Name/Title
Plain wooden truncheon c1870Entry/Object ID
936Description
Plain wooden truncheon 17 1/4 inches (44 cm) long, unpainted, but varnished, with multi turned handle grip. No wrist strap but string tied around top. Maker's name embossed on handle end, but cannot be deciphered at present.Use
For a police officer to use as protection.Context
Whilst many police truncheons from the 19th century are decorated in some form, many like this example are not. Some police forces probably did not want the extra expense of highly decorated truncheons and in any case by the 1870s the need for such truncheons to be used as symbols of authority was waning. Not only that, but at various times during the century, large numbers of often plain truncheons were procured for the use of special constables, sworn in to deal with the public disorder that was a common feature of the times. The length and style of this particular truncheon is typical of truncheons used by the police throughout the Victorian period until the 1880s, when shorter truncheons started to become the norm, as police forces followed the Metropolitan and City of London Police and adopted truncheon pockets sewn into the trousers, the Met. doing so in 1886. This eventually saw the end of the longer 17-18 inch truncheon, and by the late 1890s completely plain15 inch truncheons were pretty much standard issue for all police forces in the UK.
This truncheon probably dates to c1870 and may have been used somewhere in Sussex as it came to the museum from Sussex Police.