tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10799026029993179182024-03-05T13:19:18.853+00:00LONDON'S POLICE MINSTRELSResearching the Metropolitan Police Minstrels Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1079902602999317918.post-22289599024674096432020-02-17T09:25:00.003+00:002020-02-17T09:25:58.317+00:00Under the floorboards since 1913<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Thanks to Jason Saunders, who sent this photo of a ticket he found under the floorboards.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVwPgs-crMVEBNfMUn0GJ4rQskyNE_bVSTVeqYUcfRmICumcW7V80gnDAqGpcQJBOvuWP1lnOuaDETLk92H7jru3ky9wHsidmjX6COyaiuyMLnHmm8g109M4TOjq0_LU1zjEGbwNL5Zo60/s1600/Police+Minstrels+ticket.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1301" data-original-width="1600" height="325" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVwPgs-crMVEBNfMUn0GJ4rQskyNE_bVSTVeqYUcfRmICumcW7V80gnDAqGpcQJBOvuWP1lnOuaDETLk92H7jru3ky9wHsidmjX6COyaiuyMLnHmm8g109M4TOjq0_LU1zjEGbwNL5Zo60/s400/Police+Minstrels+ticket.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1079902602999317918.post-12038271040070193692011-09-11T15:38:00.000+01:002020-02-17T09:27:17.859+00:00Is your police officer ancestor amongst these performers?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;">Taken about 1930. Get in touch if you recognise an ancestor.</span></td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5OyA73hv-tMM8jbsqS6MiwuEv-y376VhnHKFepIalHT4q4JQVg2GEb578iJbdCRSJixvwSeOhYXwbwEB_W1-A61q8KrP-jgMq5XJh-rMgLOV0QczXByF0Ou0F9fQtkp2Ntd7HFqvmCyi0/s1600/Medal+A1.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5OyA73hv-tMM8jbsqS6MiwuEv-y376VhnHKFepIalHT4q4JQVg2GEb578iJbdCRSJixvwSeOhYXwbwEB_W1-A61q8KrP-jgMq5XJh-rMgLOV0QczXByF0Ou0F9fQtkp2Ntd7HFqvmCyi0/s200/Medal+A1.jpeg" width="85" /></span></a></div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTtW5Xg-3iIXi7oq80SBTY4M5XgHreVmRVJ7H62_B6Dnsj8wD0PZ2aoWMFxoLbb8CjW_9asi7p0sUDVXBrYeGAYF0zZWOyGEA1PbJDsR3-3mCGCPIq9_zsSq9kVa0sAWh9gZVYmZZkkc-p/s1600/Medal+B2.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTtW5Xg-3iIXi7oq80SBTY4M5XgHreVmRVJ7H62_B6Dnsj8wD0PZ2aoWMFxoLbb8CjW_9asi7p0sUDVXBrYeGAYF0zZWOyGEA1PbJDsR3-3mCGCPIq9_zsSq9kVa0sAWh9gZVYmZZkkc-p/s200/Medal+B2.jpeg" width="115" /></a><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTtW5Xg-3iIXi7oq80SBTY4M5XgHreVmRVJ7H62_B6Dnsj8wD0PZ2aoWMFxoLbb8CjW_9asi7p0sUDVXBrYeGAYF0zZWOyGEA1PbJDsR3-3mCGCPIq9_zsSq9kVa0sAWh9gZVYmZZkkc-p/s1600/Medal+B2.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCNyv-3ATMY24UvtehCjK8NtV6XUrsYFtgMEK2JTj-wbCXumaxcrJJpzWIJEL1MCZOTT3_dvcoCkp_w_LGuEtX9FiAPAuLAfU2r55UhQPh8FA3TRCF331QgRyOBAQsW42CqizOrRCrCCdn/s1600/Medal+B1.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Thanks to John King, who sent photos of this orphanage medal.</span><br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1079902602999317918.post-25041661073237069292008-10-13T14:19:00.001+01:002022-03-03T10:35:59.623+00:00Ralph Wilcocks - one of the Police Minstrels<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-weight: bold;">Richard Wilcocks writes:</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-weight: bold;">Ralph Wilcocks</span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">, pictured below in the early 1920s with his two daughters May and Violet Pretoria, and his son Alfred, was my grandfather. He died long before I was born.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">He was born in Hillingdon Heath, Middlesex, on 8 March 1868, and married <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;">Elizabeth Ellen Doughty</span> on 18 August 1897. They lived in New Denham. After nearly eight years service with the Kings Own Yorkshire Light Infantry (South Yorkshire Regiment), much of it in India (Karachi, Hyderabad, Quetta, Zhob Valley Expedition, then Bombay,
Poona and Nasirabad), he joined the Metropolitan Police in 1893. He was a constable in K Division until 1896, then in L (<b>Lambeth</b>) Division until his retirement in August 1919. Here is a reference to him from the National Archives at Kew:</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Ralph Wilcocks, warrant number 78595. Joined on 1 May 1893, and left on 11 Aug 1919. Last posted to L Division as a PC</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> After that, he was a member of the<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #990000;"> Metropolitan Police Minstrels</span>. These were immensely popular with the public, raised large sums for the police orphanage and were in the well-established traditions of blackface minstrelsy which originated in the United States and which were imported into Britain in Victorian times. This kind of entertainment was generally uncriticised in those days : <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;">Al Jolson</span> singing about his mammy in <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">The Jazz Singer </span>was a sensation, and many other stars like <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;">Judy Garland</span> and <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;">Bing Crosby</span> appeared on screen in blackface at some time or other.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">If you have information on any of the people in the photo, or any general comments, please get in touch. Use this email address, putting RALPH into the subject line : <a href="mailto:wilcocks@ntlworld.com">wilcocks@ntlworld.com</a> OR simply post a comment underneath.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The thought of Lambeth policemen today blacking their faces with burnt cork, putting on wigs, then singing and telling jokes on a public stage in front of a paying audience, is absolutely mind-boggling! On the far side of offensive as well! My now-deceased distant cousin <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;">Jim Bramhill</span> spoke to me on the phone a few years ago about them: he remembered being taken to the newly-built RAF Uxbridge as a child to watch a performance, which he described as "very enjoyable". And my grandfather was there, singing.......</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">Professor Rachel Cowgill from the School of Music at the University of Cardiff has a book in progress entitled </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">The Rise and Fall of the Metropolitan Police Minstrels. </span></span></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">So, if you can provide more information on the Minstrels, I would be additionally grateful. Email me! Thanks. </span></b><br />
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<a href="mailto:wilcocks@ntlworld.com"><b></b></a><b><a>wilcocks@ntlworld.com</a></b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #990000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;">Click on the photo to </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;">enlarge.</span></span></span></div>
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