Everyday Life in the Police Service
Also by Carol Powell - Working at the Post Office
Table of Contents
Set in Mumbles, this tells the stories of the lives of the local policemen during a century of prodigious change from the 1850s to the 1950s. It explores who they were, where they lived and worked, what they wore, their pay, the use of police boxes, the wide variety of their duties from dealing with tragedies, thefts, drunkenness, traffic offences and attending inquests, their role as firemen between the wars through to crowd control at Royal visits, regattas and their awards.
Lying just off Mumbles Road near the Prince’s Fountain at Southend, is a distinctive Victorian building, which was once the home of the Mumbles Police Station. It was divided into two parts with accommodation for the Sergeant, his family and the live-in Constables on the left hand side and the station house and holding cells complete with barred windows on the right.
I do swear that I will well and truly serve our Sovereign Lady the Queen
in the office of Constable for the County of Glamorgan,
according to the best of my skill and knowledge. So help me God.
Oath of Allegiance, 1841Life on The Beat
The establishment of a Glamorgan County Police Force goes back a long way to 1841, when Captain Charles Napier of the Rifle Brigade was appointed Chief Constable of Glamorgan. His main priorities were to increase the number of police stations and to recruit more constables. However, despite his best efforts, he had to report to the Police Committee in January 1842 that ‘I regret that I have been unable to lay before the committee of Magistrates . . . any information regarding the erection of station houses due to the difficulty of obtaining sites adapted for that purpose.’ Recruiting candidates who had to be literate, always above suspicion, honest and of excellent character, was made more difficult by the deterrent of the pay being no more than that of an unskilled labourer and for the frequency of attacks on officers, who were often seen as the servants of the ratepayers and not the community at large. Nevertheless, some were enrolled and, although there was a police house at the Cross Inn, Sketty with Sergeant Mathias in charge, their ‘beats’ included the Mumbles where there was no station as yet.
PC Hullin, who has left us a vivid impression of his working life, which he recorded in meticulous detail in a diary, probably worked out of the Sketty station. He had been posted to the Mumbles beat in May 1862, where he often worked a ‘split shift’ of 9am to 2pm and 8pm until 11pm. There were no rest days or annual leave entitlements and his beat ranged over a large area from Mumbles to, perhaps as far as Parkmill. Also there were Sergeant William Jenkins who lived with his wife, Anne and their daughters, Mary Ann and Ellen somewhere in Blackpill in the 1840s and described himself as a ‘rural policeman’ and in the 1850s, Sergeant James Davies, his wife, Elizabeth and children, Janette and Edward lived at Norton.
The idea for a police station for Mumbles itself, had been first mooted at the Glamorgan Sessions in 1847, but it would be nearly thirty years and fall to his successor, Lieutenant-Colonel Henry Gore Lindsay, who took over in 1867, to establish several police stations across South Wales, among them one at Mumbles. The Cambrian reported in April 1870 that, ‘land has been acquired from Henry Bath to be used for the proposed Police Station.’ Work commenced the following year and £18..1s..5d was duly paid to Henry Bath for a full year’s rent, which would in future be paid half-yearly. Bills amounting to £15..4s were settled with B. Lewis for his salary and expenses as Clerk of Works for the buildings at Mumbles and Ystalfera and in April 1872, Mr. Mathias was paid £77..4s as balance of his contract for the erection of the stations. After nearly fifty years of establishing itself as a cornerstone of the community, in 1918, the Swansea Watch Committee (by which time Mumbles was ‘comprised within the County Court District’) declared that it had long been dissatisfied with the old Police Station and had therefore purchased land for £300 on Newton Road, on which to build a new station. However, it would be 1933, before the old premises was sold, the Borough Engineer having received an offer of £700, which was accepted and 1955, before a new station eventually opened on Newton Road.
Serving officers and their families
The various trade directories and censuses reveal the identities of the people who served our community:- John Howlett was the Superintendent at the Mumbles station in 1873-4; Sergeant Baker was in charge in 1876; in 1891, Sergeant James Howell, a widower was in residence together with one Constable, John David aged 32 who lived in with his wife Margaret and five children; the staff in 1893 consisted of Sergeant Titus Davies, succeeded by Sergeant Meyler, and Constables Ashton and O. Allan; in 1900, W. Guy was the Sergeant and in 1901, Sergeant Frederick Dagg, his wife, Elizabeth and eight children, plus PCs Roberts and Thomas Williams were in residence. In 1906, the Kelly’s directory notes that Sergeant Arthur John Vallance was in charge of five constables and in 1914, Sergeant John Davies in charge of six. By 1926, when Mumbles had become part of Swansea, the Sergeant of Police was Arthur Harold Davies and Thomas Williams had become an Inspector. They could also now be contacted by phone with their telephone number, given as 197. Sergeant Martin, PC Hoskins and PC Alan Hill were in service during the 1930s and 1940s and those serving post-war included Jock Crichton, Jake Ellery, PC Davies, known to one and all as ‘Tiny’, W.D. Johnson, Mende Morgan, David Price, John Rosser and Edward Shear (of whom more later).
Next door to the village shop at Woodland Terrace in Blackpill was the Police House marked with a metal ‘County Police’ sign, where according to the 1891 census, William Mander, a native of Cardiff lived with his wife, Mary and daughter Beatrice. Ten years later, P.C. Philip Scott, lived there with his wife. Emma and two daughters, Ivy and Phyllis, Sergeant Newell and his wife were in residence in 1922 and Sergeant Robbins was in charge there in the 1940s.
In 1901, Newton had its own station also complete with a metal ‘County Police’ sign (see above) on Worcester Terrace (now part of Newton Road) where PC Arthur Vallance, a native of Somerset, lived with his wife, Lucy and son, Cyril (prior to his promotion to Sergeant and his move to the Mumbles Station by 1906). Later by the 1950s, Sergeant Pickard and his family lived there. From the 1950s, there was a new Police Station at Fairwood Road, West Cross, where Sergeant Williams lived with his wife and daughter. Various PCs then occupied the property, all working ‘split’ shifts.
Marriages
The police officers were often drafted in from outside the area in order to be impartial and generally remained only for a short time, but having arrived, several married local girls. On 8 February 1873, PC Thomas Letheren from Briton Ferry married Harriet Harries, daughter of Edwin Harries, a gamekeeper at ‘Sunnyside,’ Newton Road; and on 13 November 1878, David Herbert of ‘Mumbles Police Station’ wed Elizabeth Edwards, daughter of Jonathan Edwards a coal merchant from The Dunns.
On 8 November 1915, the Cambrian Daily Leader reported that the wedding had taken place at York Place Baptist Church between Police Sergeant Thomas Williams, serving with the Mumbles Police and Miss Alice Johnson. Guests included Superintendent Letheren, Sergeant and Mrs Roberts and Inspector and Mrs Davies of Mumbles.
One exception was PC Ted Southall, a native of Kent who did not move on and served as a local Mumbles Bobby for twenty-five years, having joined the Swansea force in 1914. During the Great War, he served as a Petty officer instructor in the RNVR at Crystal Palace, before going to sea on the HMS Donegal in the North Atlantic. Once the war was over, he re-joined the police and worked in Mumbles for many years, marrying a local girl, Bessie Maile Hampton, a widow on 3 September 1919. They had a son and three daughters. Ian Thomas one of their grandsons recalls going in to the police station and being put into a cell and on another occasion, being allowed into the police box near the tennis courts on the Mumbles Road.
Another long-serving Constable was Edward Shear, a native of Warwick, who arrived in Mumbles in 1927. He and his wife, Margaret lived in accommodation in Oakland Road where they raised their family. He was promoted to Sergeant in 1938 and served conscientiously until his untimely death in service in 1954 (see fuller details of his bravery award later).
Children of the police house
Several children were baptised in the Parish Church while their fathers were serving at Mumbles:- Selena, daughter of Sergeant Baker and his wife, Elizabeth, of the Police Station was baptised on 13 July 1876 aged 16; Aubrey, son of Frederick and Lizzie Dagg was born at the police station, as were .Margaret, daughter of John and Margaret David, Aaron and Harriet, son and daughter of Sergeant James Howell and his wife, Margaret. Sadly, Aubrey was to die aged two. A son was born to Sergeant Newell and his wife at the Blackpill Station in 1922.
Police boxes
Red Police boxes were first introduced in Glasgow in 1891, although elsewhere they were blue and those of the Glamorgan force, black and white. In 1928, Swansea’s Chief Constable, seeking to save money on police expenditure, travelled to Manchester and Sheffield to study their police box system, which would obviate the need for more expensive brick-built sub-stations and enable the closure of some smaller existing police stations. Some twenty-nine were erected in and around Swansea and Mumbles had four, situated at The Dunns (near the Tivoli Cinema), Castleton Box at the junction of Newton Road and Langland Road, at Langland Bay near the toilets and another at Caswell Bay. The boxes, which looked like Dr. Who’s ‘Tardises,’ were telephone kiosks located in public places for the use of police and for the public to utilize in emergencies.
Each box would contain an incident book, a first-aid kit and some had a telephone and lighting. A light on the top would alert an officer to contact the police station. The Mumbles area also had twelve ‘cabinets’ or ‘call posts’, mounted on cast-iron posts, which contained two compartments — a telephone in one and a first-aid kit in the other. These posts included those at Southend near the Bristol Channel Yacht Club, another at the Limeslade end of Plunch Lane and another at West Cross near the West Cross Hotel.
The Patrol Book gave orders to the Officer as to the route he was to take on his ‘beat’ that day or night and how much time he had between boxes, where he had a duty to phone in to show he had made it to the next post on his route. This confirmed he had not been waylaid or that he was not snatching a few minutes unauthorised break!
Shortly after the end of the Second World War in 1945, David Price became the village Sergeant, when he moved to Mumbles with his family. He would ride around the area on a large motor-bike to make sure all was well, but could often be found writing up his reports in the police box near the ‘Tiv.’
Uniform
From 1841, the Glamorgan Force had a uniform, which consisted of a stovepipe hat, one pair of boots and shoes, a pilot-blue coat, with a collar embroidered in silver thread with each Constable’s number followed by the letter ‘G’ for Glamorgan; around their waists they wore a leather girdle on which was held their cutlass, scabbards, rolled capes and lanterns. For protection, around their necks they had to wear a 4" high leather stock to prevent garrotting or strangulation, as the Force was not popular. The uniform was completed by an armlet, which had to be worn only on duty, although they were instructed to wear uniform at all times, except when in bed. This remained the same for some twenty years until the introduction in 1856 of a longer navy Melton-cloth frock-coat, which Chief Constable Napier maintained ‘gave greater comfort and convenience to the men.’ In 1864, the stove-pipe hat gave way to the German-style helmet for special occasions and a French-style pill-box hat for everyday wear. They were also issued with a navy oilskin cape and an umbrella for inclement weather, one pair of handcuffs, a staff (truncheon) and extra trousers and hats. Men on night duty were required to wear black helmets so as not to alert the criminals! By 1870, when the station opened, the uniform followed a German military style, but by 1914, it had become similar to that of the British Army, and would remain largely unchanged. It was one which we would recognise well into the twentieth century. In 1925, the police asked permission to carry torches, instead of the customary heavy lanterns, but it would be several years before this became official practice, even though many of them had already taken to using their own torches anyway.
Wages
In 1841, pay for a Sergeant in the Glamorgan County Borough Force was about 22 shillings a week; for first class constables, 20 shillings and for second class constables, 18 shillings — only a little more than that of an agricultural labourer. From 1880, all new recruits would serve for six months as probationer Constables and be paid 22 shillings during that time. There were several pay rises down the years, but in 1884, a Sergeant’s pay was increased to 34s..6d a week, an increase of 9d. In 1901, Inspectors with four years’ experience were paid £2..12..6d; Sergeants with five or more years’ service received £2 and Constables £1..15..0d, once they had completed over twenty years’ employment in the Force. By this time also, they were being required to act as firemen, ambulance drivers, weights and measures inspectors, explosive and petroleum investigators, welfare officers and social workers — all for a police officer’s pay! The 1918 and 1919 police strikes resulted in Parliament bringing in a Police Act, which established the Police Federation of England and Wales and barred Constables from belonging to a trade union. William Grenfell, Lord Desborough instigated a report, which also looked at Police pay across the forces and noted that the average for a constable serving in a provincial force with five years’ experience, married with two children was £2..15s per week including all allowances and was less than that earned by those in more menial occupations. He recommended that pay, pensions (retiring on half pay after twenty-five years’ service) and allowances be standardised and that an increase should double their pay. They should have a free house or quarters or allowances in lieu and that an eight hour day be observed. The ‘boot’ allowance should be 18d per week.
In the event, in the Swansea area, charges for housing quarters for both married and single men were made with that for a Constable being 3shillings equalling a loss in pay of 5shillings, Sergeants’ accommodation costing 4s..6d, losing 4s..6d (no rise), Superintendents’ quarters costing 7s..6d meaning a loss of 10shillings and their ‘boot’ allowance was reduced from the previous 2s..6d per week to 1shilling. This was in essence, a complete reversal of the Report’s recommendations. Sometime later they would receive a rent allowance of 17s..6d. However, in 1921, the first mandatory pensions for those who had served twenty-five or thirty years were introduced, but they had to submit a report in their twenty-fifth year to secure it for either the twenty-five or thirty years. In November 1946, the Swansea Branch of the Board of the Police federation of England and Wales requested that the Swansea Watch Committee should increase the rent allowance still amounting to only 17s..6d to 22s, which had been fixed back in 1920. The matter was referred to the standing committee. They were eventually granted an increased allowance in December 1948.
Variety of Duties
Their duties could vary from being called to scenes of murders, suicides, unexplained deaths, attending inquests, which were often held at the police station and going to trials with the accused, bad weather incidents, traffic accidents, enforcing the speed limit, prosecutions of pub landlords, dealing with drunkenness, being in danger of assault or public fights, thefts, acting as firemen, through to crowd control at the various regattas and carnivals, dealing with cruelty to animals or helping with lost beasts and domestic duties at the station.
An insight into the working lives of the local Bobbies is garnered from the following miscellany taken from many newspaper cuttings
Murders, suicides and inquests
Cambrian, 24 November 1893 - At Limeslade, Miss Cobb found a body of a man shot in the head. It emerged that he was ‘a stranger.’ Ten years later, the Western Mail, of 20 June 1904, reported that another stranger who had arrived in Mumbles, searching for information on the still-unidentified man, who he believed to be his brother. Sarah Davies, a waitress at The George’ said that the deceased had lodged there and the body had been taken to The Pilot before being interred at Oystermouth Cemetery.
South Wales Weekly Post, 12 February 1916 - The body of a ‘respectably dressed woman’ was found on the beach at Mumbles. The lady reported missing from her home in Brynmill had been depressed for some weeks and had left a note for her husband. A verdict of suicide was recorded.
The Osborne Hotel and the cliff path at Lambswell
Mysterious Affair at Lambswell, Langland
13th April 1918 - One of the more harrowing events attended by the Mumbles Police was the double suicide attempt of a young Swansea soldier home on leave from the R.F.A. during the Great War, and his Mumbles-born fiancée, who had tied themselves together and gone into the sea at Lambswell near Rotherslade Bay. The first anyone knew of it was when the girl, drenched from being in the sea, knocked on the door of The Osborne Hotel in an extremely distressed state and told the Manager, Henry May that she had fallen into the water. She then said that she had broken free from her ties and come ashore and asked, ‘Where is X ? I love him and he said if he could not have me in life then he would have me in death.’ Mr. May summoned Sergeant Thomas Williams who attended with PC Bailey and searched the beach until, at 2.30am they found the body of the young soldier face down, fully clothed in his uniform. They tried artificial respiration unsuccessfully and then telephoned Inspector Davies who came with Dr. Marks. The soldier was transported to the mortuary and the girl to hospital.
Swansea Private's death through drowning
At the inquest reported in the Herald of Wales on 25 May 1918, which was not attended by the girl as she was still too unwell and in hospital, the Coroner, R.W. Beor heard from various witnesses such as the Police, Doctor, Mr. May and the young man’s sister, who stated that they had been at his house the evening prior and had broached the subject of their wedding, which they wanted to take place as soon as possible before he returned to duty, but his family had tried to persuade them to wait awhile. They then set off to her home (at that time in Port Tennant) but decided to go to Rotherslade, where the awful events unfolded. The inquest was informed that in the soldier’s pocket they had found a telegram summoning him back to the Colours immediately. In the girl’s clothing was a note which read,’ Shall be gone for ever with the man I love’ and ‘Our wish is to be buried in the same grave. Good bye and love to all.’ The verdict given was ‘death due to drowning while temporarily insane.’
South Wales Evening Post, 27 August 1948 - A bus driver, Gerwyn Williams, had a traumatic experience when an unemployed man threw himself under his bus in Mumbles Road. Witnesses, William Nicholas a taxi driver and Henry Peglar a passenger on the bus, testified that they saw the man ‘dive off the pavement’. A verdict of ‘death due to injuries caused by throwing himself in front of a bus’ was returned.
Accidents on the Mumbles Railway
Cambrian, 16 April 1880 - The inquest was held at the Mumbles Police Station into the death of John Edwards, aged 39, a married man and father of five children, of William Street, who had been hit by a train at Lilliput. The Deputy Coroner, Mr. Gascoin heard that the body was identified by his father, John Edwards, a dredger. Witness, John Thomas, a labourer of Blackpill stated that he had met John Edwards, lying drunk across the footpath at the Green Patch on the left hand side of the road near the tramway siding, at about 9pm. He assisted him to his feet, pointed him in the right direction for home and advised him to keep to the footpath. A little later at 9.30pm, William Harries was driving his train towards Swansea when, on reaching Lilliput Station, he saw a man lying with his head across the rail, but was unable to stop before the train struck him, although it did not go over him. He suffered severe injuries and died immediately and in due course, the verdict given was that death due to ‘a collision with the locomotive.’
Llais Llafur, 27 June 1914 - Another accident occurred at Blackpill Station, when a man and a woman fell between the carriages of the steam train. The man, later identified as Samuel Beaton, wearing an engraved pendant inscribed ‘J. Beaton’, employed as Chief Engineer at Clan Fraser, was decapitated and the woman, Mrs Bannister from Cardiff was taken to hospital with serious injuries. The coroner, F.H. Glynn Price pronounced that death had been instantaneous.
Cambrian Daily Leader, 14 January 1916 - Miss Eleanor Delahay of 5, Limekiln Road died at West Cross Station while trying to alight from the train. She was 16 years of age and had worked at the Walter Road Post Office. Inquests - Cambrian, 10 October 1862 - PC Hullin attended the inquest on the body of James Smith who died suddenly the previous day near The Pilot Inn. The jury returned a verdict of ‘Died by visitation of God.’
Being a coastal village, every so often a body would be found on the beach. It seems that whenever a corpse was brought ashore, it became the practice to deposit it in The George Hotel, to remain there until an inquest could be held and an interment organised. By 1873, Frederick Birks, the Landlord had had enough and complained in the strongest terms, in a letter to the Cambrian, on 29 August 1873. ‘My house is neither the nearest to the shore nor the most convenient for the purpose of a dead house. Why should I have this serious injury inflicted on me (again) this week for the sixth time in as many years? My business is seriously interfered with and my comfort utterly destroyed for some days . . . Surely the Police Station is the most proper place until a deadhouse is built in a suitable locality, where it can be no offence to anyone. When the next body is brought ashore, I will not take another in.’ He added that the previous Tuesday, he had had to stable some visitors’ horses in a room of business because of a body in an advanced state of decomposition being in the stables, which was close to and connected with his house.
The Police Station was then used until a mortuary was built adjacent to the Oystermouth Local Board Offices in Dunns Lane (site of today’s library).
Western Mail, 12 December 1907 - James Dedman, aged 27 of Adelaide, Australia fell overboard from the schooner, the ‘Jane’ in the Mumbles Roads. A verdict of ‘death by drowning’ was recorded.
Herald of Wales, 23 January 1915 - An inquest was held at the Newton Station into the death of Elizabeth Higgs who, although an invalid for twenty-five years, had died suddenly aged sixtytwo at her home at 11, Nottage Road, Newton. Following evidence from the local Doctor, the Deputy Coroner, Mr. C.J.C. Wilson gave a verdict of ‘death from natural causes.’ Accidents Mumbles Press, 31 July 1903 - The five-year old son of Mr and Mrs Davies of Chapel Street, had been listening to a barrel organ outside Baldwin’s grocery store, when he was run over by a four-wheel van belonging to Mr Lovell a confectioner of Swansea.
Mumbles Press 14 August 1919 - Mr. Thomas Barry of Nottage Road died in August 1919, after an accident in a hay field at Thistleboon. He had been on top of a cart-load of hay, which was being moved when he fell to the ground. He was taken to hospital, but died due to spinal injuries and paralysis.
Car accident at Limeslade, photo: M A Clare, c.27 February 1914
One accident, which could have had serious consequences, happened on the new road at Limeslade and was witnessed by local police and photographer, Melville Clare, who could often be seen out and about on his bicycle with his tripod over his shoulder and who happened upon the scene that day. The incident, reported in the Carmarthen Weekly Reporter, 27 February 1914, ‘Mr Charles Harris, a potato merchant and Mr Frank Taylor had arrived at Limeslade in their car and were trying to turn it, when it fell fifteen feet down onto the rocks. It was severely damaged but there were no serious injuries.’
Mumbles Press 19 July 1923 - David Hoskins of 11 Village Lane employed by the scavenging department, was killed when his refuse truck ran him down while on the steep part of Newton Road.
South Wales Evening Post 2 February 1939 - Mrs Mary Andrews aged 85 of Beechwood Road Uplands, died after a collision with a car, driven by Mr. Howard, Director of Macowards Ltd., near the West Cross Post Office.
Weather Related Disasters
During the winter of 1924/5, a storm raged and the breakers were pounding the sea wall at Norton. Friends, Cyril Bowen, Ninian Ashford, Freddy Turner, Ken Lang and brothers, Joe and Davie Hixon were walking home along the front after a game of football. They decided to play ‘chicken’ by standing on the edge of the sea wall. But this had tragic results as an immense wave came and caught them by surprise. Ninian Ashford and Fred Turner were swept in to the stormy surf. Seeing their plight, Cyril Bowen dived in to try and save them. Passers-by stopped to help and motorists shone their headlights into the murk, as the rest of the lads and others formed a human chain to try and reach them. Fred Turner was quickly rescued alive, but some time later, the body of Cyril Bowen was brought ashore and on the next day’s tide, Ninian Ashford’s body was recovered.
Mumbles suffered the traumatic loss of her volunteer lifeboatmen in the three disasters of 1883, 1903 and 1947, during which eighteen men in total were drowned while on service and which affected the entire village.
The South Wales Evening Post of 28 April 1947, reported the plans for the scene the following day, where the ceremony would commence with a procession including the Chief Constables of the Borough Force and County Force, D.V. Turner and Joseph Jones, along with ordinary Constables, and representatives from many local organizations including the British Legion and the Mumbles Postmen. They were to assemble in Dunns Square, prior to the service in the Parish Church, followed by a procession to Oystermouth Cemetery, where the eight men would be buried side by side. The bus company would run an amended timetable on its route no. 6, to enable the public to attend.
Assaults
Cambrian, 3 April 1874 – Solomon Jones appeared before the Police Court charged by PC Hullin (53) with attacking PC 30 by biting him.
Western Mail, 4 August 1902 - George Solomon had been charged with wounding Mary Davies of The Parade and on 7 August, with wounding and demanding money from Sarah Davies.
Western Mail, 8 September 1903 - PC Bierne went to the assistance of a woman being assaulted by her husband and was attacked as well.
Western Mail, 24 September 1903 - Police investigate after Olive Kift, the daughter of Joseph Kift, a tobacconist of Newton Road was assaulted.
Traffic Offences
Cambrian, 20 April 1888 - Samuel Jones, a hobbler was summoned for ‘driving a horse and cart and for being drunk at The New Inn. He was fined 15 shillings for each offence, with a further 9s..9d costs or the alternative of fourteen days in prison As transport gradually changed from horse power to horse-power, the type of offences also changed. The speed limit was set at 8mph in 1918 and raised to 10mph in November 1920. Several people appeared in court for driving improperly. On 30 January 1880, the Cambrian reported that ‘Albert Payne was charged with selling petroleum without a licence.’ On 16 June 1904, the Western Mail noted that ‘Donald Robertson was summoned for driving his motor bike dangerously on the Mumbles Road’ and on 16 June that ‘Alex Moffatt, ship owner, was accused of driving his car along the foot path in the village.’
Cambrian Daily Leader, - In April 1918, David Thomas was summoned to appear before the County Police Court, charged with dangerous driving in Mumbles and for being unlicensed and unlawfully using petrol. Sergeant Williams of Mumbles Police Station gave evidence as did witness, Mr Peel of Newton Road who estimated that the car had been travelling at 10mph, with the wheels on one side being in the air before it crashed into a telegraph pole. The Defendant was fined £10 on the first summons and £5 on each of the other two, plus costs.
Thefts
The first one from this selection, occurred in November 1866 and concerned the ‘Robbery of the Mumbles Mail Bag’, which was the property of the Postmaster General and was being delivered to James Orrin of the Mumbles Post Office on board the horse-drawn Mumbles train when it was stolen The accused was a twelveyear old boy, Edward Lazarus who had been born in Calcutta but lived at Longfields with his aunt, Sarah Symonds. On that morning, he was taking his customary train to school at Thistleboon House and is said to have stolen several letters from a mail bag, including one containing a cheque for £6 made out to John Knight by John Beynon in an envelope addressed to William Clement, who was supposed to pass it on to Mr Knight. Lazarus brought attention to himself, when he had tried to cash the cheque with several people in Mumbles, including Thomas Wheatcroft, a butcher, Rachel Phillips of The Ship and Castle and Ellen Tombs of The Waterloo. PC John Evans was called in and went to visit Miss Symonds accompanied by Mr. Bond, the Porter at Oystermouth Station, James Orrin, sub-postmaster and John Thomas, a letter carrier. They questioned the boy who admitted his guilt and returned the letters.
The case, heavily reported in the Cambrian, was heard at the Swansea Police Court in November and December 1865 and was duly passed to the Swansea Assizes. The accused was bailed into the sureties of his Aunt Sarah Symonds and William Powell Glover, but did not appear in court on February 1866, when called. No more was ever heard of him and no mention of the case was ever mentioned again in the press, except for a small announcement a few years’ later, announcing that Edward Lazarus had died in Calcutta on 8 June 1880.
A horse-drawn Mumbles Train at Castle Hill Station, Mumbles, after 1860. Photo: Roy Kneath
The security of the postbags on the railway was heavily criticised by the Court and deemed ‘slovenly’, as the bags were transported in the firstclass compartment, which was often left unlocked. The train driver complained that he also had to be groom for the horses, guard for the coach and errand boy for the passengers! Cambrian, 25 May 1880 - James Harris was charged with theft from The Mermaid.
Mumbles News, December 1971 - Just before Christmas in 1889, Police in the Mayals/Blackpill area were on the lookout for thieves who had stolen a large quantity of ducks. Many people at that time kept their own poultry and quickly tried to ensure their birds were not taken as well.
The custom in the Mumbles oyster industry, was that on returning to shore after fishing, the dredgers would tip their catch into their ‘perches,’ which were sections of stones on the beach near Southend, each person having their own particular one, that no-one else touched. It was therefore very unusual when fifty oysters belonging to James Lloyd were stolen from his perch in December 1907. The case came before the Swansea Magistrates court, where Jenkin Jenkins of Clifton Terrace and a Mr. Gammon, both fishermen, gave evidence that they had witnessed foreigner, James Baldegger, a ship’s cook, taking some. PC Clinch, of the Mumbles station also gave evidence, stating that the accused had said that he did not know they belonged to anyone, but admitted he was guilty of picking them up. The court ordered James Baldegger to pay the cost of fifty oysters worth 4s..2d, plus the court costs.
On 27 August 1915, the Cambrian Daily Leader reported that ‘several thefts from bathers’ clothes had been reported at Langland. Inspector Davies and his constables (some in plain clothes) have been keeping a look out and PC Jenkins arrested a man while he was in the act of committing ‘this mean type of theft’. He will appear in court at Swansea on Saturday.
South Wales Evening Post, 14 June 1947. A youngster aged 17 was queuing to watch a film in the ‘Tiv’ when he was seen by PC Beynon to take a silver cigarette case and a torch from an unattended car. The Constable questioned him as to his address and he proceeded to give a false one, which was actually the address of the Constable himself! He admitted the offence and was fined 40s by Swansea Justices.
Drunkenness
There were many cases of inebriation of both locals and visitors, which the Constables had to deal with and take to prosecution in the courts.
The licensing Act had restricted the opening hours of pubs to midnight in towns and 11pm in the countryside, consequently on 29 April 1870, Abel Vivian, keeper of the refreshment rooms near Mumbles Train Station was summoned for selling beer ‘at illegal hours’. PC Dunlop gave evidence that he had seen Mrs Vivian ‘draw beer’ at 11.10pm and five men go into the house, who were supplied with beer. Mrs Vivian said in mitigation that they had been in business for seventeen years and this was the first time they had appeared before the magistrate. Abel Vivian was fined 15s plus costs.
The restrictions were soon to be increased when, in 1881, the Sunday Closing Act, a UK Act of Parliament, came into force only in Wales,following pressure from the Temperance and Nonconformist movements, on the Liberal Government. It required all public houses to close on Sundays in a bid to control excessive drinking and was aimed at the working classes of Wales. However, it was opposed by the Church establishment which, like the Liberation Movement, felt that people should be able to choose. Reporting on the proposed Act, The Cambrian had been ‘assured from authentic statistics’ that twenty-nine thirtieths of the Welsh population were actively in favour of the move.
However, a clause in the Act, which was intended to apply only to special cases, permitted bona fide travellers, who could prove that they had travelled three miles, to obtain a drink. Mumbles seems to have been singularly situated, for many of those remaining ‘one-thirtieths’, appeared to live in the Swansea area and soon took advantage of the law! Some years later, Harry Libby (born 1896) recalled the scenes at West Cross station, near the first pub past the three-mile limit, where drinks could be obtained, ‘The sight along the railway track on Sunday evenings had to be seen to be believed, with drunks literally sprawled all over the place on the little embankment . . . Waiting for the train.’ The local police had their work cut out in dealing with the resulting offenders in the Mumbles station. Sergeant Howells complained that ‘drunkenness and rioting are far too common.’
Cambrian, 10 February 1888 - PC Hopkins charged John Burns with being drunk.
Cambrian 6 April 1888 - PC David charged Thomas Lloyd (Tom the Fiddler) with being drunk in Mumbles.
Cambrian 15 December 1898 – Three lifeboatmen charged with being drunk at The Beaufort Arms, Mumbles.
In 1881, several Landlords including Evan Griffiths of The Beaufort, Henry Jones of The Antelope, William Brown of The George and Patrick Wheelan of The Talbot, were prosecuted for flouting the new law, whether by accident or design.
These measures did not solve the problem and drunkenness remained a topic for discussion for many years. The Rev. John Rees was ‘pro-choice’ and wrote a letter to the South Wales Daily News on 5 May 1894, ‘If young and middle-aged men found any pleasure in going to the pub . . . then let them.’ Paradoxically, The Cambrian of 7 August 1902 reported that ‘Oystermouth District Council Chairman, Mr Jarvis had praised Police Sergeant Hopkins for improved public order in Mumbles.’
Nevertheless, some years later, problems were still continuing, when the Mumbles Press, 16 March 1911, printed a letter from the Rev. Hughes of Cardiff remarking that ‘Mumbles is hell on Sundays. Every weekday is more of a Sabbath than the Sabbath itself.’ This was soon answered by Mr. Charles Slater, of Hazelwood, Newton Road, who countered with ‘I do not think that it is correct to describe the place as ‘hell.’ It would be more accurate to describe it as a place frequented largely by people who wish to get fresh air, although there are a considerable number who go for the sake of the drink they can get.’
In the same issue, Rev. Harold Williams, Vicar of All Saints’ Church, was of the opinion that ‘there is no doubt that drunkenness is worse on Sundays than during the week, but it has greatly improved of late . . . the drunkenness is due to the six days license that rules in Wales and the situation of the Mumbles itself (its distance from Swansea). The only remedy lies in either an extension of the distance limit for bona fide travellers or a universal adoption of the six days license.’
Even though many cases continued to come before the court, the Act had little effect on drunkenness. In February 1941, just prior to the threenights’ blitz, the pub licensing hours were again rearranged to 11am until 4pm and 6pm until 9pm ‘on the grounds of avoiding risks from the night bombing’.
Domestic Duties
The domestic duties had to be completed by the Constables while on duty, e.g. 30 minutes every day were taken up with cleaning fireplaces, five hours a week with cleaning, polishing, scrubbing and drying out various rooms and passages including toilets. In 1931, the Police Federation made an application to the Chief Constable asking that Constables be relieved from these menial tasks to concentrate on other more important matters. It was recommended that women should be employed at 6 shillings a week to fulfil those duties.
Awards
At a ceremony at the Mumbles Police Station, Mr Allen of Prospect Villa, Castleton was presented with an inscribed silver mounted pipe and tobacco pouch filled with ¼lb of ‘Old Judge’ for his gallantry in assisting PC Bierne on 5 December 1903.
On 11 May 1915, the Herald of Wales recorded that ‘Inspector Davies, has been presented at The Mermaid Hotel, with an illuminated address on the occasion of his leaving the district. Mr. Lowther, pharmacist presented Mrs Davies with a ‘purse and a bundle of Treasury notes.’ Inspector Davies responded on behalf of his wife and himself.
On 18 August 1928, holidaymaker, Solveig Christensen was enjoying a swim at Langland, when she got into difficulties. PC Shear went to her aid and saved her life. On 19 September 1928, he was awarded a ‘Certificate of Bravery.’
Her grateful family presented him with this silver inkwell in appreciation. Today the certificate is proudly displayed by his daughter, Pat Thomas and the inkwell is treasured by his granddaughter, Gill Langcastle.
Crowd Control
Pleasant occasions such as Coronation celebrations, Carnivals, Regattas and Bank Holiday visitors, meant added duties for the local police. On 27 June 1919, the Prince of Wales (later to become Edward VIII and later still, Duke of Windsor) paid a visit to Mumbles and our local police were involved in the security. Sergeant Thomas Williams and PC (82) Bevan had the honour to be presented to him.
War-time Duties
The Great War
In January 1915, it was made known that ‘Constables Roberts, Griffiths and Hamens of the Mumbles Police Force, who recently enlisted in the Swansea Battalion, the Welsh Regiment, now stationed at Rhyl, have been promoted to the rank of Sergeant.’
On 26 June 1915, the Herald of Wales noted that ‘PC Harold Vowles of Mumbles Police Station has enlisted in the Welsh Guards. This makes the ninth man in Inspector Davies’s district to join.’ By August of that year, it was proclaimed that the Mumbles Police Force has the distinction of holding a remarkably fine patriotic record, sixteen of them having joined the army since the commencement of the war.
At present, Inspector Davies has only one Sergeant and four Officers with him . . . the popular Inspector deserves great credit for the manner in which he keeps the Mumbles ‘immune from regrettable happenings.’
Tragically, three of his men, PC Griffiths (533), PC Dickens (273) and PC Thomas (535), were to die on active service on 13 March 1916, 26 May 1917 and 19 November 1917 respectively.
On Whit Monday 1911, the police had undertaken a traffic survey at ‘The Slip’ noting the items of traffic passing to and from Mumbles. They counted thirty-seven motor cars, including three open single-deck buses, thirty-seven motor cycles, two hundred and nineteen horse-drawn carriages and one thousand, one hundred and sixty pedal cycles, including tandems.
On 21 May 1918, it was reported in the Cambrian Daily Leader that a crowd of trippers ‘of great magnitude’ paid a visit to Mumbles on Whit-Monday. ‘The exigencies of war have denuded Mumbles of its police force, in fact, only one Constable has been allowed to remain.
This has necessitated a great call on Special Constables who, on Monday under the direction of Inspector James and Police Sergeant Williams, did admirable work. Monday’s crowd was the most orderly ever seen in the village.’
One volunteer was Sir Arthur Whitton Brown, who had flown the Atlantic single-handed and was by then living in West Cross. (Twenty-three years later, he was recommended as a Commanding Officer of 215 Swansea no. 1 Squadron).
The Second World War
For the protection of persons and property from injury or damage in the event of hostile attacks from the air. Air Raid Precautions Act
Only some twenty-one years later, during the Second World War, a system of Air Raid Precautions was set up under the control of Swansea’s Chief Constable. Number 15 Nottage Road, Craig-y-Môr House at Thistleboon, 19 Higher West Cross Lane and 29, Mumbles Road, Blackpill (the end cottage at Beaufort Terrace, in which they occupied the first floor and the local Home Guard, the ground floor) were requisitioned as Air Raid Wardens’ headquarters. At Newton, there was only one full-time paid Warden, Mr. Lloyd, who earned £3..10s per week, but many including Percy Davidson, Laurie Latchford and Harry Hale worked a few nights a week on a voluntary basis, following a full day’s work at their day-jobs. Mrs. Margaret Llewelyn was one of the volunteers who served at Craig-y-Môr
Each person was issued with a helmet, siren suit, badge bell and whistle and their main duty was to enforce the night-time blackout. Each Post was equipped with camp beds, a telephone, stirrup-pump and buckets of sand. Sirens were positioned on top of the police houses at Newton and Blackpill, for which the policemen in residence received an allowance of 7s..6d for their additional work and the siren serving Mumbles was in Parade Gardens near the old Police Station.
Land belonging to Norton House was requisitioned for the erection of communal air-raid shelters, as was the basement of the Odd Fellows’ Hall in The Dunns, Grange Farm for ‘dormitory shelters’ and land at West Cross for ‘public air raid shelters.’
It was during this time that Swansea recruited twelve female Police Constables for the first time, having resisted the requests for many years. An advert first appeared in the South Wales Evening Post on 3 April 1946, calling for applications to be made to the Chief Constable for the posts in the Swansea Borough area. The pay would be 79s rising to 102s per week. ‘Applicants should be unmarried or widows, aged between 22 and 35 years of age and of a minimum height of 5ft. 4in’. Their duties were to encompass clerical, telephone and cooking responsibilities. It was during this time also, that the new 999 Emergency Service was introduced with much fanfare and was tested by both the Police and National Fire Services.
Fire Duties
Several fires had broken out in Mumbles over the years, probably because of the use of candles and open fires, but there was very little that could be done to extinguish them apart for bucket chains, as there was no firefighting equipment in the village.
For example, A fire broke out at Norton Lodge in May 1887, which was fought with nothing more than a bucket chain from the sea and The Ship and Castle Public House at Southend was completely destroyed in the 1890s.
Cambrian, September 1896 - A fire occurred at The Currant Tree Hotel, West Cross, where the Innkeeper was a widow, Ann Jones. The premises was totally consumed by fire, but was not attended by the Fire Brigade at Swansea. The initial call, given to the Officer in Charge of the Goat Street Fire Station in Swansea, was from a Railway Guard who had seen the fire whilst passing on his locomotive on the way to Swansea! Mumbles Press, 25 September 1913 - There was another fire at the same site, by now rebuilt and renamed The West Cross Inn, when landlord John Brayley was away, but his wife was present. She was awoken at 1.00am and saw that the front of the building was enveloped in flames. Her quick thinking got everyone out and their screams soon woke the neighbours. Willing helpers gathered and Sergeant Hill and Constables Roberts, Clarke, Webber and Mallin were quickly on the scene. A water supply was found at Buckmaster’s nursery opposite and after a couple of hours, the fire was put out. The bar contents were completely destroyed and there was much damage to the room itself. It seems that the fire had started in the cellar.
The Great Fire of 1914
But it was the occasion of ‘The Great Fire of 1914’, which eventually galvanised the Oystermouth Urban District Council into financing a fire cart for the village. It was 4.10am on Thursday 12 February 1914, when passer-by, Edward Willings of 14, Chapel Street spotted flames and smoke emanating from the premises of WH Jones, grocer (and erstwhile post office), plus the Mumbles branch of the London City and Midland Bank and the home of Stewart Thomas, a dental surgeon next door, on the junction of Newton Road and The Dunns. He woke the residents before contacting Inspector Davies of the local police, who arrived with six Constables, but having no fire-fighting equipment, there was little they could do apart from telephoning the Swansea Fire Brigade.
They arrived at 5.15am on their one-and-only horse-drawn vehicle, by which time the building was well alight. (Swansea would not get a motorised vehicle until later that year). The fire was eventually put out and a local firm was engaged to demolish the walls, which had been left in a dangerous condition.
William Jones’ grandson, Roger Jones recounts that ‘In 1891, the Post Office on the junction of Newton Road and The Dunns was built for my Grandfather William Hullin Jones and Grandmother, Elizabeth (nee Burt Evans). It included a General Post Office, a haberdashery, stationery and fancy repository shop. The fire was thought to have been caused by lightening striking a telephone wire, which then travelled down into the telephone box and fused a wire, which set the box alight’. But, the South Wales Weekly Post was informed by 21 February 1914, that ‘a Post Office Engineer has since made a careful examination of the telephone installation, from which it is apparent that this was not the cause of the outbreak as the lightening protector was not injured in any way and the connection of the protector to the earth is still intact. Everything has been left so that the fire assessors who are experts, may examine it.’ However, the insurance company would not pay out, as it was a classified as an ‘Act of God’. ‘My broken-hearted Grandfather died in 1917.’
Local councillors went to visit the scene and it was decided to finance a fire station to serve the locality. A tender of £54..8s was accepted from Mr. Morris to build a shed adjacent to the Council offices in Dunns Lane (the site of today’s library). Five hundred feet of hose and equipment were to be purchased from Shand Mason for £107..12s, plus a ladder for £83. The Council also asked Sergeant Davies if his men would operate the new machinery, but he asked that a letter should be sent to the Chief Constable of Swansea ‘for a ruling on the matter.’
Having obtained permission from the Chief Constable, from then on up until the Second World War, the police also acted as firemen, initially running to the fire station in Dunns Lane, to harness up horses hired from Peachey’s livery stable nearby, before setting out to fight the fire. However, on one occasion in 1915, when a fire occurred at The Rock and Fountain public house in Newton, the horses and fire cart could not get up the steep New Well Hill and locals had to use buckets of water from the village pump opposite to extinguish the flames!
The Great War had begun in 1914 and, as previously described, several men had signed up for service, leaving the force short of manpower and the local Volunteer Artillery Detachment (VAD) commanded by Commandant Pennock was instructed in the use of the fire-fighting equipment. Sometime in the 1920s, a new fire station was housed at Southend, at the site of an old disused oyster shed, near The Pilot Inn.
On 5 September 1930, the Fire Brigade was called to its former site at Dunns Lane, by then being used as stables, which was well alight and destroyed in the blaze. Grafton Maggs recalled that ‘at the end of 1934, the corporation workmen appeared in Dunns Lane to clear the burnt-out remains of the local fire station and mortuary. Charred rafters had long since collapsed into the rubble and nature was re-establishing itself’. This was eventually to be the site of the new Oystermouth Library.
Mumbles Press reported on 20 December 1928 that a serious fire had occurred at 4.30am at the Norton Limeworks. The site watchman called the fire brigade which arrived to find a wooden building containing electrical machinery well alight. The roof of the shed had fallen in and the flames were leaping up a great height. The men, aided by a good water supply directed their efforts to save the property, but the shed and electrical plant were destroyed. However, no-one was hurt.
Mumbles Press, 13 February 1930 - ‘A fire broke out at Norton Villa residence of Spencer Thomas. The fire brigade was called and found floor boards at the top of the stairs alight, caused by an electric wire and was soon put out. ‘The damage was £75’.
In March 1933, Miss Mary Jane Phillimore of Dunns Cottage (now the site of Mumbles Post Office) was burnt to death at her home. At 7.00am on a Saturday morning, Mr David Jenkins was passing by when he saw flames in a downstairs room. He and Mr Harold Charles Baglow entered and found the lady lying dead by the unguarded fireplace, with her head, arm and body extensively burnt, the room full of smoke and the drapings on the mantelpiece smouldering. The flames on her clothing were put out with cushions and buckets of water and she was pulled away from the fireplace.
The post-mortem showed that Miss Phillimore had a diseased heart, but if the fire had been guarded, a tragedy could have been avoided. The verdict given was ‘in accordance with the medical testimony.’ In the prelude to the Second World War, it was realised that more firefighters would be needed and so in 1937, the Air Raid Precautions Act handed over the duty to local authorities and Auxiliary fire-fighters were to assist the local Fire brigade. They were part-time volunteers, male and female (one was Joyce Monsen), who could be called into full-time paid service if needed. Pressdee’s Garage in Stanley Street was commandeered for their HQ and one of their cars was used as a fire engine. (see below).
There are several more photos of the Southend Fire Station at VE and VJ Day Day Parties >
In 1941, the National Fire Service was established by an amalgamation of the AFS and the Fire Service and control of the fire service passed out of the hands of the Police. By 1948, the control of the brigades returned to local authorities but from then on, Southend Fire Station, (see above) was manned mostly by a few part-time personnel and was a separate organization.
A new era of policing
The long-awaited opening of the new Mumbles police station at the junction of Newton and Castle Roads took place in 1955 and a new era of policing in the Mumbles area began.
Conclusion
I hope you have enjoyed this exploration of the lives of our local Bobbies who worked in and around the village from the 1850s to the 1950s. The innovations which are standard practice in the police force today are a far cry from those of PC Hullin and the other ‘rural policemen’ walking their ‘beats’ here some 150 years ago.
Carol Powell
Two landmarks central to everyday life in any community (besides the church and the pub) are the local Police Stations and Post Offices. Everyone knew the people who walked the Beat and those who worked in the post offices, delivering their letters and parcels. These stories, gleaned from a variety of contemporary sources and recollections, seek to bring to life the everyday routines of the local Bobbies and Post Office employées in and around Mumbles, during a century of immense change from the 1850s to the 1950s, when the population rose from 1,938 to approximately 11,678.
Also by Carol Powell - Working at the Post Office
Note: This article was originally published as a book, 'Law and Postal Order.'
The book version is now out of print, but is still available through The City of Swansea Library Service.
Carol Powell grew up at West Cross, was educated at Oystermouth, Grange and Glanmôr Schools and holds a Diploma and a Master’s Degree in Local History. She and her husband, John worked in the village for twenty-two years and, since retiring have co-edited the website A HISTORY OF MUMBLES, which, to date includes some two hundred local history articles, plus reminiscences written by local people.
Acknowledgments
My grateful thanks go to Wendy Cope, Archivist of Oystermouth Historical Association; The Staff at West Glamorgan Archive; to Louise Southall and Ian Thomas, grandchildren of PC Ted Southall; Roger Jones, grandson of sub-postmaster, William Jones; Carl Smith, grandson of Mary Smith, sub-postmistress of Southend Post Office; Ronald Austin for help with material on West Cross Post Office; Audrey Vincent, daughter of Sergeant David Price; Pat Thomas and Gill Langcastle, daughter and granddaughter of Sergeant Edward Shear; Kate Elliott Jones; Hazel Hickson; Rosemary Hixon; David Jeffries, Grafton Maggs and Lorna Palmer.
Police Bibliography
Primary Sources
Kelly's Directories of 1891, 1895, 1901, 1906, 1914 and 1926 Butcher's Directory, 1873-4. South Wales Evening Post Directory, 1900Swansea Directory, 1931, 1938Swansea Industrial and Trades Directory, 1950All Saints' Church parish records 1891 and 1901 censuses of Oystermouth Glamorgan County Police Force Roll of Honour, 1914-18 The Amman Valley Chronicle, 19 February 1914The Cambrian , 24 November 1865, 30 November 1865, 8 April 1870, 29 April 1870, 24 November 1871, 12 April 1872, 29 August 1873, 19 December 1873, 3 April 1874, 19 March 1880, 16 April 1880, 2 July 1880, 11 March 1881, 2 March 1888, 6 April 1888, 29 June 1888, 11 September 1893, 24 November 1893 Cambrian Daily Leader 27 August 1915, 8 November 1915, 24 April 1918, 21 May 1918Carmarthen Weekly Reporter, 27 February 1914Herald of Wales, 23 January 1915, 11 May 1915, 26 June 1915, 28 August 1915, 25 May 1918, 24 August 1918Llais Llafur, 27 June 1914 Mumbles Press, 31 July 1903, 5 December 1903, 20 December 1904, 16 March 1911, 25 September 1913, 27 June 1919, 14 August 1919, 19 July 1923, 20 December 1928, 13 February 1930, 25 September 1930 South Wales Daily Post, 5 May 1894 South Wales Weekly Post, 21 February 1914, 2 March 1914, 12 February 1916, 10 June 1922 South Wales Evening Post, 2 February 1939, 25 November 1940, 10 December 1940, 6 February 1941, 3 April 1946, 20 November 1946, 27 November 1946, 28 April 1947, 14 June 1947, 27 August 1948, 28 August 1948, 22 December 1948 Western Mail, 13 March 1897, 18 June 1902, 4 August 1902, 7 August 1902, 8 September 1903, 10 September 1903, 24 September 1903, 16 June 1904, 20 June 1904, 10 October 1907, 12 December 1907, 7 February 1908 Cuttings relating to police work and crime, 1939-50, W. Glam. Archive cat. no. D/D Con / 5 7/1. W. Glam. Archive, Wartime Requisition details, cat. no. TC 200/100, 111, 135, 160, 162, 163, 250 Lord Desborough Report, House of Commons, HC Deb, 25 October 1920, vol. 133 Editors: Kate Elliott Jones and Wendy Cope, The Wartime Diary of Laurie Latchford, 1940-41, 2010Secondary Sources
Davies, J., A History of Wales, 1993Draisey, D., Swansea and Gower in Victorian and Edwardian Times, Vol. 1, 2011 Griffiths, H., 'Talking points in 1888' in Mumbles News, October 1971. Griffiths, H., 'Christmastime in Mumbles in 1889,' in Mumbles News, December 1971 Griffiths, H., 'Police Life in 1862,' in Mumbles News, April 1972 Griffiths, H., 'Events that shocked Mumbles - Lady Burnt to Death', in Mumbles News, June 1972. Jenkins, P., A History of Modern Wales, 1536-1990, 1992Libby, Harry, The Mixture: Mumbles and Harry Libby, 1963 Mills, K., Flames Across the Tawe, 2001 Orrin, Geoffrey, James Orrin (1828-93)His life and times in Victorian Mumbles, 2008Powell, C., Once Upon a Village, 1996 Llewellyn, M., 'My Mother was an Air Raid Warden' in Mumbles Memories Vol. II, 2002Sinnott, M. L., Seven Tall Men: a history of the County Borough of Swansea Constabulary, 1989 West Glam. Archive, cat. no. D/D Con /5, 1/2 Vincent, A., ' Post War Mumbles, 1945-55' in Mumbles Memories, Vol. I, 2001 www.southwalespolicemuseum.org.uk www.henderson-tele.com www.wikipedia.org www.visionofbritain.org.uk wikipedia.org/wiki/auxiliary_fire_service wikipedia.org/national_fire_serviceAlso by Carol Powell - Working at the Post Office