A Brighton Policewoman

By Don Lockyer

Florence Mary Constantine (nee Hider) was born in Westerham, Kent, on 19th November 1912 to George Alfred and Ellen Hider. Mary, as she was more commonly known, was a first cousin to my father, their mothers being sisters. She was baptised in St. Mary’s Church, Westerham on 5th January 1913. Mary’s parents were married on 29th January 1910 and she was the second of their three children.

George was a local postman in the town. However, he had previously been attested into the 2nd Battalion of the Grenadier Guards in 1905. Upon completion of his period of Army Service, he was transferred to the Army Reserve in 1908. At the commencement of World War 1, he was immediately ‘recalled to the colours’ with the 2nd Battalion being mobilised for war in August 1914 and shipped to France. He saw action in the retreat from Mons and at The Marne and became known as one of ‘The Old Contemptibles.’ The retreat was eventually completed in harrowing conditions and in consequence of what George suffered, he was discharged from the army on 30th August 1915 as ‘having been found no longer physically fit for War Service.’ He returned to his employment but, with his health failing, was unable to continue and confined to his house. George died on Wednesday 8th May, 1918 and was buried with full military honours at St. Mary’s churchyard. He was afforded a Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) headstone and was a recipient of the 1914 Star, also known as The Mons Star, The British War Medal and The Victory Medal. These became rather irreverently known as ‘Pip, Squeak and Wilfred.’ George and Ellen had been married for eight short years. He was survived by his wife and three young children.

Mary Constantine in Brighton Police summer uniform.

Georges’ parents were James and Mary Hider, the latter dying in 1914, which at least saved her the grief and heartache experienced by James who not only lost George as a result of the war but also a younger son, Frank John, who was a member of the 1st Battalion, Queen’s Own (Royal West Kent Regiment) and ‘killed in action’ on 8th June, 1915 aged 28 years. He is buried in the CWGC cemetery at Voormezeele, Belgium. However, it was unfortunately not uncommon during The Great War for more than one member of a family to be killed during war service.

I recall Mary telling me in later years that as a young child she and her family had walked the streets of Hove looking for accommodation which they were fortunate to find and that her mother took in washing to make ends meet. This early frugal existence was to make a lasting impression on Mary during the rest of her life.

I fast forward now in my narrative to the 2nd World War and am fortunate that I can use Mary’s own words when she says “life started in an average way and was quite uneventful.” This statement seems to signify her stoicism and also the attitude of the time! She goes on to say that “until one day whilst doing my usual routine office job I received my ‘call up’ papers.” She was also working as a part-time telephonist at Civil Defence Headquarters for two nights a week which required her to be away from home. On attending her ‘call up’ interview she was offered the choice of joining the Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS) or doing factory work in the Midlands. As neither appealed to her, she looked further into the Women’s Royal Naval Service (WRNS), from which she had initially been excluded, finding that the grounds she had been given for refusal were not justified. On return to the ‘Labour Exchange’ they agreed so enabling her to successfully apply to the WRNS.

Preliminary training included having to dig out grass from the pavements at Westcliffe-on-Sea as preparation for a visit by the WRNS Commandant! Mary became a Pay Writer which required a month’s training at an Accountant College in Highgate before being posted to HMS. Vernon, a shore-based establishment of The Royal Naval in Portsmouth. Promotion followed a year later to Leading Wren and after a further year she was promoted to Petty Officer. Both of these promotions followed successful examinations which stood her in good stead when she joined the police.

Mary was in charge of the cash section which handled pay, expenses and allowances for ships’ personnel and it was here that she met her husband to be, Cyril ‘Con’ Constantine. Con had joined the navy as a ‘boy’ and he too had been recalled for service at the outbreak of war. He called into the cash office to collect his Long Service and Good Conduct gratuity and romance ensued resulting in them marrying in 1947. Furthermore, Mary was awarded The Defence Medal and The War Medal 1939-1945 for her war service.

1946 was when Mary was due to leave the WRNS and she “decided that an office stool and myself were no longer compatible.” She saw an advert in a national newspaper for the Police and applied to join the Brighton Force. She successfully sat her entrance exam along with 30 men. Her initial 13 weeks training was undertaken at Ryton-on-Dunsmore near Coventry and apparently Con was the only man witnessing her Passing Out parade; all the other attendees being women. Despite living by the sea, Mary was a non-swimmer at the time she entered training but managed to sufficiently pass the swimming tests by the time she left.

I have limited information about Mary’s career other than that which she committed to paper herself. Like her, it is rather understated and also gleaned from old photographs and a few aged brown newspaper cuttings. However, she included prisoner escort work from as far afield as Scotland through to Devon, keeping ‘observation’ on a female bookie from a roof top which required the use of a car cover on rainy days and watching bookies’ runners while knitting in a deck chair on the sea front; all this before ‘off course’ betting was legalised in 1960. She also mentioned visiting homes where floor boards were chopped up for firewood to provide some heat or a communal saucepan placed on the table for all the family to dip into. A time in our social history long gone but likely being experienced in different ways by some in society currently who are struggling through rising costs and inflation.

Naturally, she was also required to attend court to give evidence and her duties included the taking of statements for indecency, robbery with violence and traffic offences at the other end of the spectrum. Mary and a colleague were commended at Brighton Court for the arrest of two female shoplifters in 1957 and this found its way into the Pontypridd Observer as her colleague hailed from that area! Mary attended a 10-week C.I.D. training course at Wakefield and enjoyed that aspect of her career. Typical of the work of Women Police at that time and later, was the dealing with infants and children and in a 1949 newspaper article Mary is seen holding an abandoned nine-month-old baby. As seen, her work encompassed far more than this important role and she passed the examination in Police Duties and Educational Subjects being promoted to Sergeant in 1951, having previously been Acting WPS., for the remaining years of her service.

One of Mary’s most vivid memories was being a part of the Sussex Police contingent detailed for duty at the Queen’s Coronation on 2nd June, 1953. She was placed in charge of a group of Policewomen on Horse Guards Parade. This was clearly an auspicious occasion for her and must have made quite a difference from her work in Brighton.

Brighton Contingent for Queen's Coronation

By way of contrast, she stated that “one of my most unhappy memories must be of the period when the Police Superintendent, Detective Inspector and Detective Sergeant were on trial for ‘Bribery.’” A blight on the reputation of that force.

Dick Kirby’s book entitled ‘THE BRIGHTON SCANDAL: A Story of Corruption, Intimidation & Violence’ (2021) published by Pen & Sword True Crime offers extensive coverage of this matter and I am indebted to Dick for being able to draw on his book for information and use what material I feel might be pertinent to this account.

The Superintendent had been promoted to Chief Constable and was the only one of the three officers to be acquitted at the Central Criminal Court (The Old Bailey) in 1958 where the case had been committed from Brighton Magistrates Court. Mr. Justice Donovan, the trial judge, in sentencing the other two officers, in part said “that neither of you had that professional and moral leadership which both of you should have had, and were entitled to expect from the Chief Constable of Brighton, now acquitted.” (2021, p.167). He went on to say that “I have reached the conclusion that the sentences which I originally felt would be my duty to put on you, can properly be reduced, and accordingly I sentence each of you to imprisonment for a term of five years.” (ibid)

Mary never discussed this case with me but the impact of this on the Force must have been immense particularly for those members who went about their duties with honesty and integrity. Dick Kirby refers to this in quoting fellow author and historian David Rowland, who joined Brighton Police in June, 1958, when he told Dick: “Even then, I was targeted by the yobs as being one of the bent Brighton coppers. Even at training school, the inspector, the orderly officer, after calling out my name and force, made a comment about Brighton having ‘bent coppers’. I was furious, but could do little about the comment.” (p.178) Reputation is hard won and easily lost.

After 14-years’ service with Brighton, Mary resigned to look after her mother who had received extensive injuries in a Road Traffic Accident (the parlance of the day). I sense that, in part, this was Mary’s way of repaying Ellen for all the years that she had looked after her children in difficult circumstances. Ellen died in 1961 and later, on returning to paid employment, Mary was chosen to be the first woman court usher for Hertfordshire Quarter Sessions which was located at St. Albans and Hertford. In due course, her working life returned full circle and she again became compatible with that ‘office stool’ working for The Central Electricity Generating Board!

Given Mary’s age, she was always referred to as Aunt by myself and my siblings and after her husband Con died in 1987, we spent time with her when able. Again, she was stoic after his death and whenever I saw her, she was always more inclined to talk about him and his war service rather than about herself. How I wish I had probed a little deeper about her own exploits and gleaned even more about her life.

Mary died in hospital in 1996 and upon receiving that message I enquired as to why I had not been informed of her admittance. I was told that she had requested that no one be told of her admission. For me, this typified her ‘no fuss, get on with it’ attitude to life and in death.

Mary Constantine can be seen front row, far left at No 4 District Training Centre

My thanks also go to Stuart Mullins for his help and advice regarding this article and to The Curator of The Old Police Cells Museum, Brighton for his suggestions along with his interest in preserving the photographs that I have of my aunt and Brighton Police.

Copyright © 2022 Don Lockyer