Transport Police

Domestic Records Information 97

1. Introduction

The origins of the railway police date back as far as 1830 and for many years, their role was as much concerned with signalling and station duties as it was with preventing and investigating crime. Following the grouping of the railways under the provisions of the 1921 Railways Act, each of the 'Big Four' had its own police force controlled by a Chief of Police. During the Second World War these Chiefs of Police formed a Police Committee, which reported to the Railway Executive Committee, which ran the railways for the duration of the war.

The nationalization of the railways after the war also led to a national railway police force and in 1949 the British Transport Commission Police was created. This new force incorporated not only the four old railway police forces, but also several minor canal and dock forces - the London Transport Police were absorbed in 1958.

In 1962 the British Transport Commission was abolished and the police force became simply the British Transport Police (BTP) following the passing of the British Transport Police Force Scheme 1963 (Approval) Order 1964 (SI 1964/1456). During the 1980s docks, ports and the London buses withdrew from the BTP for economic reasons and in 1992 the BTP were reorganized under the British Transport Police Force Scheme 1963 (Amendment) Order 1992 (SI 1992/364).

2. Administrative Records

Records relating to the early years of the railway police can be found amongst the papers of the relevant individual companies held under the department code, RAIL. Try searching the Catalogue (www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/catalogue) on 'police' or 'railway police', either under RAIL as a whole, or, more specifically, under the RAIL series which relates to the company in which you are interested. Alternatively use the BTHR card index and registers in the Open Reading Room.

A similar search on the department code AN will find the majority of the records relating to the railway police from 1921 onwards. More specifically, records relating to the administration of the railway police during the Second World War can be found in AN 2 and AN 3 . AN 3/45 consists of the Chiefs of Police Committee minutes, 1939 to 1945. Minutes of later Police Committees are in AN 97 , AN 109 and AN 167 .

Records related to railway police pay and conditions from 1919 onwards can be found primarily in RAIL 1172 (most especially pieces 1186 -1212 and 1894 -1934 ) and AN 174 . AN 174 also contains a large amount of information concerning training, including details of the British Transport Police Training School at Tadworth in Surrey. National collective agreements for the railway police can be found in LAB 83/2364 and BA 4 contains the papers of the Wright Committee which conducted an inquiry into the pay and conditions of the Non-Home Office Police Forces (including the British Transport Police) in the late 1970s.

Miscellaneous rule books and regulations relating to the railway police, from 1876 to 1942, can be found in RAIL 1134 and RAIL 1135 . ZPER 61 contains copies of the Railway Police Journal (later the British Transport Police Journal) 1949-1981.

A few records relating to the railway police can also be found under the department codes MEPO , HO and MT . A search of the Catalogue (www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/catalogue) on 'railway AND police' or 'British Transport Police' will find the majority of this material.

In general, The National Archives does not hold British Transport Police records relating to its investigation of crime. However it is worth noting that details of more serious incidents may be found amongst other National Archives material relating to criminal proceedings. For example, material on the Great Train Robbery can be found in department codes J , ASSI , HO , DPP and MEPO (a search on 'Great Train Robbery' brings up this material).

In addition see the Research Guide Railways: An Overview for information on sources for accidents, the Railway Inspectorate, and for wartime military control/policing of the railways.

3. Staff Records

Comprehensive transport police staff records are not held at The National Archives. A few miscellaneous items, mainly dating from the nineteenth century, may be found by searching the Catalogue (www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/catalogue) on 'police' or 'railway police', either under RAIL as a whole, or, more specifically, under the RAIL series which relates to the company in which you are interested.

The British Transport Police hold several thousand 'staff record cards' going back as far as the 1860s, although they are by no means complete. See www.btp.police.uk/History%20Society/history%20society%20main.htm for further details and an email address for enquiries on this material.

Members of the railway police were eligible for the King's Police Medal for Gallantry. Details of the recipients of this medal can be found in the volume, Peter J Farmery, Police Gallantry: The King's Police Medal, the King's Police and Fire Service Medal and the Queen's Police Medal for Gallantry 1909-1978, (1995). In addition a list of those who were killed on duty has been compiled and is available on the Police Roll of Honour Trust website at www.policememorial.org.uk

4. Overseas Railway Police

Details concerning the railway police in the occupied territories under allied administration in post-World War Two Europe, 1944-1950 can be found amongst the papers of the Control Office for Germany and Austria and the Control Commission for Germany (British Element) in FO 1032 , FO 1035 , FO 1036 , FO 1058/4-6 , 139 , 456-462 , 467 , 473 , 477 , 482 and FO 1050 . Information about railway policing overseas may also be found more generally amongst the records of the Colonial, Dominions and Foreign Offices (The National Archives department codes CO , DO and FO ), but there is no overall index and any search will be speculative and time-consuming.

5. Bibliography

Colin G Thomas, 'The Origins and Development of the British Transport Police', in the Journal of the Police History Society, Volume 9, 1994, pp 31-36.
Pauline Appleby, A Force on the Move: The Story of the British Transport Police 1825-1995, (Images, 1995).

(ri2204) Last updated: 10 March 2008| © Crown Copyright 2002