Name/Title
Brighton Borough Police Roll of Honour board c1920Entry/Object ID
7Description
Large wooden memorial plaque with a decorative curved top below which is a scroll marked "Brighton Borough Police Roll of Honour". Below this is a backboard with carved detail moulding and secured onto that backboard are three raised panels bearing the names in black lettering of those officers from the three Divisions Of Brighton Borough Police who served in the armed forces during World War One, including those who lost their lives.Use
To commemorate the members of Brighton Borough Police who served and those that lost their lives during World War One.Context
Many police officers had previously served in the military and were reservists. As such on the outbreak of the First World War they were called up for active service and in due course many younger officers volunteered as well. Consequently there was a significant drain on police resources and reliance on special constables and police reservists and auxiliaries. After the conflict police forces along with many other public and private institutions had memorial plaques made to honour those who lost their lives.
At the time of the war Brighton was divided into three police divisions.
This memorial appears to have been replaced by a more elaborate one (item 6), possibly in the 1920s. Unlike many memorials it does not just commemorate just those that lost were lives but all of those that served in the armed forces during the conflict. It probably originally hung in the police station and Brighton Borough Police HQ in Brighton Town Hall until it was replaced by the other memorial. However it eventually was moved to the Wellington Road Police Station which opened in 1949, when Brighton was divided into two police divisions. Its location there is unknown, though it may have hung in the public waiting area that contained a small museum. In 1965 a new Police station was opened in John Street and the memorial was moved there, where it is thought to have been stored until 2005 when it came to the museum.