Remembrance roll for fallen police officers

They are the fallen heroes of Shropshire police who were killed in the line of duty.

And thanks to the work of a charity, the Police Roll of Honour Trust, their names will never be forgotten.

The trust was founded to pay tribute to around 5,000 British police officers who have died on, or as a result of, duty since the first recorded death of a constable in 1680.

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It is a roll of honour which is continually being updated and the trust is committed to the creation of a national police officers’ memorial at the National Memorial Arboretum, with a monument, a memorial wall inscribed with the names of fallen officers and a book of remembrance.

In Shropshire, the roll spans the eras of Shrewsbury Borough Police, Shrewsbury Police Fire Brigade – from the days when police doubled up as firefighters – Shropshire Constabulary, and today’s West Mercia Constabulary, which was formed in October 1967 by the amalgamation of the Shropshire Constabulary with the forces of Worcester City, Worcester County, and Hereford County.

Shropshire Constabulary had been formed in 1840 and its first recorded fatality was that in 1849 of Constable John Micklewright, of Cross Houses, who died after a fracas near the Stag’s Head Inn, Acton Burnell, during which 40-year-old labourer Charles Colley jumped on his leg, breaking it. The incident was on January 2 but complications set in and Constable Micklewright died on April 17.

His funeral was attended by Superintendent Lewis and 15 uniformed colleagues.

As for Colley, he was charged with murder, but the jury returned a manslaughter verdict, and he was sentenced to 10 years’ transportation.

The death of the last Shropshire officer is also recorded on the roll of honour, Constable Ricky Gray, who is also the only Shropshire officer to have been murdered.

He was attending a domestic incident in Shrewsbury during which two officers were being held hostage when he was fatally shot on May 6, 2007.

The killer then shot himself. Constable Gray, who was 43 and from Bayston Hill, was posthumously awarded the Queen’s Commendation for Bravery.

Another officer to have died in heroic circumstances was Constable Harry Speake, aged just 21, of Shrewsbury Borough Police who, in the pursuit of absconders who were getting away, went into the River Severn at Emstrey, Shrewsbury. He is usually said to have drowned, although the actual cause of death was found to be heart failure. The tragedy happened on August 3, 1937.

A victim from the days when police officers also served as firefighters was Inspector George Henry Faulconbridge who was killed in a fall from the drill tower at the old Shrewsbury Fire Station at Swan Hill on August 24, 1938, at the age of 50. He was demonstrating escape apparatus when he lost his grip.

The first police officer to lose his life in the county as a result of a road accident was Constable Frank Woolham, of Shrewsbury Borough, who was on point duty on the temporary English Bridge at Shrewsbury, as the bridge was being rebuilt, on June 20, 1926.

Constable Woolham had taken down the details from the driver of a car which had been in a minor accident when he was knocked down and run over by a car driven by a 28-year-old from Trench. Constable Woolham, who hailed from Welshampton and lived in Crowmere Road, Shrewsbury, died at the Royal Salop Infirmary.

Special Constable Alfred Henry Hill, of Berwick Wharf, Uffington, was pushing his bicycle at Atcham on February 9, 1940, when a vehicle coming the other way overtook two cars and struck him, continuing towards Shrewsbury without stopping. Constable Hill was aged 27 and left a widow and young daughter.

Constable Ronald James Chebsey, aged 30, who was stationed at Morville, was found lying unconscious near his motorcycle at midnight on the Burwarton to Bridgnorth road at Neenton on January 21, 1957. He died later. No other vehicle had been involved.

Father-of-two Constable Francis Jesse Blencowe was born at Grindley Brook, near Whitchurch, and had been a railway fireman before joining the Shropshire Constabulary in June 1950, serving at various stations around the county.

At the time of his death he was serving at Heathgates, Shrewsbury, and living nearby in Whitchurch Road.

The accident which claimed his life on February 19, 1966, happened not far from his home. He was talking to the driver of a vehicle which he had stopped for a routine check when he was struck by a van.

The first West Mercia officer to lose his life from the new force was Constable Anthony Barsby, of Hodnet, whose motorcycle collided with a lorry and tractor at Nobold Corner, near Shrewsbury, on May 15, 1969. Constable Ronald Boxley, of Wellington, died when his car left the road near Ombersley in Worcestershire on July 1, 1971, and Constable Paul John Symonds, was killed when the motorway patrol car in which he was a passenger overturned near Worcester on April 17, 1991.

Constable Dave Hopkins, of Copthorne, Shrewsbury was a motorcycle outrider clearing the way for a cycle race when he lost his life in a collision with a car near Malvern on May 28, 1998. He was 41.