The scare stories about the Government secretly enrolling a new full time force of Special Constabulary to be controlled by the War Office were reduced to their proper proportions when it was announced on 2 September 1925 that the new body, to be known as the War Department Constabulary, was to be formed from between 200 and 300 men to take the place of those members of the Metropolitan Police who had hiterto been hired for the surveillance at ordnance factories, depots and stores in England and Scotland. There was no intention, as had been suggested, that the force may be utilised in case of any civil disturbance. There was some concern if the new Force would be as efficient as the Metropolitan Police had been, with the reason they were brought in originally being the extensive robberies that took place previously.
The establishment of the War Department Constabulary had its forerunner in 1923 when the Royal Marine Police were established for the purpose of guarding marine armament depots and magazines. By employing police directly through the War Department Constabulary, the War Office expected a savings of between £40,000 and £50,000 a year. For the purpose of such duties as maintaining a watch on army buildings over stores, doorkeeping and other tasks, ordinary policemen were found to be too expensive. Accordingly, pay was substantially lower than that of the ordinary Constable. Rates of pay ranged up to about 50s. with the Civil Service bonus added.
The Special Constables Act, 1923 (7 June 1923) provided the legal authority for the creation of the War Department Constabulary:
Substitution of Special Constables for Metropolitan Police at armament depots, &c.
(1) Any two justices of the peace may appoint such persons as may be nominated for the purpose by the Admiralty, Army Council, or Air Council, to be special constables within the yards and stations and limits within which constables of the metropolitan police force may by virtue of the Metropolitan Police Act, 1860, or the Metropolitan Police (Employment in Scotland) Act, 1914, both as originally enacted and as applied to the Air Force, be employed; and every person so appointed shall be sworn in by any such justices duly to execute the office of a constable within the places and limits aforesaid, and when so sworn in shall have the same powers and privileges, and be liable to the same duties and responsibilities as constables of the metropolitan police force have and are liable to under the said Acts.
(2) Special constables appointed under this section shall be under the exclusive control of the department on whose nomination they are appointed, and that department shall have power to suspend or terminate the appointment of any such special constable.
(3) In the application of this section to Scotland references to any two justices of the peace shall be construed as references to the magistrates of a burgh or the standing joint committee of a county, as the case may be, and the reference to swearing in shall be read as a reference to, making a declaration or taking an oath, as the case may be, in the form and manner prescribed in section seventy-nine of the Burgh Police (Scotland) Act, 1892, and section eleven of the Police (Scotland) Act, 1857, respectively.
The War Department Constabulary also had powers under the Public Stores Act, 1875, to investigate cases involving government property within a radius of 15 miles of every station, of which there were 15 in London alone.
Preference was given to new recruits who were ex-regular soldiers or ex-policement. The members of the new Constabulary wore a uniform of blue serge with a peaked cap, bearing the words "War Department Constabulary". In August 1927, King George V approved of the Royal Crest being worn as a clothing badge by the War Department Constabulary.
Recruitment was open to those from 25 to 45 of a height at least 5ft 6in. On 9 September, a week after announcing the intended formation of the force, it was officially stated no further applications would be entertained for appointment to the War Department Constabulary as the number of applications far exceeded requirements. The Force strength reached 450 men at establishment. In its later years, the size of the force was "classified information".
31 March 1926, an announcement was made that the Police at Woolwich and other places in London were to be replaced by War Department Constables. The change was also to be carried out in about twenty other depots throughout the country. The Metropolitan Police had been doing duty at the Ordnance Depot at Weedon since 1887 and were withdrawn at the end of March to return to ordinary duty.
In April 1936, the policemen of the War Department Constabulary also took the place of the Metropolitan Police at the War Office. At this time, War Department Constabulary uniforms included chromium plated buttons, peaked caps and, on their shoulders, were badges depicting a crowned lion standing on a large crown. The new officers assisted visitors calling at the War Office, showing them how to fill in the "application for an interview" forms and advising them where to go.
As the strength of the Force could at any moment of emergency call for its immediate expansion a reserve had been in existence for several years prior to 1939. The Reserve was composed of men who had entered into an undertaking to come up for service as active Constables of the Force within 48 hours of being summoned. A condition for the scheme was that, while no remuneration was issuable to the men while on the Reserve, a bounty of £5 was payable after call-up and assumption of duty. For their period of service, the men were entitled to the same scale of wages as regular members of the Force and to a month's notice of discharge when their services were no longer required.
Recruiting advertisements appeared in 1940 looking for men for the regular Force, physically fit, 5ft 6in and upwards from the age of 30 years to join the War Department Constabulary as Constables. Pay was £3 5s. per week plus a uniform or clothing allowance. In April of that year, ex-service men between the ages of 41 and 55 were being recruited for the duration of the War. By 1941, applicants up to age 58 were accepted and uniforms were then free.
The men of the War Department Constabulary worked forty-eight hours per week in six turns of duty of eight hours each. When they were required to live at an establishment, quarters were provided without cost for married men and for a small charge for single men.
On 1 April 1964, the War Department Constabulary became part of the Army Department Constabulary.
War Department Constabulary Sergeant Morton, 2390N
War Department Constabulary Sergeant Morton, 2390N
War Department Constabulary Sergeant Morton, 2390N
Sources
- legislation.gov.uk
- Westminster Gazette, 03 September 1925
- Nottingham Evening Post, 03 September 1925
- Western Morning News, 04 September 1925
- Dover Express, 04 September 1925, 12 August 1927
- Western Daily Press, 10 September 1925
- Exeter and Plymouth Gazette, 10 September 1925
- Northampton Mercury, 26 March 1926
- The Scotsman, 31 March 1926
- Lincolnshire Echo, 06 April 1936
- Nottingham Journal, 28 March 1939
- Staffordshire Sentinel, 24 September 1940
- Stirling Observer, 09 April 1940
- Liverpool Echo, 04 February 1941
- Illustrated London News, 15 April 1967
