

In February 1851, the directors of the West Cornwall Railway entered into a contract with Mr Joseph Ritson, of the firm Ritson and Co., for construction of the West Cornwall Railway between Hayle and Penzance. The West Cornwall Railway was to run in totality from Truro to Penzance, in the process intersecting the most prolific and valuable mineral district in Great Britain. Mr Isambard Brunel was the engineer of the line.
By November of 1851, thirteen miles of the West Cornwall Railway was in operation and it was then expanded to a total of twenty-one miles, between Redruth and Penzance, with that section of the line opening for the first time the following February. Once the West Cornwall Railway was completed to Truro, it would leave only a distance of 64 miles to be filled up by the Cornwall Railway line to complete a continuous railway communication from London to Falmouth and Penzance.
In early 1851, there was a string of petty robberies and attempted burglaries along where the new line was being constructed at Hayle. In response to a request from Mr Ritson, the West Cornwall Railway was to employee two policemen, whose beat was confined to the railway about to be made. The first to arrive was Sergeant Westascott, on 1 March 1851. He came to the West Cornwall Railway Police from the Bristol Constabulary. Sergeant Westascott dealt quite handily with cases of counterfeit coins, the theft of several ducks and the crimes of the light-fingered fraternity in the course of carrying out his duties under the West Cornwall Railway Police.

The West Cornwall Railway, 1852
The West Cornwall Railway, 1852

The West Cornwall Railway, 1852
At the close of January in 1852, the much respected Police Officer of St Ives Borough Police, Henry Armitage, was appointed Superintendent of the West Cornwall Railway Police. In due course, he would have several men under him as Superintendent. Superintendent Armitage had been in the City of London Police Force for many years before going to St Ives in 1841 at the request of the Mayor of London in response to a request from the Mayor of St Ives. For more than ten years, Mr Armitage was the sole officer in the St Ives Borough Police before being selected to fill the office of Superintendent of Police of the West Cornwall Railway. During that time he kept the small Borough in excellent order. In his many cases, he discharged his duties with great care and skill. His success was, in fact, a matter of some notoriety, which made some others a little jealous of him. This would cause him some difficulty both during and after his tenure with the West Cornwall Railway Police.
One such occasion was in 1857 in connection with the theft of a parcel containing a new suit of clothes at Redruth Railway Station. Constables Tregoning and Hodge, of the Police in Redruth, disputed the claim of the Superintendent that he had traced the thief and sent the Constables to make the arrest - an action Superintendent Armitage would not have had the authority to take over Constables of Redruth. The Constables noted the Superintendent had a reputation known among those of the Cornwall Constabulary of stickling for heroic and sagacious conduct in the detection and apprehension of offenders, taking credit for acts which he never performed.
The claims of the two Redruth Constables were supported by the events that transpired on at least one occasion several years later when Superintendent Armitage attempted to claim the whole of a £300 reward for the arrest of an embezzler. In June 1867, Mr Armitage was involved in the hunt for a man who had embezzled £7,500 from his employers and absconded from the Cape of Good Hope more than a year previous. The various Police Superintendents in Cornwall were provided a description and photograph of the man and a reward of £300 was offered for the apprehension of the delinquent. Superintendent Armitage had seen the man at Penzance and, when he received word he was spotted in Truro, he went to Truro but it was Superintendent Miller of the Cornwall Constabulary at Camborne who apprehended the man in Truro. Nearly the whole amount the man was charged with embezzling was recovered. The distribution of the £300 reward was disputed between the two Superintendents, as Superintendent Armitage also laid claim to the reward even though he had not participated in the arrest. The dispute led to an arbitration in London which resulted in the awarding of £270 to Superintendent Millar and £30 to Superintendent Armitage.
A further monetary reward, but this time the result of a positive collaboration between himself and the Cornwall Constabulary, also occurred at the time of the above arrest. Superintendent Armitage was awarded 40s. for the degree of activity and sagacity he showed in a case of the theft of 60lb of meat. He located the perpetrators with the assistance of a Cornwall Constabulary Constable of Hayle.

In the course of his duties, Superintendent Armitage often dealt with drunkenness and thefts of the personal items of travellers on the Railway as well as the theft of material and property used in the construction of the Railway. In 1863, a passenger travelling on the West Cornwall Railway from Penzance discovered and reported a theft in Redruth. A message was telegraphed ahead to Truro where members of the West Cornwall Railway Police met and arrested the delinquents. They were searched under the superintendence of Mr Armitage and, with the missing £360 in cheques and some cash being found on the man and woman, the pair were sent back to Redruth to be taken before the Magistrates.
Further criminal activity with respect to property of the Railway occurred in July 1855. The West Cornwall Railway contracted with a farmer for horsing the Hayle branch for the purpose of conveying tracks from the wharf up to the station. There were eight to ten horses stabled on railway property employed for this work. Two of these horses fell dead after ten hours one day working in this capacity. Superintendent Armitage was called in and took the stomachs of the horses for further examination. It was determined the horses were poisoned with arsenic but the suspect was released with a verdict of not guilty.
Trespassing on the railway line was also an issue and one that was dealt with severely with a potential penalty of two years imprisonment with hard labour. In 1852, several persons were brought before the Magistrate in Camborne by Superintendent Armitage for having placed a cart pulled by a donkey on the railway line after the last train had passed.
1876 was the year of change for the West Cornwall Railway Police when the West Cornwall Railway came under the management of the Great Western Railway. This brought about the end of the West Cornwall Railway Police and the retirement of Superintendent Armitage. After leaving the Railway, Mr Armitage went on to become the proprietor of the refreshment rooms at the Penzance Railway Station in August 1876, and later, he owned the Three Tuns Inn at Chyandour.
In June 1877, the tables were turned on him when Mr Armitage appeared in the Police Court, accused of serving drink to individuals in the refreshment room of the railway station who were not travellers. However, the case was quickly dismissed against Mr Armitage as it was proven the patrons had represented themselves as travellers.
The following month, at a time of financial difficulty for him, in the midst of the liquidation of his estate due to bankruptcy, Mr Armitage was arrested for committing theft from his own Inn. It was a precarious set of circumstances in that it was his wife who gave him into custody, accusing him of the theft of a box containing between £500 and £600 of the Inn's money and 11s. belonging to an employee. His wife managed the business at the Inn and their relationship had been under strain at the time. Mr Armitage's reputation and physical well-being suffered as a result of the charge. He was apprehended and treated as a felon for the day. In fact, he was so ill-treated in custody that he fell in the street and a doctor had to be sent for. When appearing before the Magistrates, Mr Armitage explained he had taken the box in order to preserve his property for his creditors in the light that his wife was going to elope. He also stated he was completely unaware the box also contained the money of the employee. Mr Armitage's solicitor argued the entire story was a concoction of falsehoods, with the object of destroying Mr Armitage's credit and character. The case was dismissed.
Mr Armitage was immediately afterwards charged with having assaulted Inspector Pappin of the Cornwall Constabulary while in custody on the charge of the theft. Mr Armitage stated the Inspector seized him by the collar of the coat when he was in custody, lying down in the cells, and threw him down, knocking his head against the wall and kicking his shin. Despite his explanation of the events, the Magistrates sided with Inspector Pappin and dismissed the charges against the Inspector. Mr Armitage was found guilty of assault and fined 1s. and costs.
In the end, Mr Armitage weathered these events as he was still in possession of the refreshment rooms at the railway station in 1879 with Mrs Armitage at the helm. Mr Armitage died in Penzance, aged 80, on 8 November, 1891.
Sources
- Morning Post, 05 March 1851 *
- The Cornish Telegraph, 04 April 1851, 22 August 1851, 21 November 1851, 28 January 1852, 16 June 1852, 12 January 1853, 03 July 1877, 24 July 1877, 09 September 1879 *
- Royal Cornwall Gazette, 26 April 1850, 7 March 1851, 16 May 1851, 31 October 1851, 30 January 1852, 20 February 1852, 09 July 1852, 13 July 1855, 06 March 1857, 27 March 1857, 09 September 1859, 06 October 1852, 27 November 1863, 27 June 1867, 29 August 1867, 19 August 1876, 06 July 1877, 27 July 1877 *
- Cornishman, 12 November 1891 *
- Globe, 29 June 1852 *
- Cornishman, 31 May 1894 *
- Western Courier, West of England Conservative, Plymouth and Devonport Advertiser, 03 March 1852 *
- Morning Chronicle, 02 March 1852 *
- * The British Newspaper Archive