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Seven members of the Sturges family served with the Sherwood Foresters in an unbroken line from 1863 to 1947. One of them, Colour Sergeant James Arthur Sturges, caught the eye of Mike Baker, of Belper, who has been researching the history of the Derby and Derbyshire police forces. Here he explains his interest.

1895 Peelers

James Sturges joined the Derbyshire Constabulary on the October 1, 1911, straight into the rank of police inspector after 27 years with the Sherwood Foresters. He served as a drill instructor and store keeper for 24 years.

While he was stationed at Derby, he was in charge of training all Derbyshire policemen, along with a number of officers from other police forces from as far afield as Northampton. He appears in a large number of probationer constables training course photographs.

He was also in charge of the police officers attending the Derby Assizes and appears in a few ceremonial pictures as well. He was held in such esteem that, on his retirement in January 1935, he was presented with a silver rose bowl by the Chief Constable, Major Anley, and all the headquarters staff.

Before James Sturges took over, there was an earlier drill instructor, or sergeant major as they were referred to in the Derbyshire Police. He was Sergeant, and later Inspector, Charles Cockerton. He was appointed to this post in about 1873 after leaving the military and served until about 1900.

One of his first tasks was to travel around the county, spending three days at each district headquarters, teaching drill to the superintendents.

He was later also responsible for instructing the whole force in the use of cutlasses (short swords), which were issued occasionally to police officers when they were expected to deal with very violent disputes.

One such occasion happened at Blackwell, near Alfreton, in 1876 when five officers were sent to police a mining dispute. They were instructed not to wear their cutlasses until ordered. I have not yet established if the dispute escalated to the stage where the officers were required to wear them.

All cutlasses were eventually withdrawn from police stations in 1918, although two were allowed to be kept at each of the six divisional headquarters for display purposes.

The photograph (right) is not related to these two men but was taken during Charles Cockerton's time in service. It shows some Victorian Derby Borough policemen behind a house owned by Dr Hough in Full Street, Derby, and was taken in 1895. An article in an old Derby newspaper has helped me to identify the officers, who are listed above.

I also have a copy of a picture of the whole force in about 1867, when they wore caps.

Apart from WW Winter's photo of two peelers on their beat in Iron Gate, Derby, I have yet to see any other picture of a Derby or Chesterfield Borough or Derbyshire policeman wearing the old top hat. Can anyone help me, please?

I would be grateful for any further information readers might have to help me with my research. I am particularly interested in the smaller police forces of Chesterfield and Glossop which merged with Derbyshire County Constabulary in 1947.

In 2004, the Derbyshire Police Collection of archive material was given to Derbyshire County Council and is currently held at Buxton Museum and Art Gallery.

It includes police uniforms, documents, equipment, old photographs, as well as crime related materials such as drug paraphernalia, counterfeit money and offensive weapons. The collection is regularly toured round the county.

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