Beamish Museum hosts police history pictures
- Published
The North East Police History Society is holding an exhibition at Beamish Museum in County Durham on 13 and 14 July. The museum also has an archive of old photographs such as this one of the Tynemouth Police force in 1883.
The society was vital in recording and documenting the historical property of Durham Constabulary. Its collection, some of which was donated to Beamish Museum, includes photographs, documents, and objects such as truncheons and uniform.
An archive picture of miners' families evicted from their homes in Silksworth in February 1891. The miners had been on strike since November 1890, and Lord Londonderry, who owned the pit, recruited men from Hartlepool to carry out the evictions. Nicknamed the “Candymen”, these men thought they had been employed to move timber for Londonderry, not families from their houses.
The exhibition also features items such as this Durham Police helmet. From the late 1800s officers were issued with special headwear made of straw to keep them cool during the summer months, but their use was phased out after 1920.
Archive picture of Durham Police on guard while Prince Edward (who later briefly became King Edward VIII) lays the foundation stone for the Social Services Centre in Stanley.
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A birching stool will be on show at the two-day exhibition. Birching was a form of judicial punishment which was abolished in the UK in 1948, although it was retained for severe breaches of prison discipline until 1962. It involved a beating on the back or bare buttocks with a bundle of twigs.
Officers at the scene of a fire in 1906. Photographs such as these can be viewed online at Beamish Museum's People's Collection website. The museum's Regional Resource Centre also contains a vast collection of books, periodicals, trade catalogues and ephemera.