STOP PRESS

After this issue of the PMCC Magzine was finalised, Buckingham Palace announced that  King Charles has secected the official cypher to be used for his reign.

The final design was chosen from a number of designs submitted by the College of Heralds with the letter C for Charles, R for Rex (Latin for King) and three roman 1's, surmounted by a Tudor crown.

The Palace has said that where changes can be made easily, through things like digital branding, then the change can happen straight away.

Physical items will be changed over time and as the need arises.

In a break with past Monarchs who have only had a single Cypher, there will also be a different Cypher which uses the Scottish Crown, for use by organisations in Scotland.

Tales of the Cape Mounted Police

Charles Amos Boucher
A family history study

By Steve Sergent

Queens South Africa Medal Bars Cape Colony & Orange Free State
Kings South Africa Medal Bars South Africa 1901 & South Africa 1902
South African Police Faithful Service Medal (Dutch Wording)

Background

Research for this Police medal group used the British 1820 Settlers to South Africa site, the Family Search site and the excellent documents provided by archivists Dewald Nel and Adrian Ellard. The latter proved that on both former sites incorrect data was recorded for births which altered my whole perspective of his life.

Charles Amos Boucher

Service Career
Cape Police/Cape Mounted Police  -  21st November 1900 to 31st March 1913
South African Police  -  1st April 1913 to 31st March 1925

Charles Amos Boucher was born in Winterberg Cape Colony on the 27th of August 1876. The British 1820 Settlers to South Africa site have his place of birth as Fort Beaufort but as the two are only about 40 km’s apart it is likely he was born on his grandfather’s farm Rautenbach’s Rest in the Winterberg area which was in the Fort Beaufort Magisterial District. 

In January 1859 his father James Boucher had emigrated to South Africa with his own father Charles Boucher born on the 5th of September 1849 in West Berkshire England and his mother Mary Ann Boucher (Nee Chivers). They later owned a farm in the Winterberg district called Rautenbach’s Rest where I suspect Charles was born. Charles’ father married Mary Ann Eastland born in 1848 in Alexandria in the Eastern Cape on the 4th of November 1875 in St. Johns Chapel Winterberg.

Charles was the first of 7 children, 3 boys and 4 girls none of the girls surviving to adulthood. His mother died in 1889 and his father remarried sometime in 1890 giving the three brothers 2 stepsisters and two stepbrothers none of whom appear to have survived infancy.

On 21st November 1900, aged 24 years and 6 months Charles Boucher joined the Cape Police District 1 in Queenstown as a Private with force number 2096. He never used his second name Amos in his police career. He was single 6’1” tall with grey eyes, brown hair and a fresh complexion. He was paid 6/6d per day and his original posting was Bridge Camp Queenstown.

On 1st September 1901 he was promoted to Lance Corporal earning 7/6d per day. This was withdrawn on the 18th of January 1903 when he reverted to a private on 7/- a day. His only disciplinary brush was on 21st December 1900 when he was charged with “haranguing”. The charges were dismissed on 30th December 1900, so it is likely that this demotion was due to costs savings following the Anglo Boer war rather than a result of this infraction.

He served in the Cape Colony and the Orange Free State during the Anglo Boer War being awarded a 2 bar QSA for these two colonies and a 2 bar KSA medal both named to 2096 Private C Boucher. His medal entitlement for both the Queens South Africa Medal and the Kings South Africa Medal are confirmed on the appropriate service medal rolls.

After the Boer War it appears his posting at some stage must have been Cradock as he appears on the nominal roll compiled in 1905 with his Cape Mounted Police force number 420.

Aged 27 he married Annie Johanna Petronella Avenant, a 23 year old spinster from Laingsburg at Worcester Magistrates Court Cape Province on the 17th of September 1903. He is said to be a bachelor and his occupation is given as a Cape Policeman with his residence as Cradock.

In April 1904 as part of cost cutting measures following the Anglo Boer War, the Cape Police which had consisted of three districts and the Cape Rural Police were merged into a single force known as the Cape Mounted Police under the command of Colonel Macleod Robinson. The force mainly consisted of mounted police of which Trooper Charles Boucher was one now with force number 420 appearing on the Craddock District nominal roll dated 31st May 1905.

According to both Family Search and the 1820 Settlers site, Charles Amos Boucher apparently fathered two bastard children with Annie Avenant; Charles Peter Boucher in Queenstown in 1900 a precise date of birth is not noted and Annie Magdalena Boucher in 1902, also in Queenstown. Again, a precise date of birth is not noted. To have not one but two children out of wedlock one probably before joining and one whilst a policeman in those times was unheard of and would have resulted in dismissal. I now believe this information is incorrect. When I initially started researching this group, and without the nominal roll entry supplied sometime later showing dates of birth, I wondered how he had gotten away with this assuming incorrectly that he had hidden his fatherhood by not using his second name Amos.

The SAP nominal roll compiled in 1913 revealed all. His children appear correctly as twins born on the 15th of September 1909 to his first wife Annie and a third child born to his second wife Aletta on 12th June 1912. His by now second wife is stated as ‘living with her husband’, but her name is a question mark. This could be because he recorded her name as Lettie rather than her given name Aletta, which was on their marriage certificate, or that a different mothers name to his current wife was shown on the twins’ birth certificates. As seen below, the twins’ date of birth is also the date of his first wife Annie’s death as she died in labour with them. No mention is made of his numerous stepchildren mentioned later in the article.

The South African Police Nominal Roll entry and service card for Charles Boucher mentions 3 children and his wife’s name Lettie as next of kin on the latter.

Putting aside the alleged birth dates on the 1820 settlers’ and the Family Search site, which as mentioned I believe are incorrect, his first child James George Boucher was born on 13th October 1904 in Queenstown passing away on 19th February 1905 in Craddock. His death notice is signed by his father as informant and his occupation is given as Cape Police.

His second child, for which I have found records from his first marriage, is Angelina Elizabeth Boucher born on 22nd March 1906. She passed away from Bronchopneumonia at Cradock on 16th May 1908. Once again, her death notice is signed by her father as informant and his occupation is given as Cape Mounted Police.

As was common at the time, men were often moved around between stations and it appears that Trooper Boucher was transferred back to Queenstown where there would be a greater need for Mounted Police, this area being adjacent to the Tembuland tribal lands.

His wife Annie passed away on 15th May 1909 in Queenstown from birth complications of the two twins and once again the sad duty of reporting her death fell to Boucher and he gave their address as Bridge Camp Board Hut 9 Queenstown.

It is interesting to note that Boucher stated her cause of death to be heart disease  but this is struck out and the cause of death is given as Syncope a medical term used to describe loss of consciousness and Accouchement a rather arcane term for giving birth. As Annie died in hospital during the twins birth it is probable that the attending doctor made the alterations.

He remained in Queenstown area where aged 34 he married Aletta Frederica Van Heerden (nee Marais) a widow aged 39 by special licence V22416 at Cofimvaba on 12th January 1911. His address is given as Bridge Camp District Queenstown and his occupation a Cape Mounted Policeman. His new bride lived in Bridge Farm District Queenstown. Quite why they chose this town for their wedding is anyone’s guess but bearing in mind that Cofimvaba was the magisterial seat for the tribal area of Tembuland it is possible that Boucher worked there.

Interestingly his own death notice above is a little more revealing as it shows he inherited an instant family of 7 children all of whom reached adulthood.

Charles must have either loved children or his wife must have been an extremely alluring woman as to take on a family that size on a policeman’s salary in 1911 was no mean feat! On top of that the couple had a daughter of their own being Gertrude Eastlynn Boucher born on 6th December 1912 who also reached adulthood. There are several possible reasons why his stepchildren are not mentioned on his SAP records the most probable was that as none were born to him, or he had no reason to advise Head Quarters of them, on a need-to-know basis!

In 1910 the Union of South Africa was formed and one of the first items on the new Governments agenda was the formation of a unified Union wide police force.

The events surrounding the creation of National Police in two parts; the South African Police and the South African Mounted Rifles in 1913 are covered in my previous articles on policing in South Africa.

His SA Police record card on him being transferred to the SAP shows his force number was changed to 1423.

Alongside is the Insignia worn at the time of the formation of the South African Police in 1913.

1.    the cap and slouch hat badge,
2.    the bi-lingual shoulder titles Zuid Afrikaanse Politie worn on the left shoulder strap and South African Police on the right shoulder.
3.    The buttons are for the great coat, tunic front and tunic shoulder straps.

Being mounted, Constable Boucher would not have been issued with a blue “Bobby Style” helmet but would have worn a standard Khaki pith helmet with the plate at 4.

There is a faint rank (M) Constable on his service card and there are no further annotations of rank changes or medal awards on the service card. In the language of the day, he is noted as being able to speak Dutch and “Kaffir” this being the Bantu language Xhosa as recorded on this Cape Police records. As an aside, (M) or mounted denotes an English speaking mounted policeman (B) or berede denotes a Dutch speaking mounted policeman.

There is a note on his service card of a posting to Maclear in the Eastern Cape dated the 21st August 1914. This is confirmed in a force order of that date showing 1423 Const. C Boucher being sent to the 1st SA Mounted Rifles, presumably to replace a SAMR man called to active war service. In 1913, policing in South Africa, as mentioned in my previous articles, was divided into two parts; rural and tribal areas policed by the SA Mounted Rifles a quasi-military unit and urban areas policed by the SAP. In times of war the SAMR had a full military role and their policing duties taken over by the SAP seconded into the tribal areas.

On the 5th June 1915 Const. Boucher is noted as being the Post Commander at Maclear and his per diem rate was increased to 6d probably a very welcome rise!

That however did not last long as his post commander allowance was withdrawn from the 13th of June 1915 when he was struck off charge of the SAMR and reposted back to Queenstown.

This would be about the time that the operations to suppress the 1914/15 rebellion were being wound down, the GSA campaign was all but over and no doubt the SAMR man was returning to Maclear.
  
The next annotation on his record card is on 14th June 1915 showing his return to Queenstown District 20. This accords with the date on the force order terminating his 6d per day post commander allowance.

Still at Queenstown, he was granted fully paid sick leave from the 19th April to 28th May 1918 and again from the 23rd June 1918 to 5th July 1918, but none of this is on his record card. Under Force order 19 of 1920 Constable Boucher was granted war service vacation leave of 120 days again not mentioned on his service record card.

It seems that Constable Boucher was able to turn his hand to cooking as under Force order 11 of 1922 he is granted 1/- per day extra as a cook at Queenstown from 10th January 1922 to 31st March 1922 this was probably a temporary arrangement.

On the 8th of June 1923 the minister of police approved the award of the 18 year Faithful Service Medal to 1423(M) 1st Class Constable C Boucher.

On the 31st of March 1925 1423(M) 1st Class Constable C Boucher retired on Superannuation pension.

Translated the Force Orders for June 1925 reads
    9. Discharge
Number    Rank        Name        Division    Date        Reason

1423        1/Const.    Boucher C.    E Cape        31/3/25    Pension

Documents from Adrian Ellard show that he was paid a retiring gratuity of £558.0.0 under Section 18 of Cape Ordinance 12 of 1881 as he originally joined the Cape Police.
It would appear that he used this to turn his hand to farming but life was not kind as 9 years later, his wife died of Pancreatic Cancer at the age of 63 years on the 21st of June 1934.

It seems the death hit Charles rather hard as he only reported it on 2nd July 1934 giving his address Bridge Farm Queenstown.

He remained at Bridge Farm until his death on 22nd December 1941, his death being reported by the husband of one of his step children who it appears were with him when he passed on. Clearly his stepchildren were part of his life over the years.

A very interesting man not only for his police service but the ups and downs and fragility of life in turn of the century South Africa as well as the lesson don’t make assumptions on why facts don’t fit the narrative when doing genealogy research!

Reference Documents:

QSA Medal Roll Cape Police District 1
KSA Medal roll Cape Police District 1
SAP Service Record 1423 Const. C Boucher
SAP Force orders 1914 – 1925
All via Professional Archive Researcher Dewald Nel

Cape Police Records
SAP Nominal Roll entries
Via Professional Archive Researcher Adrian Ellard

Marriage Certificate Charles Amos Boucher & Annie Johanna Avenant 17/09/1903
Death Notice James George Boucher 20/02/1905
Death Notice Angeline Elizabeth Boucher 16/05/1908
Death Notice Annie Johanna Boucher 15/05/1909
Marriage Certificate Charles Amos Boucher & Aletta Frederica van Heerden 12/01/1911
Death Notice Alleta Frederica Boucher 21/06/1934
Death Notice Charles Amos Boucher22/12/1941
All via Family search.org

Why do helmets epitomise
British policing?

City of Worcester policeman riding an LE Velocette beat motorcycle

Some background reading

The history of police uniforms is very much tied up with military uniforms.

When the Metropolitan Police and the first city and borough forces came into being in the 1830's and 1840's, it was at aa very sensitive time in English history.

Local Military Regiments had been called out of their barracks to quell riots around the country and there had been fatalities (Peterloo 1819).  There was a positive effort made to distinguish the "new police" from the military, by adopting a civil standard of dress with in day time a stove pipe hat, blue tailed jacket with silver buttons and white duck trousers.

City of Kingston upon Hull policeman c.1850 on Corporation Pier in Hull

By the 1860's when a police force had been established in every English, Scottish and Welsh county and in large numbers of cities and boroughs, there was a degree of uniformity of dress, driven by the HMI's but also because most Chief Constables were former Military Officers.

When the New Police looked like the public and vice versa, there could be difficulty in recognising a Constable when you needed one.

By the time of the Police Act of 1856 and a similar piece of legislation for Scotland, forces were still wearing top hats top hats and swallow tail coats, but white trousers had gone. 

Uniform clothing was part of the inspection regime by the HMI's.  They were not afraid to criticise police forces they visited.  This is the report of the first inspection of the Beverley Borough Police in 1857.

The second item reported on is uniform and the Inspector's last line says it all, "When inspected on the 21st of April, the coats in possession of the men were in the last stage of decay".

Slowly there was a change to a helmet of a style which looked similar to those being worn by the British Militia and tunics which differentiated Constables from the frock coats in general public use. However this was not universal and it took time.

The Southend and Westcliff Graphic of 16th August 1912 (British Newspaper Archive)  records the death of  retired Essex PC William Davidson.  He joined the Essex Constabulary in 1872 as it states he was the last PC to wear a top had before helmets came in.  Rarely do we have a precise date.

The history of the changes in public clothing style is a field of academic study in its own right, from the formal male attire of the mid 19th century, through the Victorian age, into the Edwardian age, World War 1, the 1920's and the great depression.

The change in ladies hem lines' in those seventy odd years is incredible.  Yet the police uniforms of the same era varied very little.

Photographs of 1880's officers to 1920's officer are so similar as to make exact aging difficult.

There is a long tradition of military portraiture which long pre-dates photography.  Portraits were in colour, but even when the first photographs were developed, they were always black and white.  It would be after World War II that colour photography began to be generally accessible.

So whilst there are many contemporary colour images of the British Militia regiments, almost none exist of Constables. 

We have to look at caricatures and wood cuts from the likes of the Illustrated London news to have an idea of what mid 19th century constables look like.

As photography became more widely available, so studios appeared in most towns.  It is these early studio photograpgs, which helpfully have the name and location of the photographer, to help educate us in what police uniforms were like.

From the establishment of the Inspectorate of Constabulary, following the 1856 Act, the Inspectors, all retired Army officers, reported on the suitabilty of Constables uniforms, often in great detail.  This tells us a lot, but it is the photographs which help no end.

The headline photograph this month shows a group of York City Police and is from the exploreyork.co.uk archive.

I suggest the date is the 1860's because the York officers have no helmet badges, but I can identify two North Riding Constabulary officers, one from the West Riding and one East Riding (on the left of the photograph), because of their uniforms.

Military records, including the "Order of Dress" still exist so it is easy to determine exactly what any particular regiment wore and when.  The military have been much better at recording their history, usually with precise dates, than the police have ever been.

From these documents and large numbers of actual uniforms, at the time that the UK police began to adopt helmets, often said to be an army pattern, the only military wearing the pattern the police adopted were in the colonies and dominions and they were white helmets not black or blue.

You have to ask whether this was deliberate, as happened in the 1830's, to make the "new police" look different to UK based soldiers (and the public).

Soldiers in the main wore crimson uniforms, although the Irish regiments wore green, as did the Constabulary of Ireland (Queen Victoria granted them the title Royal Irish Constabulary in 1867).

Colonel Robert Bruce, appointed Chief Constable of the Lancashire Consabulary in 1868, so liked the "rifle green" of his former regiment, that for his time in charge, Lancashire wore rifle green uniforms.

The Constabulary of Ireland at the time wore Shako's as head dress, as did most of European soldiers, in one form or another.

Kepi's were popular across Europe too, but it was the white pith helmet which was used in warm countries, which was adopted as the early police helmets.

This blue helmet was issued to PC 56 David Wilkinson when he joined the East Riding Constabulary on 2nd August 1880.  We don't know when they were first issued, but by 1880 this was the helmet pattern in use.  Other than the colour and the tiny East Riding Eagle badge, it is almost identical to the military tropical helmet, but nothing like any home based regiment was wearing.

A number of forces chose a helmet with a three sided comb, but this style of helmet had been made in brass by the Merryweather company of London, for police and municipal fire brigades for 20 years before police adopted them more generally.  They appear to be a copy of the military dragoon helmet.

As photography became popular we see a number of groups of policemen, wearing helmets without badges, but the helmet pattern whether with a comb, a ball, spike or acorn finial, or a plain top was nothing like the headdress being worn by local militia.

By the 1890's helmet plates were being worn, identifying the force.  Mainly they used what we now call the Victorian Crown.

This seems to be the Imperial State Crown, before its four arches were modified, making them more rounded
However this was not the only crown to be used on police badges, whether they be helmet, cap/kepi or collar devices.

Many Inspectors and superintendents wore pill box style caps with no badge, or an embroidered bullion wire emblem.  Chief Constables are routinely photographed wearing ornate helmets with chains.

This patchwork of different styles of uniform, different helmets and different shapes of insignia would continue until the 1934 Home Office report into standardisation of police uniforms was implemented in the run up to World War II.

The association of the Crown with policing

In the name of the crown

The Imperial State Crown in all its splendor with the Orb and Sceptre

Some but by no means all uniformed services in the UK have worn badges surmounted by a crown.

In the shorthand of collectors and auction houses, they are often described as QVC, KC or QC, no matter what service or what country they come from.

For the various branches of the Military, the association with the crown is obvious, however it is the 1829 definition of a Constable, which provides us with an idea why most, but by no means all police forces use the crown, yet no fire and rescue services and only very recently the ambulance services have begun to use the device on their badges.

A Constable is a citizen, locally appointed, but having authority under the crown for the protection of life and property, the prevention and detection of crime, and the prosecutions of offenders against the peace.

QVC stands for Queen Victoria Crown, KC Kings Crown and QC for Queens Crown.  However amongst the three terms, they are not strictly accurate. 

Badges surmounted by a QVC crown tend to have a more angular stays, which sets them apart from the Queens Crowns, correctly the Imperial State Crown.

However this is not always the case, with this Victorian Rochdale Borough Police officers helmet plate crown looking very much more like the Imperial State Crown of 2022.

One reason put forward is that it is the Imperial State Crown which was remodeled slightly during the reign of Queen Victoria.  There may also be a difference in the way the badge manufacturers depicted the crown in the 19th cntury.

No police forces exist today who existed prior to 1901 and who have the same style of badges to compare like with like.

Just to confuse things a little more, Queen Victoria is seldom portrayed wearing the Imperial State Crown or the St Edward Crown. 

It is said she found them heavy, so often used a smaller crown with an appearance of the Tudor Crown.

There are also forces which used what is called by collectors a "Fretted" or Naval Crown, although no such crown exists in the Royal collection.

We know the badges are from the Victorian era, but the actual badge has the look of a Tudor crown.

There are a number of examples of this style of crown being used.

There are then a variety of other well known types of crown design, but which have connections to the UK monarchy, that have been used as the crown surmounting British police badges.

The Guelphic Crown

This is the crown of Prince Albert's family, and was used during Victoria's reign. Queen Victoria married Prince Albert on 10th February 1840.  Officially, it is the crown of the Dukes of the House of Hanover, of which Prince Albert was a member, as were the British Royal family.

Another example of a Guelphic crown

The marquess crown used by Cardiff Borough police

    Marquess crowns of Glasgow and Oldham