Poorly protected town called in vain for a constable

The East Sussex Police was founded in September 1840 and Captain Henry Fowler Mackay (formerly the paymaster for the 6th Inniskillin Dragoons) was appointed the first chief constable.

This force consisted of three superintendents and 18 constables. The uniform was heavy trousers, frock coat, boots and a top hat. The boots were shapeless and could be worn on either foot and constables were advised to wear them on different feet on alternate days.

A constable was permitted to carry a cutlass with permission from two Justices of the Peace.

Constables had previously been employed for many years by the corporation of Seaford but, although they were occasionally called upon to arrest and detain criminals, they were very much a political appointment.

In February 1831 two Seaford men, bricklayer Samuel Newington and brewer William Pitchen, appeared at the assizes complaining that they had only been arrested because they had voted for the wrong candidate at the previous election!

The local constable, however, was under considerable pressure and not always able to bring offenders to justice.

A curious crime occurred in February 1838 when thieves broke into St Andrew's Church in Bishopstone at night and ripped open most of the church cushions.

They were apparently after stealing the horse-hair stuffing and they also stole the baize lining of Mr Catt's private pew.

The offenders were never caught but the suspicion fell on three itinerant coal'“sellers who had been seen in the area the previous day.

By 1847 the corporation was petitioning the East Sussex Constabulary to provide a constable at Seaford. The Jurats (magistrates) complained that 'Seaford properties were subject to constant depredations' and that no other place in the county was left so poorly protected.

The town had to pay 51 per annum for the county police but were not getting the benefit of a constable. The chief constable, Captain Mackay, declined the request, saying that he had men based at Newhaven and Alfriston, and that they both visited Seaford twice a week.

It appears that this situation was allowed to continue for many years. I am not sure when the first constable was based in Seaford. However, in March 1893 the Local Board for Seaford recruited Thomas Henry Moore to be a constable for our town.

He was appointed under the Town Police Clauses Act 1847 and was apparently a local man. He was based at a thatched police station on the corner of the High Street and Leaches Lane (now Crouch Lane) '“ just opposite the Cinque Ports pub.

This building was the subject of drawing by Seaford artist Harry Evans. Presumably, the policeman with the long cane standing outside is PC Moore himself.

An earlier picture of the police station by Evans gives the date 1864 but he was notoriously poor at dating his drawings correctly.

In 1896 a new police station was built in Chichester Road and the initial compliment had by then grown to one sergeant and four constables.

This building served the town well, but as the town grew more officers were required and in 1969 the Seaford Police moved to 37 Church Street, built on the site of Pindar Square which had been demolished by German bombs during the war.

KEVIN GORDON