POLICE medal group – Defence Medal, West Riding Constabulary Police Long Service & Good Conduct Medal, St John Ambulance Association Medal + re-examination bars & West Yorkshire Police Retirement Medal awarded to Police Constable DAVID TODD JACQUES

Stock Reference – MM-MED-0066

POLICE medal group – Defence Medal, West Riding Constabulary Police Long Service & Good Conduct Medal, St John Ambulance Association Medal + re-examination bars & West Yorkshire Police Retirement Medal awarded to Police Constable DAVID TODD JACQUES 

You are looking at an interesting set of items awarded to Police Constable DAVID TODD JACQUES who served with the West Riding Constabulary, then West Yorkshire Constabulary and West Yorkshire Police as the force was redesignated in later years.

This group is made up of:

Defence Medal – unnamed as issued

Police Long Service and Good Conduct Medal inscribed ‘CONST. DAVID T.JACQUES’

West Yorkshire Police Commemorative Retirement Coin - ‘In the Public Service’ medallion ‘Awarded by West Yorkshire Police in appreciation and recognition of dedicated service to the Force’ – In box of issue

St John Ambulance Association Medal inscribed ‘429543 DAVID T.JACQUES’ with ‘1948’ re-examination bar inscribed ‘429543’, and 2 x further re-examination bars dated ‘1950’ and ‘1958’

DAVID TODD JACQUES, the son of PERCY (a dispensing chemist by profession) and ALICE JACQUES, was born on the 18^th of November 1911 at Bury, with his birth registered in the December of that year, and with his mother’s surname recorded as TODD.

DAVID married ELLEN CROOK in 1935, with the marriage registered at Heywood in the September quarter, and the couple went on to have 2 x children, ALBERT D JACQUES (born 1936 at Dewsbury) and MARJORIE JACQUES (born 1945 at Spen Valley).

DAVID TODD JACQUES of 6 Woolgreaves Drive, Sandal in Wakefield, died on the 22^nd of June 1987, with the death registered at Wakefield, and it is likely ELLEN is the ELLEN JACQUES (born 9^th November 1911) who died on the 13^th of December 2005 at the age of 94 years, with her death also registered at Wakefield.

The information available in relation to DAVID’S police career is extremely limited, and the lack of information makes piecing together his service history very difficult to do, however, a chronology of sorts has been established.

Over many years, DAVID T or DAVID TODD JACQUES, depending upon how his name is recorded, and his wife ELLEN, appear in a number of electoral records, with associated information relating to each of the addresses based on their appearance in the 1939 Register, as follows:

1937 – At 1 Brunswick Street in the Heckmondwike area of Yorkshire – Number 1 does not appear in the 1939 Register, although number 3 onwards does.

1938-39 – At 336 Halifax Road in the Spen Valley area of Yorkshire – A Police Constable JOHN SMITH of the Yorkshire West Riding Constabulary is listed at this address in 1939.

1945 – At 2 Croft Street in the Gomersal area of Spen Valley in Yorkshire – A crane driver by profession is listed at this address in 1939.

1946-55 – At 37 Bright Street in Skipton – In 1939, Police Constable 1287 WALTER HIRST is listed at the address, as is Police Sergeant FREDERICK CROSELEY of the Metropolitan Police.

1956 – At 12 The Grove in Skipton – A Police Constable ANDREW TAYLOR is listed there in 1939.

1956-date unknown – At ‘Broomleigh’, Spacey Houses in Harrogate.

During the 1930s, police regulations required new recruits to be male, unmarried, and free from debt, and constables had to get permission from the Chief Constable of their force before they were allowed to marry.....DAVID married ELLEN in 1935, the event registered in September that year, so it is likely, based on the rules and regulations at the time, that he joined the West Riding Constabulary prior to September 1933, when he would have been around twenty one years old. 

The census records in which DAVID and his wife appear, when considered in line with their appearance in the 1939 Register, would appear to show the couple living in police houses from at least 1937.

Neither DAVID or his wife and son can be found in the 1939 Register, but he was serving with the West Riding Constabulary throughout WW2, which earned him the Defence Medal, but as to what his duties were during this period is not known, although his profession was a ‘reserved occupation’, so police officers were not required to serve in the armed forces, Yorkshire, a very rural area in some respects, also had some major and very important towns and cities within its borders, Bradford, Huddersfield, Leeds, Sheffield and Wakefield, and some of these suffered heavily from German air attack, and police officers were necessary, not only to keep law and order, but to enforce blackout, guard key infrastructure such as coal mines, ordnance factories and supply depots, managing the evacuation of children from larger cities such as London, and assisting with the movement of military personnel.

Neither DAVID or his family can be located in the 1939 Register, but it is likely he was still serving within the Yorkshire area, and he could have been involved in any of the war related activities mentioned above.

According to an article in the Bradford Observer dated the 22^nd of October 1954, PC DAVID JACQUES, who had been serving in the Road Traffic section for nine years, so since c1945, was being transferred to Harrogate, and census records show him living in the Harrogate area from at least 1956.

Accepting that DAVID joined the West Riding Constabulary in or around the year 1933, then he would have been awarded his Police Long Service & Good Conduct Medal for 22 x years dedicated service in or around 1955, and as we know the St John Ambulance Association medal is accompanied by three re-examination bars dated 1948, 1950 and 1958, demonstrating that he maintained his first-aid qualification during his police career. And he continued in the WRC, transitioning into the new West Yorkshire Constabulary when it was created in 1968, and further transitioning into the West Yorkshire Police when it was created on the 1^st of April 1974.

We don’t know when DAVID retired, but it must have been in 1974 at the earliest, because the commemorative coin he received upon his retirement was from the West Yorkshire Police who were formed in 1974, and if he joined in 1933, this would suggest a career lasting for over 40 x years.

SELLER NOTE = Supporting documentation obtained and / or created during this research will be provided.