Cambridge City Police

Cambridge City Police was the territorial police force responsible for law enforcement in Cambridge, England, from 1836 to 1965. From its creation until April 1951 it was known as Cambridge Borough Police. ^[1] It subsequently merged with four other police forces to become what is known today as Cambridgeshire Constabulary.

History

The Cambridge Borough Police was established on 21 January 1836 to police within the boundary of the borough, an area much smaller then than it is today. At this time, the force employed just thirty police officers.

Outside the town and borough there were no other police forces in Cambridgeshire until April 1851 when the Cambridgeshire County Constabulary was established, initially employing a total of seventy officers.

In 1951 the Borough of Cambridge was granted city status by HM King George VI. The force title was changed accordingly.

On 31 March 1965, five police forces — Cambridge City Police, Isle of Ely Constabulary, Huntingdonshire Constabulary, Peterborough Combined Police and Cambridgeshire County Constabulary — were united to form the Mid-Anglia Constabulary, headquartered in Brampton. Following alterations to local government boundaries the force name was changed on 31 March 1974 to Cambridgeshire Constabulary.

Authorised establishment

The strength of the force was recorded in the annual reports of the inspectors appointed under the County and Borough Police Act 1856 from 1856 until its abolition in 1965 as follows:

• Before 1856: 23 ^[2]
• 1856-1866: 34 ^[3]
• 1866-69: 40 ^[3]
• 1869-70: 41 ^[4]
• 1870-71: 44 ^[5]
• 1871-74: 45 ^[6]
• 1874-80: 48 ^[7]
• 1880-90: 51 ^[8]
• 1890-94: 53 ^[9]
• 1894-1900: 55 ^[10]
• 1900-02: 63 ^[11]
• 1902-12: 65
• 1912-34: 87 (this large increase was due to the enlargement of the borough's boundaries) ^[12]
• 1934-35: 90 ^[13]
• 1935-37: 92 ^[14]
• 1937-39: 110 ^[15]
• 1939-48: 120 ^[16]
• 1948-49: 128 - of whom 6 were female ^[17]
• 1949-50: 129 - of whom 6 were female ^[18]
• 1950-51: 120 - of whom 6 were female ^[19]
• 1951-52: 160 - of whom 6 were female ^[20]
• 1952-61: 161 - of whom 6 were female ^[21]
• 1961-63: 162 - of whom 6 were female ^[22]
• 1963-65: 201 - of whom 8 were female ^[23]

Chief Constables

• 1836-42 John Titterton (Superintendent) ^[24]
• 1842-46 Captain Charles Courant Bailey ^{[25] [26]}
• 1858-89: William Garnham Turrall ^[27]
• 1889-94: Charles Edward Septimus Innes ^[28]
• 1894-1918: Charles Edward Holland ^[28]
• 1919-44: Robert John Pearson OBE ^{[29] [30]}
• 1944-63: Bernard Nicholas Bebbington OBE - appointed Her Majesty's Inspector of Constabulary 1963. ^[31]
• 1963-5: Frederick Drayton Porter - also appointed Chief Constable of Cambridgeshire County Constabulary. ^{[32] [33] [34]} Became Chief Constable of Mid Anglia Constabulary

See also

• Policing in the United Kingdom
• Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue Service
• East of England Ambulance Service

References

1. "Cambridgeshire Constabulary History". Archived from the original on 3 November 2016. Retrieved 5 June 2016.
2. Reports of HM Inspectors of Constabulary 1857, p.13.
3. Reports of HM Inspectors of Constabulary 1866, p.15.
4. Reports of HM Inspectors of Constabulary 1869, p.121.
5. Reports of HM Inspectors of Constabulary 1870, p.13.
6. Reports of HM Inspectors of Constabulary 1871, p.15.
7. Reports of HM Inspectors of Constabulary 1874, p.18.
8. Reports of HM Inspectors of Constabulary 1879, p.22.
9. Reports of HM Inspectors of Constabulary 1890, p.18.
10. Reports of HM Inspectors of Constabulary 1894, p.55.
11. Reports of HM Inspectors of Constabulary 1900, p.15.
12. Reports of HM Inspectors of Constabulary 1912, p.66.
13. Reports of HM Inspectors of Constabulary 1934, pp.18-19.
14. Reports of HM Inspectors of Constabulary 1935, pp.10-11.
15. Reports of HM Inspectors of Constabulary 1937, pp.20-21.
16. Reports of HM Inspectors of Constabulary 1937, pp.234-35.
17. Reports of HM Inspectors of Constabulary 1948, pp.22-3.
18. Reports of HM Inspectors of Constabulary 1949, pp.26-7.
19. Reports of HM Inspectors of Constabulary 1950, pp.24-5.
20. Reports of HM Inspectors of Constabulary 1951, pp.26-7.
21. Reports of HM Inspectors of Constabulary 1952, pp.20-1.
22. Reports of HM Inspectors of Constabulary 1961, pp.208-9.
23. Reports of HM Inspectors of Constabulary 1963, pp.74-5.
24. "The Cambridge Police". Cambridge Independent Press. 27 August 1842. p. 3.
25. A General Police and Constabulary List and Analysis of Criminal and Police Statistics for the Quarter Ending September 1844. Police History Society. 1991. p. 57.
26. "Watch Committee". Cambridge Chronicle and Journal. 27 June 1846. p. 2.
27. "Police Notes". Police Chronicle. 9 January 1892. p. 1.
28. "Cambridge City (Borough) Police". British Police History. Retrieved 27 May 2025.
29. "From Private Constable to Chief. Robert John Pearson appointed Chief Constable of Cambridge Borough Police". Dundee Evening Telegraph. 20 October 1919. p. 6.
30. "Mr R J Pearson. Retirement of Chief Constable of Cambridge". Chester Chronicle. 4 March 1944. p. 2.
31. "Obituary: Mr Bernard Bebbington". The Times . 10 April 1980. p. 17.
32. "Appointment". Torbay Express. 2 October 1963. p. 6.
33. "Police Chief Appointment". Cambridge Independent Press. 4 October 1963. p. 8.
34. Lindsay Malcolm (2007). "Cambridge Borough/City Police in the Post War Years". Journal of the Police History Society (22): 10–12.