Memorial details

Memorial type
Board / Plaque / Tablet
District
Kingston Upon Hull
Town
Kingston Upon Hull
County
Humberside
Country
England
Commemoration
First World War (1914-1918)
Ceremony
  • Unveiled
    Date: 21 January 1923
    Attended by: General Sir Ivor Maxse G.O.C. Northern Command, performed the unveiling
  • Dedicated
    Date: 21 January 1923
    Attended by: Canon George Buchanon (deputising for the Bishop of Hull), performed the dedication
  • Show More (1)
Lost
Not lost
WM Reference
35544

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Current location

Not in an area accessible to the public.
Humberside Police; Hull Police Station
Priory Road
Kingston Upon Hull
Kingston Upon Hull
Humberside
HU5 5SF
England

OS Grid Ref: TA 05438 31265
Denomination: Undefined

View location on Google Maps
Previous locations
  • Kingston upon Hull City Police HQ
    Queen's Street
    Kingston Upon Hull
    Kingston Upon Hull
    Humberside
    HU1 1XA
    England

    OS Grid Ref: TA 10014 28251
    Denomination: Undefined
  • Kingston upon Hull City Police HQ (The Guildhall)
    Alfred Gelder Street
    Hull
    Kingston Upon Hull
    Humberside
    HU1 2AA
    England

    OS Grid Ref: TA 09963 28837
    Denomination: Undefined
  • Show More (1)
Description
Rectangular brass plaque with stepped top and an incised border of laurel leaves. The Kingston upon Hull City Police crest is at top-centre, enclosed within a laurel wreath. Beneath, the incised inscription is in black lettering. (The plaque now sits within a wooden frame alongside the Kingston upon Hull City Police WW2 memorial, our record of which can be viewed at https://www.iwm.org.uk/memorials/item/memorial/35545 ).
Inscription
IN MEMORIAM/ THIS TABLET WAS ERECTED BY/ THE SERVING MEMBERS OF THE/ HULL CITY POLICE FORCE,/ IN MEMORY OF THE FOLLOWING MEN WHO GAVE/ THEIR LIVES IN THE GREAT WAR 1914-1918/ KILLED IN ACTION/ (Names)/ DIED AS A RESULT OF WAR SERVICE/ (Names)/ "GREATER LOVE HATH NO MAN/ THAN THIS, THAT A MAN LAY/ DOWN HIS LIFE FOR HIS FRIENDS"
Inscription legible?
yes
Names on memorial
Bird, William E
Cooke, Harold
Edlington, John H
Filby, Ernest
Gray, William
Markham, Percical E
Mitchell, Ernest
Mitton, George W
Porter, John E
Robson, Arthur
See details for all 16 names
Commemorations
  • First World War (1914-1918)
    Total names on memorial: 16
    Served and returned: 0
    Died: 16
    Exact count: yes
    Information shown: Forename, initial, surname, rank, military unit, date of death
    Order of information: Chronologically by date of death
Components
  • Memorial
    Measurements: Undefined
    Materials: Brass
  • Backboard
    Measurements: Undefined
    Materials: Wood - Mahogany
Listing information
Condition
History
When the memorial was originally erected in 1923, the brass plaque was fixed to a wooden backboard. That original backboard was evidently removed at some unknown date, and replaced with the current frame in which it is now displayed./ Kingston upon Hull City Police (which erected the memorial) existed as a separate Police force from 1836 to 1974. It was then amalgamated into Humberside Police, which is now the custodian of the memorial.
Trust fund/Scholarship
No
Purpose: Unknown or N/A
Responsibility
Humberside Police
Reference
  • Hull Daily Mail 7/12/1922, page 8, reported: "HULL POLICE MEMORIAL. A roll of honour to members of the Hull Police Force who were killed during the war or died in action, is to be placed on the wall at the Central Police Station. The memorial is in polished mahogany, and the names have been engraved on a brass plate to be affixed thereon. The roll of honour would have been completed in time for unveiling by Earl Haig on his recent visit, had the distinguished visitor's time in Hull been long enough. It is hoped to get a prominent military officer to perform the ceremony." www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000324/19221207/057/0008 A subsequent report in the Hull Daily Mail on 15/1/1923 (page 3) reported: "The war memorial at the Central Police Station, Hull, to the memory of members of the Hull City Police Force, who fell in the war, will be unveiled by General Sir Ivor Maxse, G.O.C., Northern Command, York, on Sunday afternoon next. The memorial will be dedicated by the Bishop of Hull." www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000324/19230115/023/0003 (Evidently, the Bishop was unable to attend the ceremony as planned, as the paper's later report on 22/1/1923 re the unveiling indicated that Canon George Buchanan attended "in place of the Bishop of Hull").
  • The War Memorials Trust ref for this plaque is WMO 24055, see www.warmemorialsonline.org.uk/memorial/240055/
  • www.eastriding.gov.uk/CalmView/Record.aspx?src=CalmView.Catalog&id=zPOL ; this index of records states that Kingston upon Hull Police HQ (having formerly been in Alfred Gelder Street, where its WW1 and WW2 War Memorials had been erected) moved to the premises at Queen's Dock (Queen's Gardens), which opened in May 1957.
  • Hull Daily Mail 28/11/1944, page 3, reported plans for a new Kingston upon Hull Police HQ: "NEW HULL POLICE H.Q. Committee Inspects Model. Members of the Hull Reconstruction Committee on Monday saw a scale model of what was suggested should be the new central police headquarters. The Station House Sub-Committee of the Watch Committee had resolved that the model should be presented to the Reconstruction Committee for their observations. The main portion would be the present partially-constructed building on Queen's Gardens, with additions to both wings, while the further extensions, built around a court-yard, would cut through the present Dock-st. and have an extensive frontage on George-st". www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000324/19441128/021/0003
  • The inscription on the plaque re Sidney Shipley having been killed in action on 10/10/1916 was an error. He actually died of wounds on 14/10/1918, and is recorded as such in Army records. His death was reported in the Leeds Mercury on 22/10/1918: "Private Sidney Shipley, Durham Light Infantry, second son of Mr. J. Shipley, of Driffield, has died of wounds. Formerly he was a member the Hull City Police Force. " www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000748/19181022/058/0003 (Sidney Shipley and some others who are named on the brass Hull City Police WW1 plaque were also commemorated on the wooden WW1 Roll of Honour Board that was erected by that Force's D Division, see www.iwm.org.uk/memorials/item/memorial/94245 ).
  • Hull Daily Mail 22/1/1923, page 6, reported the unveiling at great length. The salient sections of that report re the memorial read: "LEST WE FORGET! GENERAL MAXSE UNVEILS HULL POLICE MEMORIAL. LESSONS, OF THE WAR. A notable event in the history of the Hull City Police Force was the visit on Sunday to the Central Police Station, of General Sir Ivor Maxse, G.O.C. Northern Command, at York for the purpose of unveiling a tablet as a memorial to 16 members of the police force who were either killed in action, died of wounds, or died as the result of war service. The presence of a number of members of the force lined up as a guard of honour inside the police station, near the wall on which the handsome tablet has been fixed, wearing various decorations, showed that they had themselves a war record. One of the police constables wore on his breast six different medals, and there were two or three other old police soldiers wearing three or four medals. The tablet—a large and artistic piece of work in brass—stated the Chief Constable, had been erected by serving members of the police force in memory of 16 fallen comrades, as follow:— KILLED IN ACTION. Pte. Ernest F. Mitchell, 3rd Coldstream Guards. Pte. John H. Edlington, 1st Coldstream Guards. Pre. William E. Bird, 2nd Coldstream Guards Pte. Percival E. Markham, 1st Lincoln Regiment. Pte. Harry Weston, 12th East Yorkshire Regiment. Gnr. Ernest Filby, R.F.A. Pte. Arthur Robson, 21st Northumberland Fusiliers. Lieut. Arthur Thompson, Northumberland Fusiliers. Gnr. William Gray, R.G.A. Corporal George A. Stainton, R.F.A. Gnr. Stanley Sowersby, R.F.A. Corporal John E. Porter, 4th East Yorkshire Regiment. Pte. Sidney Shipley, Durham Light Infantry, DIED AS A RESULT OF WAR SERVICE Sergt. Alfred Stow, West Yorkshire Regt. Minesweeper Harold Cooke, H.M. Navy (Aux. Service). Lance-Corporal George W. Mitton. Military Foot Police. A large number of members of the local Watch Committee, and representative citizens were present, including the Lord Mayor and Mrs C. Raine, the Sheriff (Mr Dean), Mrs Dean, Ald. Crook, J.P. (Chairman of the Watch Committee), Canon George Buchanan (in place of the Bishop of Hull), Councillor and Mrs Wokes, Mr Hubert Johnson, J.P., Major A. J. Atkinson, J.P.. Col. James Walker, D.S.0., J.P.. Mr G. Morley (former Chief Constable of Hull), Capt. Woods (the present Chief Constable), and Mrs Woods, Commander and Mrs Walton, R.N., Mr James Downs, J.P., and Mrs Downs, Councillor J. W. Locking, Ald. and Mrs T. S. Taylor, Ald. F. Askew, Councillor and Mrs W. M. Mackenzie, the Rev Dr E. Dalton, Rev T. Macrae Tod, Dr J. Wright Mason, Col. Grant, Major Dunlop (Chief Constable of the East Riding), Mr Carpenter (Chief Constable at Beverley) and Mrs Carpenter, Supt. Huddlestone (East Riding Police), Capt. J. E. Johnson, Councillor Toogood, D.C.C. Kilvington, Mr Stirling (Chief Constable of Grimsby), and many others. The ceremony was quietly impressive. The Police Band played selections, and accompanied the hymn "O God, our help in ages past.' The Last Post was sounded by four boy buglers, and the Band sounded the Reveille". The Chief Constable (Capt. Woods) was quoted as having remarked that "they were proud of the war record of the Hull City Police Force. Upwards of 144 members of the force served in the war, and that did not represent the full number who would have joined the Army if they could have been spared". Before unveiling the tablet, General Maxse commented that they had "assembled chiefly to mourn for 16 members of the Police Force who gave their lives, but they had also, he thought, at the back of their mind, a feeling of thankfulness that they won the war". (His full speech was printed in the report). The report of the unveiling ceremony closed with the remark that "The memorial was designed and carried out by Messrs R. Johnson and Sons, Lowgate, Hull". www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000324/19230122/031/0006

This record comprises all information held by IWM’s War Memorials Register for this memorial. Where we hold a names list for the memorial, this information will be displayed on the memorial record. Please check back as we are adding more names to the database.

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