Name/Title
Wootton electric police lamp c1924-1949Entry/Object ID
2249Description
Black painted brass electric "Wootton" accumulator police lamp, with belt clip and twin handles on rear, switch on top and an adjustable beam lens. Marked on base "The Wootton Lantern Patent No. 201089 Sole Manufacturers Smith & Sons Ltd (MA) Cricklewood London". White metal plate on front marked "Caution The interior of this lamp must be kept clean by periodical washing out with water & regreasing". Scratched on the bottom appear to be the letters "ER"Use
For a police officer to use at night for illumination.Context
In the 19th and early 20th centuries police officers still used oil lamps for night duty, which were hung on their belts. These were both messy and expensive to maintain but were more reliable and cheaper than the first battery powered torches invented c1899. However after the First World War technology had improved and electric lamps began to be adopted by police forces. The Metropolitan Police began using them in 1920 (Fido and Skinner) and East Sussex Constabulary in 1921 (Kyrke 1969).
What is interesting about the designs of these early battery lamps and those used later, is that they often retained features of the old oil lamps, usually having handles at the rear and a clip to enable the lamp to be hung on a belt. They also tend to be box shaped. It was only in 1962 that the Metropolitan Police adopted cylindrical torches (Fido and Skinner).
This lamp is a 2 volt Wootton Lantern which was designed in 1924 by George Wootton, the Assistant Chief Engineer for the Metropolitan Police. It was an improvement upon a 4 volt lamp that he developed in 1920, to replace oil lamps in the Met. The so called "Improved lamp" has an adjustable lens that can be focused to project either a intense narrow beam of light or a broad one. There is also a special compartment below the lens in which to store a spare bulb. These lamps use an accumulator or re-chargeable battery and were were used in the Metropolitan Police until 1949. They were made by the company of Smiths, who started off as jewellers but went onto become famous for producing clocks, gauges for vehicles and other accessories for the motor trade. Their "MA" or "motor accessories" branch was established in 1914.
Because of their association with the Metropolitan Police, lamps such as these were widely used with UK police forces and almost certainly would have been used within Sussex, especially in the years before the Second World War.