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  • The Montgomeryshire Constabulary was set up in 1841 and for the first time, the county was provided with two permanent Police Constables who were given uniforms and duties. P. C. Thomas Jones was one of the first policemen to serve in the force and during his career, he worked in a number of towns including Llanidloes and Machynlleth. Like all policemen, P. C. Jones was required to keep a journal or diary of what he did each day. On every page, he notes the hour he goes on and off duty, the names of the places he visits, the number of miles he walks, as well as any other remarks on his day's work. The extracts shown here cover the period between June 1843 and January 1844 when Thomas Jones was working in Newtown and Four Crosses. Every now and again, a Sergeant would visit him to check his notebook to see if he was doing his duty, but the rest of the time he worked alone or took orders from the local Justices of the Peace. Although all police constables were required to keep a diary, very few have survived, and these diaries give us a rare insight into the working life of an ordinary police officer as well as the lives of some of the people he served. Among the events recorded by Thomas Jones on this page are the serving of a summons on Richard Pryce of New House for refusing to support his bastard child and a summons on twenty persons from Penygloddfa for refusing to pay the poor rates. He also lists items which have been stolen from the house of Hannah Evans and writes that he is going to search for the thieves. [Partly based on description provided by 'Powys Digital History Project']
Journal of Constable Thomas Jones, 27 June - 1st July, 1843 [image 1 of 10]
  • This is the diary of David Williams, a police sergeant in the Carmarthenshire Constabulary, during the mid nineteenth century. David Williams was based in Carmarthen town and in his work diary he records any disturbances, law breaking or any other unusual occurrences in the town. His daily routine includes checking on his police Constables, with whom he is often displeased for being intoxicated whilst on duty. He also regularly visits the mayor's office and attends the petty and quarter sessions as well as the assizes. He has very few holidays and does not even receive the whole day off when his son dies on the 12th of July 1859. At the end of his diary, David Williams records a list of persons of suspicious character together with their home addresses and aliases.
Work diary of David Williams of the Carmarthenshire Constabulary, 1859 - 1860, front cover [image 1 of 221]