Policing Public Transport: A Neglected History

  Officers from LNER police at Hull forced to retire by a new rule lowering the retirement age from 65 to 60.:  Photo The Hull Daily Mail 17 September 1925 p6 Every day I count myself lucky for my police pension – especially in periods when other work is in short supply.   I worry about the future of serving officers and their reduced pension opportunities and the requirement for everybody to work longer before we receive our state pensions.   My interest in history reminds me that pensions have always been a source of campaigning for the police federations.   From the very beginning, even in the aftermath of the defeats of the 1919 strikes, the police federations have campaigned for a decent pension for their members.   The Railway Police Federation (now the BTP Federation) worked for decades for provision to be made for officers in retirement.   My research into the history of specialist policing reminds me that the pension issue is linked to the que...

    An RAF Sopwith Dolphin 1918.  This was one of the aircraft flown by 13 Sqn (Picture:  RAF Museum) The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the oldest independent air force in the world.   It was founded on 1 st April 1918 on the merger of the Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) and the Royal Flying Corps (RFC).   One of the officers that transferred from the RFC was temporary second lieutenant James Seymour STRINGER, he was 25 years of age (1) (2). STRINGER was no stranger to life in uniform.   At the outbreak of the war he was a constable in the Hull and Barnsley Railway Police.   We know very little of his time with the force except that it was very short. At the age of 14 STRINGER joined the East Yorkshire Regiment at Beverley giving his previous occupation as clerk.   He was 5 feet 2 and "a quarter" inches tall and weighed about 7 stone.   In 1910 he became a Drummer and served in India.   His service record tells us that he contracted ...