Labourer to police constable?

My illegitimate 3x great grandfather, at the age of 15, appears to
have been a labourer in Devon, if I've correctly identified him on the
1841 census since he wasn't with his mother then. On the 1851 census
he's a police constable in London. By the 1861 census, he's a railway
inspector in Doncaster, a job he's still doing in 1881 albeit in
Spalding by then.

Is that a logical progression to go from labourer to police constable?

Graeme Wall...

Well it's more money and a steady as opposed to seasonal job. As a labourer
he was, no doubt, reasonably fit which would have been a requirement to join
the police. The only query in my mind would be how he got to London in the
first place. From police constable to railway Inspector is an easy
transition, the original railway signalmen were policeman, their modern
counterparts are still referred to as bobbies. He presumably worked for the
Great Northern Railway.

Charles Ellson...

LNER (London and North _Eastern_ Railway). The LNWR was one of the
railways merged into the LMS in the grouping.

Charles Ellson...

British Railways, originally under the British Transport Commission by
which some older records are identified. "British Rail" was a 1960s
trading name of BR.

Charani...

If I've got the correct Thomas, he was living with a mason and his
family, but I'm hesitant to say he was a mason's labourer.

I'm not sure how or why he made the journey either, but he is
consistent with where he was born: Mells, Somerset. Although in the
1881 it's been transcribed as Wells. I can't think of any way of
finding out when and how he travelled from the West Country to London.

Police constable to railway inspector seemed to be a perfectly logical
move to me as well, but it's nice to have it confirmed :))

The 1861 census just says railway inspector, the 1881 says it was for
the GWR which didn't make a lot of sense since the GWR was wide gauge
and I was fairly certain it didn't run all the way up to Yorkshire
anyway. Great Northern makes much more sense and I guess it would be
easy to misread an N for a W. I should have thought of the GNR,
thanks for the nudge :))

Thanks for your input, tis much appreciated :))

Phil C....

I assume joining the police force required a minimum level of
literacy(?) If so, that might have been a barrier to many.

Graeme Wall...

Quite possibly worked for a number of different people depending on their
workload.

Charani...

Good point.

Graeme Wall...

Understandable.

Graeme Wall...

By that time he could have gone by train, if he could afford the fare.

Charani...

From information I was given last night, it would appear that the
mason Thomas was living with could well be his stepfather, so he might
have saved some of the fare or been helped out by his stepfather.
Alternatively he could have worked his way to London.

Graeme Wall...

By 1861 the GWR was more that 50% standard gauge.

Graeme Wall...

Nearest would have been Birkenhead.

Charani...

GNR then, not GWR. At least I know where to look for his service
records - and hope they still exist!!

Thank you :))

CWatters...

Quite possibly. In the early days I think policemen had various duties
including things like lighting gas lamps.

Charani...

Many thanks for that. It would certainly seem not to have been such
an impossible move.

Eve McLaughlin...

Logical financially - policemen were well paid, nearly twice as much as
ag labs. But he would need to have been able to read and write (to keep
his notebook up) and also meet certain standards of height, weight etc.
Once he had been in the police (and not been slung out too fast or
infringements), then the world was his - and possibly he was a railway
policeman afterwards.

Charani...

I would like to say for definite that Thomas was an ag lab. He could
just as easily have been a mason's lab. However, it's still true that
a policeman would have been a better option than labouring.

He was in Lincolnshire in 1853 but I won't know what his occupation
there was until I get his dau's birth certificate. At some point,
I've got to try to get to the Nat Archives for his police and railway
service papers.

I guess he can't have done too badly in the police to have become a
railway inspector which is what the census says. I doubt the birth
certs for any of the children born in Doncaster would give any more
detail of his position.

Fenny...

Pa tells me that one of his grandfather's brothers was a pleeceman at
Scotland Yard. But, going through the censused, I can find a pawnbroker,
a schoolteacher, a tram conductor/civil servant and a soldier, but no
plods.

All I can think of is that the civil servant might have worked at Scotland
Yard as a civilian, as he is the only one other than the pawnbroker who
was still in London.

Grandfather deserted from the navy and couldn't get help from the Scotland
Yard brother, so went to the pawnbroker, who did take him in for a while.