Further Information About This Index
Note 1: Coverage
Please note that this index covers the main County force only. As already mentioned, a number of boroughs within the county maintained their own independent police forces, and officers from those forces are not included here. Boroughs with their own forces were:
- Borough (last County Borough) of Hanley, 1870-1910
- City of Lichfield, 1825 - 1844, c1860-1889
- Borough of Newcastle under Lyme, 1834-1947
- Borough of Stafford, 1840-1958
- County Borough (later City) of Stoke on Trent, 1910-1968
- Borough of Tamworth, 1840-1857
- Borough (later County Borough) of Walsall, 1832-1966
- Borough (later County Borough) of Wolverhampton, 1837-1966
Note 2: Reappointment of Officers
In some cases officers left the force and were later re-appointed, again with a new number. It is quite common for some men to have three appearances in the first register, either when the register starts again, or through re-appointments or through promotions to other ranks. An attempt has been made to check whether multiple entries relate to the same person or to different men of the same name. However, it has not always been possible to do this where details are not recorded in full. Where this has been possible to ascertain just one entry appears in this online index.
Where the first register duplicates itself after 1857, or a re-appointment is made, occasionally the date of appointment given varies slightly by a month or two. This seems particularly common for the earliest appointments between December 1842 and January 1843, where the exact date had not been checked. Some of the details, particularly about departure from the Force, are also clearly incorrect, where there may have been confusion over two men of the same name, or a re-admission of the same man whose details were not checked. Some register entries have annotations to this effect, which will be included in your transcript.
The second register is arranged in a single list by date of appointment, regardless of rank. Re-appointments are noted usually against the original entry and also, from the 1890s, by an unnumbered insertion at the later date. Some re-appointments are from dates before the start of the second register, while others are for years after the end of the register.
Where the same person appears more than once, the name is written only once. If the name appears twice, it should indicate two separate people.
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