Name/Title
Brighton Borough Police "Baton of Honour" board 1953 - 1964Entry/Object ID
46Description
Wooden rectangular wall hung board, probably oak, 640mm high x 340mm wide, with beading around edges and a small projection at the top, containing a white metal King's Crown version of the Brighton Borough Brunswick star helmet plate with a coat of arms centre, and highlights in coloured enamel or paint. On the board is painted in gold coloured lettering "Baton of Honour Presented by Cape. W. Hutchinson O.B.E. (Chief Constable) 1953 Awarded annually to the best recruit". There follows a list of award winners from 1953 until 1964.Use
To record the annual recipients of the Brighton Police Baton of Honour 1953 to 1964Context
It was common in the past for police forces and training establishments to present an award to the best or most promising new recruit/probabtionary officer from the previous year, and some continue the practice to this day. Often the recipient would not only be presented with a mounted police baton (normally returned the following year) but their names would be recorded on award boards such as the one shown here.
Brighton Police granted such an award from 1953 and the names of the recipients until 1964 are shown on this board. It is thought that this would have originally been displayed somewhere in the Police H.Q. in the Town Hall. There are some references to the award being not given after 1964 (Poulsom et al 1987), however a newspaper report from 1966 (Kent and Sussex Courier 5th August page 4) identifies the award as going to PC John Pope, and there is no reason to believe that the award was not given until amalgamation in 1968. The fact that neither his name or any other after 1964 is recorded on this board, may indicate that it was not displayed in the new police station at John Street, which opened in 1965. Like other items displayed in the old police buildings it may well have gone into storage following the move from Brighton Town Hall. The actual Brighton Baton of Honour was a small mounted truncheon made of Sussex oak with silver panels (photograph Sussex Daily News 21st March 1953 page 1).
A very similar mounted baton was also awarded each year by West Sussex Constabulary between 1952 and 1967. This was made of 13th century wood that came from Chichester Cathedral and the names of the recipients were recorded on an honour board in the training department of West Sussex Constabulary in Chichester (Worthing Herald 4th January 1952, page 6). The winners of the award in West Sussex were also given a small silver badge in the shape of a truncheon, that they were permitted to wear on the right sleeve of their tunic for the remainder of their service. It is not known whether they were allowed to continue wearing these after the formation of West Sussex Constabulary in 1968.
The 1962 film "Jigsaw", which has scenes set in and around the Old Police Station in Brighton, features a similar Baton of Honour Board in the background of some shots. However comparison with the one shown here, confirms that the one in the film is a facsimile, it having different writing on it and names to the genuine one here. This demonstrates that whilst the film producers based some of their sets on the actual police station and its contents, it was not actually filmed inside. Indeed the layout of the building confirms that when compared to the film.