Hong Kong Police Recruitment in the 19th. century

Recruitment campaigns for the Hong Kong Police were held in the UK throughout the 19^th. century.  Volunteers came from English Borough & City Constabularies, Scottish Constabularies, the Royal Irish Constabulary and London’s Metropolitan Police. 

For details of a recruit from the Metropolitan Police then you are likely to be in luck as many records have survived – although not in the form of individual service records.  Records are held in the MEPO class at The National Archives.  But the researcher must be prepared to spend many, many hours trawling through old registers in order to pick up the scantiest of details on joining and postings.

For details of recruits from the City of London Police a trip to London’s Metropolitan Archives will be in order.  Records are held in the CLA/048 series.

For details of a recruit from the Royal Irish Constabulary then again you are likely to be in luck due to Jim Herlihy who has spent many, many years indexing surviving records.  A copy of his index can be found at The National Archives – or perhaps might be able to consult his book in some other archive or library:

Jim Herlihy, The Royal Irish Constabulary: A Complete Alphabetical List of Officers and Men, 1816-1922 (Four Courts Press Ltd, 1999)

The records themselves are held at The National Archives in the HO 184 series.

Now to the crunch.  If the recruit you are looking for came from one of the English or Scottish Borough Constabularies then you may be disappointed.  Survival of records is sketchy to say the least.  First, research will need to be conducted to see which of the modern day constabularies covers the area you are interested in.  If the modern day constabulary has a Police Museum then they may well have taken over the old service registers.  If there is no museum then the County Record Office covering the appropriate area should be tried.  Do not get your hopes up as few service records have actually survived.

Police Pioneers

Wotton-under-Edge

From Bristol Constable to Hong Kong Sergeant 

to Innkeeper in Wotton-under-Edge.  

For the story of HK Police Sgt. 91 Daniel Hall (1853 – 1913) 

please refer to my 

Hong Kong Police Ancestors Blog

Hong Kong Police History

For the story of Job Witchell, a Gloucestershire lad who served with the Hong Kong Police in the 19^th. century please follow this link:

From Bristol Bobby to Hong Kong Copper

If your ancestors were British Expatriates serving in HK

in the 19th. century and you would like help with your research

then please:

Contact Me

Army Chaplain’s Returns of Death Hong Kong 1860 - 1867

 

Whilst working in Hong Kong I would return to the UK every two and a half years on a long vacation leave.  By “long” I mean anything from three to five months.  On one of these long leaves in the 1980s I spent most of my holiday in the Search Room of the General Register Office at St. Catherine’s House in Kingsway, London.  How I loved those rows and rows of heavy tomes containing the vital records of England, Wales and British Overseas.

The task I had set myself during that particular leave was to extract all HONG KONG DEATHS from various Army Indexes.  However, with the tiny typeset in the huge heavy tomes that was no easy job, especially, as the work had to be performed standing up.  

I became such a permanent fixture that on many occasions I was mistaken for a member of staff.  My time was spent compiling handwritten lists of the relevant HK entries  and then, when I returned to Hong Kong, I spent months collating the information with that already in my HONG KONG BURIAL INDEX.   This was many years before the advent of home computers so The Index was formed of paper slips – thousands of them all filed away in alphabetical order in a lovely rosewood cabinet. (For the story of my project transcribing the headstone inscriptions from the Colonial Cemetery please follow this link).

Indexing the Inscription 1986 - 1995

When I retired in the 21^st. century I was faced with the never ending task of converting my dear old paper index to a computer database – another huge undertaking.  Now that we have reached 2015 it strikes me that some of the work which I undertook all those years ago might be of use to amateur genealogists searching for means of finding information on family members who spent time in Hong Kong in the 19^th. century.  Obtaining Hong Kong death certificates is difficult to say the least and prior to the mid 1890s is virtually impossible.  However, all is not lost if the individual was a soldier (or was the wife or child of a soldier) as a certificate can be provided by the UK General Register Office.  The following is the first of my lists for British Army Deaths in Hong Kong and covers the period 1860 – 1867.

Before ordering a death certificate from the General Register Office it will first be necessary to obtain the FULL index reference.  The days of perusing those lovely huge volumes of indexes at Somerset House, St. Catherine’s House or The Family Records Centre is now long gone but FREE ACCESS  to GRO indexes is available at  the following Libraries & Archives (but it is always worth telephoning first to check that they still have what you require!):

Library of Birmingham

Bridgend Reference & Information Library

City of Westminster Archives Centre

Manchester Central Library

Newcastle City Library

Plymouth Central Library

The British Library

If you are able to access a Family History Library/Search Room (Church of Latter Day Saints) then the following microfiche relates to Army Chaplains Death Indexes 1796-1880):   6137109

Several subscription/pay as you go websites also have these indexes.

On the list which follows I have included a note showing where further information is available from myself for burial and/or headstone details. 

(Contact Me) 

Whilst in Hong Kong 1975 – 1995 and on my trips back to Hong Kong since 2009 I have photographed all surviving memorials so burial details may well come complete with a photograph.  Even those where an inscription is not available may come with a photograph – but you would need to know the whole history of the cemetery to work that one out!  Do not fear I would explain all.

British Army Deaths in Hong Kong 1860 - 1867

Name	Headstone/Burial	Comment
T. ANDREWS	Burial details available
J. ARMSTRONG	Burial details available
Joseph ATKINS	Burial details available
James BANNISTER	Burial details available
James BARNABY	Inscription & burial available
James BARNABY	Inscription & burial available
Thomas Henry BEARDSMORE	Burial details available
F. BROTHERS	Inscription & burial available
Annie Louisa BROWN	Inscription & burial available
Robert CASSON	Burial details available
Ann Elizabeth CASTLETON	Burial details available
Samuel CHAMBERLAIN	Burial details available
William CHAPMAN	Burial details available
George Willis CHOAKE	Inscription & burial available
Henry CHOAKES	Burial details available
Ellen CLARKE	Burial details available
Georgina CLARKE	Burial details available
Jane E CLARKE	Burial details available
Henry CLAYTON	Burial details available
Richard CLEMSON	Burial details available
Richard CLUNSON	Burial details available
W. COCKING	Burial details available
John COLTMAN	Inscription & burial available
Harry COOPER	Inscription & burial available
John COOSS	Burial details available	May refer to Jonathan CROSS
Charles COX	Burial details available
George DADY	Inscription & burial available
C.H. DAVEY	Inscription & burial available
John DOCKSON	Inscription & burial available
Elizabeth DORKIN	Burial details available
Charlotte FIELDING	Inscription & burial available
William FORD	Burial details available
Elsworth FURSDON	Inscription & burial available
Geo. GANNAVIN	Burial details available	May refer to George GANNAWAY
Louisa GODBY	Burial details available
John William GOLDING	Burial details available
Morres GUARD	Inscription & burial available
George HAIGH	Inscription & burial available
Charles HALSEY	Inscription & burial available
Frances HALSEY	Inscription & burial available
R. HARKER	Inscription & burial available
Emily Jane H ENDERSON		Headstone and burial details are in the name of Emily Jane ANDERSON
Henry HENIDGE	Inscription & burial available	May refer to Henry HERRIDGE
William John HEWOON	Burial details available	May refer to William John HEWSON or William John HEMSON
George HOPKI NS	Burial details available
J. HOPKI NSON	Inscription & burial available
Harriet Susannah HOWARTH	Burial details available
George Edwin HUME	Burial details available
Charles HUSSELBY	Burial details available
Samuel JEPHSON	Inscription & burial available
Bernard JOHNSTON	Burial details available
John JONES	Inscription & burial available
John JONES	Burial details available
Henry William KELLY	Burial details available
John KENT	Inscription & burial available
M. KINSLEY	Inscription & burial available
William LANE	Inscription & burial available
John LEATHERLAND	Burial details available
Amelia LYONS	Burial details available
Isabella LYONS	Burial details available
Alexander MacINTYRE	Inscription & burial available
George MALE	Burial details available
Benj. MANN	Burial details available
N. MARLBOROUGH	Inscription & burial available
John MCADAMS	Burial details available
Charles MCARCKLE		Alternative spelling for MEARCKLE
William McCONNOR	Burial details available
Charles MEARCKLE	Burial details available	Alternative spelling for McARCKLE – 1861 Army Index shows name as Charles MAERCKE
Henry MILTON
Thos. MITCHELL	Burial details available
John NIXON	Burial details available
James NORTHLOCK
William NORTON	Burial details available	Possibly William MORTON - father and son who died one week apart
William NORTON	Burial details available	Possibly William MORTON - father and son who died one week apart
Frederick OAKES	Inscription & burial available
Alfred Edward PARKINS	Burial details available
John PIERSE	Burial details available
Joseph POOLE	Inscription & burial available
Joseph PRINCE	Burial details available
Elizabeth RALPH	Burial details available
W. RALPH	Burial details available
James RILEY	Inscription & burial available
Robert SAGGERS	Burial details available
John SMALLDON	Burial details available
Isabella SMITH	Burial details available
James SMITH	Burial details available
Peter SMITH	Burial details available
William STANLEY	Burial details available
Robert STEPHENS	Burial details available
James C. TAYLOR	Inscription & burial available
Louisa Mary TAYLOR	Burial details available
Thomas WALKER	Inscription & burial available
Joseph WALL	Inscription & burial available
Robert WHEATLEY	Inscription & burial available
Louise Agnes WHILEY	Burial details available	Possibly an alternative spelling for Louisa Agnes WHITE
Charles WHITE	Burial details available
Louisa Agnes WHITE		Possibly an alternative spelling for Louise Agnes WHILEY
Harry WIGLEY	Burial details available
William WIGLEY	Burial details available
Francis William A WILLIAMS	Burial details available
John WILLSON
Benjamin WILSON	Burial details available
Henry WILTON
John WRIGHT	Burial details available

I will post more lists in due course