Name/Title
Hove Borough Police black painted helmet plate 1901-1943Entry/Object ID
577Description
Black painted Brunswick Star King's Crown helmet plate marked "Borough of Hove Police", with separate chrome plated Hove Borough coat of arms centre.Use
For use on a police helmet.Context
This helmet plate with the "King's" or Imperial Crown was in use with Hove Borough Police from 1901 to 1943. Previously Hove Police used the Old Hove Town coat of arms on a wreath style badge, but on the death of Queen Victoria they adopted the Hove Borough coat of arms, borough status having been granted to the town in 1898, on a star style badge. Generally speaking black helmet badges such as this were intended for use at night with almost identical white metal or chromed helmet plates being used during daytime. The rationale was that the black metal would not reflect light and alert criminals to a police officer's presence. However in many areas black badges were worn all of the time. In Hove white metal badges were only worn on summer white helmets until such helmets were abandoned c1910. White metal badges may have been retained for summer use for a short period, but after that it is thought black plates such as this were used all year around for night and day use.
In 1943 under the Defence Regulations, Hove Borough Police was amalgamated with the other Sussex Police forces to form The Sussex Police Force. However when this force was disbanded in 1947, the Hove Borough Force was not re formed. Instead it was absorbed into the East Sussex Constabulary as their Hove Division. Interestingly from 1947-1949 the old Hove officers and sergeants continued to wear their existing helmets, and presumably their old uniforms, until these were replaced with East Sussex Constabulary caps (Kyrke 1969)
This style of badge is called a Brunswick Star and its use on police helmets goes back to the 1870's. However it only became more common after 1934, when the Home Office attempted to standardise police uniforms and insignia.
This Hove example whilst being broadly the same as the Brunswick star used in other police forces, is actually slightly smaller than is normal. These helmet plates and matching buttons are thought to have been designed and manufactured by Firmin and Sons Ltd (Middleton 2002). The use of chrome instead of nickel probably indicates that this particular helmet plate is a later 1930s example.