Essex Police At Christmas

Christmas cards and stories from the collection.

By Hannah Wilson, Curator

This Christmas we’re sharing some Force Christmas cards from our collection.

Note: Unless stated otherwise text is transcribed in alt text for screen readers. Images can be enlarged by clicking on them and zooming.

Christmas Cards

We have a number of Christmas cards in our collection which were sent from various forces in Essex. In the 1960s and 1970s Essex printed their own cards with proceeds going to related charities, such as the Police Orphans Fund and the Police Dependants Fund. In 1971 the sale of Christmas cards raised £163 and 12 shillings (around £2300 today), which went to the Police Dependents’ Trust Fund.

This Christmas card from the Southend Division of Essex Police shows a police officer standing at a police phone box along Southend sea front. The picture was chosen to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the division. From 01.04.1914 Southend had its own force, the Southend-on-Sea Constabulary, but in 1969 the Home Office instructed it to be merged with the Essex Force. As a result, from 01.04.1969 the Southend force amalgamated with Essex, creating the Essex and Southend-on-Sea Joint Constabulary, and Southend had its own division. In 1974 the name was shortened to its current one, Essex Police. The amalgamation also marked the end of Borough forces, with the entire county of Essex now patrolled by one county force. The above Christmas card is believed to be from 2009, marking the 40th anniversary of the Southend division post-merger.

This Christmas card from the Southend-on-Sea Constabulary is undated, but does feature a photograph of their new clubroom at their new headquarters. Southend’s HQ was built in 1962, so we assume the card dates from the 1960s.

This Christmas card from the Southend Police Football Club shows views of the river in the Southend area. Police sports clubs were varied and included everything from fishing to tug of war and football. There were also competitions for non-sporting events, such as first aid response. Today many forces continue to have sports teams, with competitions in football, rugby and cricket amongst others.

This card from the Essex County Constabulary, as it was then known, shows some leg irons from before 1895. The leg irons worked in the same way as handcuffs of the era, with a screwed key to unlock the barrel. The middle iron loop could be attached at the prisoner’s waist or to handcuffs - you may see a similar system used today to restrain prisoners in the American justice system. A set of leg irons are on display in the Victorian display at the museum.

This card was for the Billericay sub-division in 1973 and also came with the Christmas lunch menu and sent Christmas wishes from the Chief Inspector and his wife.

Transcript for screen readers:

A friendly Christmas greeting with sincere good wishes for a cheerful 1932 after a tearful 1931 from [blank].

Oh Lord, send us the sunshine

Send up the sunshine to-day

Oh Lord, send us the sunshine.

Change these skies of grey

Make the birds sing

Make the flowers to spring

Just make everything Gay

Oh Lord, send us the sunshine

Send the sunshine today

From Parlophone Gramophone Record No R962

This Colchester Borough Police card from 1931 had well wishes for the year ahead, a poem and a picture of an officer. Colchester had its own police force from 1836 to 1947, pre-dating the county force. The Police Act of 1946 required, for a Borough to maintain a Police Force, a population in excess of 100,000. Colchester Borough could not match this and on 1st April 1947 the Borough Force and Essex Constabulary amalgamated, with 61 Officers transferring across.

We are unsure when this Christmas card from the Chief Constable dates from, but given the name of the force ‘Essex County Constabulary’, we know it’s pre-1969. The crown on the crest is a St Edward’s Crown, colloquially called a Queens Crown. There have only ever been two Queens throughout the history of policing in Essex - Queen Victoria (1837-1901) and Queen Elizabeth II (1952-2022) - and given that the card is written in biro, we can conclude this was written during the reign of Queen Elizabeth II, dating the card somewhere between 1952/3 and 31st March 1969 when Southend Constabulary amalgamated with the County. Though not a hard and fast rule, traditionally Queens have chosen to use the St Edward’s Crown and Kings have chosen to use the Tudor Crown, hence the colloquial names. The image below shows the difference - with the Tudor Crown (King) on the left and St Edward’s Crown (Queen) on the right. It can be a huge help in dating objects.

This Christmas card is from Eynsham Hall, which was the national police training centre at the time. Officers from all forces would be trained together, rather than within the force. Training would typically be residential Monday-Friday with weekends free for trips home.

CHMPM P02705, Eynsham Hall

This Christmas card is dated from 1992 and shares holiday wishes from Essex Food Services, the Catering Division. We especially like the use of clipart and wordart to form the design!

This card from 1947 was sent from Eynsham Hall and shows Santa with a couple of police officers.

This Christmas card from November 1995 shows a lovely watercolour of HQ. The current HQ was designed by Chelmsford architect George Clare, of Clare & Ross, who won a competition to design it. It was opened in 1903 under Chief Constable Edward Showers and provided residential accommodation for senior officers and new recruits as well as administrative offices.

Transcript for screen readers:

Christmas is coming. What, already? You haven’t had your summer holidays yet, we know. But we have to look ahead and what are looking for now is ideas for the Force Christmas card.

And we are throwing the ball to you, dear readers. Here are two suggestions, one of Father Christmas being stopped and checked, the other of the poor old fellow being told where to go - he got lost presumably. A third suggestion is a picture of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother with one our police horses. This picture is not available at present.

Which would you buy? We do not want to print a lot of cards which are not sold. Please fill up the coupon and send it to the Editor, The Law, HQ.

Lastly, here’s an article from ‘The Law’, the Force newspaper, announcing a vote for that year’s Christmas card. There were three options - Santa being stopped and checked, Santa being given directions and a picture of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother with one of Essex’s police horses. We’re not sure which option won, but both Santa images are delightfully festive, and even featured some snow!

Related Articles

You may find the following articles of interest

• History Notebook 53, The Borough Forces, available here

• History Notebook 54, A History of Headquarters, available here