History

West Devon’s popular historian, Simon Dell, talks about Okehampton’s policing history

Okehampton Police Station

Before the Devon Constabulary arrived in 1857 Constables George James and Joseph Millman served Okehampton Borough by informal arrangement from 1847-1860, although they were poorly paid and therefore also permitted to take other employment and when the chief constable of Devon, Gerald de Courcy Hamilton, announced his intention to send the Devon County Constabulary into Okehampton in 1857 the police watch committee rejected the notion. It was not until 1860 that the chief constable was able to appoint Devon constables to Okehampton, after having to seek significant legal advice from the Exeter Magistrates. The first police station in the town was situated in High Street with a lock-up nearby at West Bridge. This building was still visible until the rebuilding of the bridge in the 1870’s. The current police station is now situated in what was the town’s secondary modern school and moved here from the former red-brick police station in George Street which dated back to the early decades of the twentieth century. The museum of policing in Devon and Cornwall is also situated in the current police station. With the Devon Constabulary reorganisation of 1964, Okehampton B Division took over as Divisional Headquarters for Tavistock for a two-year period until 1966, but it was soon recognised that the influences upon Tavistock from Plymouth in the south were too great to be ignored and Tavistock again returned to Plympton, by now the headquarters for G Division. The traffic division also worked out of Okehampton because of the close proximity of the A30 and later the A30 duel carriageway. The nearby village station at Bridestowe, situated on the A30 main road running down through the heart of the West Country, was some way to the west of Okehampton. It was, however, originally within the Tavistock Division in the time of Superintendent Mitchell, and it was not until the start of the 20th century that the station transferred into the control of the sergeant at Hatherleigh, within the Okehampton Division. The Old Police Station is situated in South Street, Hatherleigh, and early station records show 2nd Class Constable 327 John Howard as being the officer stationed at this beat. He died ‘in post’ on 14th March 1879 from bronchitis, and was sorely missed due to the trouble being experienced with the navvies building the peat railway onto the moors from the village. A replacement was soon found, however. It was Bridestowe School which featured in a letter from Superintendent Mitchell in August 1885, when a pupil suffered from an ‘over-zealous’ caning by the schoolmaster. Young John Heathman of the village succumbed to his injuries, yet there seemed to be insufficient evidence to draw a warrant for the arrest of the schoolmaster involved, and no further action was taken. Perhaps those of this

century who talk of the ‘good old days’ might like to reflect on their perception of how it might actually have been. Little else of note is recorded at the station for several years, other than the theft of a bale of wool investigated by Sergeant Vanstone of Lifton in 1892 and a change of station in September of that year when Constable Andrews was removed from Bridestowe and swapped with Constable Holwill of Tavistock. Thereafter, the village soon went into the Okehampton. Suffice to say, the village boasted several police houses over the years, the last being vacated in the late 1960s. Also, during the war years, the constable for the village was Jimmy Green, who had been removed from Yelverton. A single man, he lived in lodgings, whilst his house was occupied by another officer not connected with the village beat. In the true spirit of the ‘family’ of the Devon Constabulary, one constable at the village, Constable 196 Dennis Walters, was the son of Constable Arthur Walters of Whitchurch. As already mentioned, surnames often repeated themselves through generations of proud Devon officers from ‘police families’.

Simon Dell