Police Duties
After I left my job with the Post Office I joined at the police force. At the age of 15 that may seem to be a rather difficult thing to do! However, this was wartime and regular policeman had been called to the forces. Lads of my age were recruited to carry out some of their work. Instead of being police cadets as they would be called today we were called police auxiliary messenger service. We wore a uniform similar to British army uniforms which had been dyed black. There were six of us at the police headquarters of the Oxford shire Constabulary. We, together with two adult policemen would take eight hour shifts manning the control room. We covered the full 24 hours by starting at either six am 2pm or 10pm. During the evening and night hours there would be only two of us manning the police headquarters. More often than not the two would be teen-agers. These were days before modern communications. Our only means of communication was by telephone. We manned a telephone switchboard and took down reports from other police forces and Scotland Yard and to pass these on to divisional stations. We then typed them out on an ancient typewriter.
There were signs of progress. On a shelf was a wireless transmitter ( at least I think it was). I did on one occasion turn it on but I could neither receive or send.
Night duty was a particularly bleak time and when times were peaceful we would borrow a mattress from the police cell and snatch some sleep. At other times there would be air-raid warnings to pass on or reports of burglaries passed on by a Scotland Yard. It all seems totally unbelievable that two young lads can be left on their own to decide what action should be taken in any eventuality. In fact there was an adult duty officer asleep in a room upstairs. This duty officer would have been on duty during the day and there would often be strict instructions not to wake him! In one particular case he was accompanied by a pretty lady which would be even more reason to avoid waking him! So it was that when I received a message from the Royal Air Force that a Wellington bomber with the injured crew on board had been badly damaged and returning from Germany, the crew of which were expected to parachute in the Oxfordshire area. I called out all of the force to look for these men. Thus it was in 1943 our only means of communication was by telephone.
At night, when the rest of headquarters staff had gone home, two of us lads were left in the Station to man the switchboard. We would continue to record reports from other counties and from Scotland Yard and decide when and whenever these were passed on. We had an ancient typewriter which we could use or simply write them into the record book. We had two other jobs during the night ; polish the corridor floor and stoke the boiler, it was the conjunction of those two duties which almost resulted in the most enormous fire. When I went to stoke the boiler which was in the basement below, it had gone out. Paper and sticks did not start it so I had the idea that I could use wax from the large tins we used for the floors. I dipped the sticks into the tin and shook it into the fire. All went well until the stick caught fire and I dipped it back into the tin. It in turn caught light and I dropped the tin. The wax melted and ran across the floor toward the large stack of coke! Panic!
But intelligence returned. I ran back up the steps and to the station entrance, picked up the large door mat and returned to douse the flames.er duties. To keep the central heating boiler topped up with coke and to sweep and polish the corridor floor. Responsibility indeed for a couple of 15/17 year olds. But we were of an age when we were looking for adventure and we had no supervision. During the day there was Officers from Chief Constable downward. Contact with them was through the switchboard. At night we were on our own. Night duties were not a problem to except perhaps when one shift started only eight hours after the previous one. Getting home, getting sleep, eating and getting back again was tiring.
One night we left the station and took a couple of Police handlamps and climbed the Castle mound next door. We found a small room at the top, in the middle of which was a well. We threw stones down and listened for the sound of water. Then we rushed down the steep hill in panic (we had left the station unmanned!
My comrade Willoughby Goddard :
who later acted on stage, television and films; here as a Statesman in the “Green Man”.
A year older than myself. He taught me to use the switchboard. When it got rather busy and connections were criss crossed across the board he pull the lot out! Including the Chief Constables connection. On night duty he would play the violin in the corridor or recite Shakespeare. He enjoyed the echoing sound.
One of my colleagues liked to go into the other rooms and have a look around. One night he looked in the Chief Constables room (which he shared with the Deputy) and found a large envelope. He brought it in for us to see the contents. We rather wish we had not for it contained large photographs of atrocities in mainland Europe. The war in Europe had not ended these were so horrific. A Church full of burned bodies. A young lady with a bayonet sticking from her. Mussolini hanging from a tree by one leg. The Chief Constable was seconded to the Army as Lt Col StJohn. No doubt he was investigating these murders.
County Chief Constable
Among the Police Archives at the Open University are the papers of Eric St Johnston who rose through the ranks to become the third Chief Inspector of Her Majesty’s Constabulary on 1st February 1967. Some may argue that St Johnston was the second Chief Inspector since the first appointment in 1962 was only a caretaker appointment.
Born in Birmingham in 1911, St Johnston studied Law at Cambridge (1929-32). He joined the Metropolitan Police as a civilian administrator but took advantage of the fast track promotion scheme introduced by Lord Trenchard (as Commissioner) to establish an officer corps for the Metropolitan Police. In May 1940 he was the officer in charge of Chelsea Police Station; two months later he became Chief Constable of Oxfordshire.
In 1943, the Civil Affairs Branch of the War Office was inaugurated to prepare for the re-establishment of the government of the civil populations of liberated Europe. The Home Office asked St Johnston to plan for the restoration of the police forces of those countries. Thus during the period March to December 1943, he was working part time at the War Office in addition to his duties as Chief Constable of Oxfordshire.
When General Eisenhower’s staff was first formed in December 1943, St Johnston was again commissioned with the rank of Colonel, the only policeman commissioned at that rank, and placed in charge of the Public Safety Section of the G-5 Division of the Staff. In addition to preparing detailed plans for restarting the police and other services of the six countries to be liberated, the work involved selecting volunteers from the police forces, establishing a special training school and assignment of specific duties. The work also involved a detailed study of continental police organisations and methods. He was entrusted with the political negotiations for the initial military agreement between General Eisenhower and General de Gaulle. As Chief of the Public Safety Section of SHAEF, he was one of the first British officers to enter Paris after the war with de Gaulle’s forces.
In 1943, the Civil Affairs Branch of the War Office was inaugurated to prepare for the re-establishment of the government of the civil populations of liberated Europe. The Home Office asked St Johnston to plan for the restoration of the police forces of those countries. Thus during the period March to December 1943, he was working part time at the War Office in addition to his duties as Chief Constable of Oxfordshire. When General Eisenhower’s staff was first formed in December 1943, St Johnston was again commissioned with the rank of Colonel, the only policeman commissioned at that rank, and placed in charge of the Public Safety Section of the G-5 Division of the Staff. In addition to preparing detailed plans for restarting the police and other services of the six countries to be liberated, the work involved selecting volunteers from the police forces, establishing a special training school and assignment of specific duties.
Fred's Memories 