Features / World War I
Bristol’s War: Britain’s first policewoman
Early on in the war, amid fears about the consequences of local girls flirting with men in uniform, voluntary patrols of women took to the streets during the evenings. Usually working in pairs, the patrols would try to put a stop to female behaviour that was likely to get girls into trouble.
This, along with the demand for manpower from the forces, would lead to Bristol appointing some of the first women police officers in the world.
Bristol Constabulary used women staff to work in its offices and supervise the custody of female prisoners. Now they appointed women detectives as well, usually for use in roles which were unsuitable for men. In a famous local case female detectives gathered evidence against a fraudulent fortune teller. They were also commonly used to catch out shopkeepers contravening food regulations.
is needed now More than ever
The first uniformed women constables were appointed in 1917. The move followed lobbying by feminist campaigners, many of whom had been suffragettes before the war.
Bristol was also home to a pioneering school set up in September 1915 to train voluntary women’s patrols and later, female police officers. First established at Queens Road, and later based at 6 Berkeley Square, The Bristol Training School for Women Patrols and Police was set up at the initiative of the National Union of Women Workers and funded by voluntary donations.
By 1917 the school was being run by Dorothy Peto (pictured), who would later go on to head the women’s branch of the Metropolitan Police. The school also trained Britain’s first women military police and helped set up a training school to cover the whole of Scotland.
This is one of over 100 tales of Bristol in the First World War written by Eugene Byrne for Bristol 2014 and available on a free smartphone app, Great War Stories. Details and downloads at www.bristol2014.com/great-war-stories-map-and-app.html
Our top newsletters emailed directly to you
