Name/Title
Female police inspector's or chief inspectors cap 1950s - 1960sEntry/Object ID
236Description
Moulded felt dark blue female officer's cap with plastic chin strap around outside, fitted with a star shaped chrome plated, Queen's crown "Sussex Constabulary EIIR" senior officer's cap badge with blue enamel ring. Has a braided black band around the front of a felt peak. Marked inside "Christys London" and "Patroller".Use
For use by a female inspector or chief inspector in the 1950s and 60s.Context
Caps such as these were standard headdress for female police inspectors and chief inspectors in most of the UK throughout the 1950s and 1960s, this rank being signified by the braided band around the front of the peak. They were usually worn with the "Bather" style uniform, which was first introduced in the Metropolitan Police in 1946. The Bather uniform was named after Chief Superintendent Elizabeth Bather, who was head of the Women's Police Branch in the Met. from 1946, when she introduced a uniform based on that used by the Women's Auxiliary Airforce during the Second World War.
After its adoption in London, the Bather uniform together with caps like this became the standard uniform for female officers throughout the UK, and they were used by most if not all of the pre-amalgamation Sussex police forces.
In 1968 the Met. Police introduced the Hartnell uniform and a new hat designed by Simone Mirman, which replaced hats like this.
This particular hat was made by the well known hat maker "Christys" and was, as already mentioned, intended for either an inspector or chief inspector, and would have been used in either, one of the pre 1968 Sussex police forces or in Sussex Constabulary, as it came from Sussex Police. Either way it would have been rare at the time, as there were only three female inspectors and one female chief inspector across all of the old forces in 1967 and only two female inspectors and one female chief inspector in the new Sussex Constabulary in 1968. When it came to the museum it was not fitted with a badge, but that on it now is correct for the rank for Sussex Constabulary between 1968 and 1974.
Sussex Constabulary replaced this style of hat in 1971, with ones designed by Simone Mirman, and the hat pictured probably dates from 1968 to 1971. The use of a plastic, rather than leather, chin strap, suggests it is from the 1960s and not earlier.