Florence Mildred White
Florence Mildred White was an English policewoman. She became the first policewoman in Salisbury, Wiltshire in 1918, after training in Bristol and briefly serving in Bath. She joined Birmingham City Police in 1925.
Prior to joining the police force she was a teacher of English in Germany. She later returned to England and taught German, Italian and French at a school in Salisbury, Wiltshire, reaching a senior post. In 1914, aged 41, she moved to the Bath and Bristol city area to join a group of women who had started an unofficial Women's Police Volunteers unit. She returned to Salisbury in 1918 to join the Salisbury City Police. Seven years later she moved to the Birmingham City Police where she attained the rank of Inspector. She stayed with the Birmingham force until her retirement in 1937.
Early life
Florence Mildred White was born on 10 December 1873 in the small town of Warminster, Wiltshire. She was the third child and second daughter of Charles Henry White and Marion White. Florence Mildred was baptized in the Warminster Minister Church, St. Denys, on 8 March 1874. In 1881 the family lived in Warminster in a villa with a governess, a nurse and two housemaids. Her father was a cheese factor, or manufacturer of local and traditional cheeses. There were four children in the family noted in the census of 1881. After a local education her parents sent her to a private boarding School named Duncan House in Cleveden, Glasgow, and later to a finishing school, Clapham Park Ladies College, in south London. In 1892 she took a teaching post. From June 1898 until October 1903 she attended the Grand Ducal Victorian Pension at in Karlsruhe, Germany as a teacher of English, Italian and French. She described herself as a 'Modern Language Mistress in large Schools'. In 1906 she returned to England and became a teacher at the prestigious Godolphin School in Salisbury. She is recorded as being a 'Boarder', aged 37 years and single, in the 1911 national census of England. She was an Assistant Mistress. This group consisted of a Head, six female teachers, a housemaid and a cook. Three other female teachers came from South Africa, Russia and Austria respectively. She later became a Senior Language Mistress at the Godolphin school, where she remained until 1914.In 1914, White left the Godolphin School; her departure was so sudden that the other teaching staff wrote in the next edition of the school magazine that they were sorry not to have had the opportunity of saying 'Goodbye' to her. In a School Year Book the Headmistress of the school at the time, Miss Douglas wrote:
Patrol volunteer at Bristol and Bath
Apart from London's Metropolitan Police commissioning of a report by a "female on females in custody" in 1907, there was not any consideration given to women working within the Police Force.In 1910 five women got together as a group to draw the attention of the police authorities to the fact that there were no women constables in the force, even though many women were arrested and were temporary prisoners in police custody. Matrons were employed as civilian staff to look after women and children only. They had been established for many years and were usually the wives of serving police officers. Two women in particular sought to point out this lack of a female constable presence was wrong. They each had a relative in political high office. One of these women was Edith Tancred. Tancred became a campaigner for the requirement of women police. The other was Dorothy Peto. In 1912 Tancred, Peto and three other women campaigners started organising unofficial street patrols from an office in Bath, Somerset and later Bristol "to maintain public morality and decency". The creation of the Bath office in 1912 was considered to be the first in England. It was disbanded in the latter half of World War One. In 1914 Peto, as Chief, had joined the National Union of Women Workers and made patrols herself. White abruptly left her teaching post at the Godolphin School in 1914 to live and work in the office of the group in Bath, where Peto had become the Assistant Patrols Organizer. White stayed working under the supervision of Peto as a patrol officer in the city until May 1918. She was at this time 44 years old and is mentioned in an article The Women Patrols – Miss I. Douglas, Miss White and Miss G. Bagnall and others spent many evenings, wet or fine, at this most difficult and exacting work. During the war Mildred White acted as a prisoner's friend at a court martial when she answered a call for 'women of a special type' to which she responded.
As the end of the First World War was approaching there were several other groups of women's police voluntary patrols in other major cities in Great Britain. These consisted of 'well-bred' women patrolling the city streets to help women and children who needed assistance or who became involved in crime.
Sir Leonard Dunning, knighted on 14 February 1917, His Majesty's Inspector of Constabulary between 1912 and 1930, wrote an article in a police magazine in 1918. About two of the six pages of his annual report concerned the employment of women into professional police work, including the possibility of them having the powers of arrest. Many chief constables saw the role of women as clerks and chauffeurs and thought women could possibly be employed as special constables. The Chief Constable of Wolverhampton wrote an article in Police Review and Parade Ground Gossip in which he listed a range of duties women could undertake within the force.
Salisbury City Police
With the possible end in sight of World War One there was much discussion within the male dominated British police force about the role women were going to play. His Majesty's Chief Inspector of Constabulary, Sir Leonard Dunning who seven years later would give Mildred White a reference for a post within the Birmingham City Police, concluded that such employment was a matter for individual police authorities.Mildred White moved to Salisbury to join the Salisbury City Police as its first female member. She worked at the police station in Endless Street which was purpose built in the 1880s as the third police station within the city; it housed all the offices needed for the city force, a parade ground in its centre and it had several stables at the back. The chief constable had his accommodation there. Like all chief constables, Frank Richardson employed the wives or close relatives of serving officers to accommodate the needs of women and children who came into police custody. He decided a dedicated policewoman was best suited for this task in his force. Later, in June, at an important meeting in London, his decision was vindicated. Lady Nott-Bowes addressed the Chief Constables Association held at the Waldorf Hotel, London, on 23 May. She stated she hoped that those who tried the experiment of Women Police would do their best to get their full status recognised.
On 26 May 1918 White joined the Salisbury City Police and was attested immediately. Because she was attested she had the same rights as a male constable. Her appointment was confirmed by the Salisbury Watch Committee and also by her new employer, The Birmingham Watch Committee, when she took up the appointment there in 1925.
She joined as a constable and was promoted rapidly. Her commencing salary on joining the force was £210. per annum. On 3 April 1919 she was transferred to the same pay and allowances as that of ordinary constables of the Force and she was promoted to 11th class constable with an increase in salary of £2 per week. On 22 May 1919 she was promoted from 11th class constable to 10th class constable to take effect from 25 May 1919 at an increase of £2.1s.0d per week. This was again revised when she was transferred from 10th class constable old scale to 12th class constable, new scale, back dated to 1 April 1919 with a salary increase of £3.12s 0d per week. By 1920 she was a sergeant. Her duties were plainclothes work in the mornings and city patrol work, in uniform, in the evenings. In February 1919 she attended a Salisbury City Court hearing as a prosecution witness at an alleged bigamy trial. Because she was attested she had the power of arrest; in contrast, Dorothy Peto remained an unattested Lady Enquiry Officer. Dorothy Peto maintained she would not accept a rank below inspector, whereas White did accept the lower rank. Most important of all to constable and then Sergeant White was that she now could receive a pension like her male counterparts. Chief Constable Richardson took steps to ensure she would get her pension by clearing her with the Salisbury Watch Committee on appointment as someone who was superannuated, writing a letter to her chief constable at her next posting in 1925 stating "Miss White is entitled to reckon the period between 26 May 1918 and 26 May 1925 as 'Approved Service' within the meaning of Section 8 of the Police Pensions Act 1921."
The Home Office in London set up the Baird Committee in 1920 on selection, control on the future employment conditions and attesting of women in the Service. Two H.M. Inspectors of Constabulary gave evidence as did some thirteen others from various ranks and locations within the countrywide police force. Sergeant Mildred White from the Salisbury City force attended as did Sergeant Gale of the Gloucestershire force. It was specifically pointed out to the Committee that Sergeant White and Sergeant Gale were already attested female policewomen. Another who attended was Lillian Wyles who was to write a book later of her experiences.
On 16 November 1921 the Metropolitan Commissioner of Police, Sir Nevil Macready, who was considered to be setting the standard throughout England, issued an order that with the possibility of women being appointed in the Police Service they would be in line with requirements for male officers; "a minimum height would be established, though at 5 feet 4 inches this was considerably lower than that for men." Macready added that women with dependent young children would be barred from service, women officers were not to be sworn in as constables, and they would not have the right to a pension. Salisbury, Gloucestershire, Liverpool and Glasgow had attested women Constables but it appears only White of Salisbury paid into a pension and had equality with male constables.
In 1925 Peto left the Birmingham City Police, and White applied to the City of Birmingham for Peto's post. The choice of force may have been coincidental with the Peto post becoming vacant, but the Richardson family had strong connections with Birmingham since Frank Richardson started his police career in Birmingham in 1871. White very quickly made contact with Sir Leonard Dunning, still the Chief Inspector of the Constabulary, asking him if he would give her a reference for the post in Birmingham. Dunning duly wrote to the Chief Constable of Birmingham City Police, Sir Charles Rafter, from his home in Horsham. White also wrote a letter to Chief Constable Rafter stating she would welcome getting experience from a larger force.
Two weeks later White sent her application for the post to Birmingham. This she did on Chief Constable Frank Richardson's office notepaper, adding she did so with his permission as well as his agreement that she should apply for the post. She also wrote another letter to Chief Constable C. H. Rafter in April 1925, reiterating the monetary conditions that she was expecting in her new position relating to her pay i.e. salary, detective allowance, plain clothes allowance, boot allowance, and she added five per cent of pensionable pay being deducted towards the Superannuation Fund. Chief Constable Rafter replied with a personal letter to White giving very precise details of what would be expected of her in her duties as a Lady Enquiry Officer in the Birmingham City Police Force. He added that his "Force needs a broad minded woman of the world" and noted that "If your Chief Constable approves of your joining this police force I would seek the approval of your Watch Committee about allowing you to count your previous police service in the Salisbury Force towards pension in this Force". White often referred to her possible new position as being a Lady Enquiry Officer, a female detective. She could not be attested, as there was no provision for it in the Birmingham Force at the time; it was to be 1930 before the rules were changed in Birmingham. Two women, Evelyn Miles who would become a sergeant later and Rebecca Lipscombe were policewomen since 1918 but were not attested and therefore did not have the same powers or status as their male counterparts.
White journeyed from Salisbury to Birmingham on 23 April 1925 for an interview with the chief constable at the Chief Constable's Office in Corporation Street, Birmingham. White was accepted for the post of Lady Enquiry Officer with the Birmingham Police Force, Detectives Office. She had to accept the title "Lady Enquiry Officer", as opposed to "Policewoman". Her previous attestation was held in abeyance. Peto was very pleased with the outcome: she wrote in her Memoirs that on her resignation she had the consolation of promoting the appointment in her post of Sergeant White of Salisbury, who had trained at the Bristol School and was admirably qualified, in her view, to take over and develop the work in Birmingham.> Peto notes the White, having already been sworn in at the Salisbury Force, was able to make her transfer and to carry her "attested work" with her. Commencing work in Birmingham Peto did not have the power of arrest. Peto also wrote that in 1925 there were about thirty female Constables in Great Britain. By 1937 she estimates this number was just under three hundred.
On 1 May 1925 Chief Constable Frank Richardson sent a Certificate of Approved Service to Chief Constable Rafter and confirmed "Miss Florence Mildred White is resigning from the Salisbury Force to take up an appointment with the Birmingham Force." He then sent another letter enclosing a 'Certificate of Service' for White. Chief Constable Frank Richardson wrote an open letter certifying White has his "written sanction to take up office" with the Birmingham City Police. The necessary permission of the Birmingham Watch Committee was obtained for White to be transferred into their Force. At the end of May Chief Constable Richardson wrote in a letter to Sir Charles Rafter that she had been a great benefit to his force, and he recommended her release to her and Birmingham's benefit.
At this time Sergeant White was summoned to appear at a meeting of the Salisbury Council Watch Committee. There, as the Salisbury and Winchester Journal reported:
Sergeant White was to be officially released from the Salisbury Force on 2 June 1925. However, she had written on 23 May to the Chief Constable of Birmingham, saying that she envisaged travelling from Salisbury to Birmingham on 3 June. When White left Salisbury the local press, The Salisbury and Winchester Journal noted her move adding:
At White's departure in May 1925, Chief Constable Frank Richardson immediately replaced her with another attested policewoman, Elsie Mouland, who took over White's case load. He described the duties of their posts to the Salisbury Watch Committee in 1929: "In addition to the policewoman's ordinary police duties such as acting as matron to female prisoners, patrolling the streets and making enquiries concerning women and young persons etc., she has carried out a considerable amount of necessary, although unofficial welfare and rescue work". When Frank Richardson initiated a photograph of all police officers in 1929 Mouland sat to his immediate left.
When White left the Salisbury Constabulary she left her truncheon behind as a gift to her chief constable. It is smaller than the truncheon used by male constables and much lighter in weight.