CONFERENCE
PAST CONFERENCES
The first Police History Society conference took place in 1985. Below are the speakers at each event:
1985: Churchill College, Cambridge
Jim Sharpe: “A revisionist view of the Parish constable”
Clive Emsley: “Vive la difference - police and policing in England & France”
Dr. Barbara Weinberger: “Police perceptions of labour in the inter-war period”
1986: Police Staff College, Bramshill
Sir Philip Knights: “Policing in the UK, 1940 - 1986”
Dr. Jennifer Davies: “Law enforcement in 19th century London”
Jerry White: “Oral history - police-public relations in lower working class areas of London between the Wars”
1987: University of York
Paul Bennett: “Police raison d'etre - the history of the fear of crime”
Bob Bartlett: “The concept of minimum force”
Mark Suggitt: “Preservation - what we should keep and why”
1988: Wood Street, City of London
Jennifer Ward: “Forensic science and the Victorian detective”
Donald Rumbelow, Paul Begg, Martin Fido, Robin Odell, Keith Skinner, Colin Wilson: “The Whitechapel Murders”
1989: Sussex Police HQ, Lewes
Prof. Robert Storch: “Origins of the County Police Act, 1839”
Clive Emsley: “International comparisons - constabulary and gendarmerie in the 19th century”
Dr. Roger Wells: “Effects of the County Police Act in Rural Sussex”
1990: Devon & Cornwall Police HQ, Exeter
Stuart Elliott: “German occupation of the Channel Isles in World War 2"
Clare Leon: “Special constables in the First and Second World Wars”
Rob Perks & Ken Birch: “Oral history and policing in World War 2”
Dr. David Englander: “Law and Order in World War 1”
1991: West Midlands Police HQ, Birmingham
Joan Lock: “The obstacle course - special problems faced by Scotland Yard's first detectives”
Charles Elworthy: “Experiences of a working detective”
George Peel: “The history and work of the Flying Squad”
1992: Surrey Police HQ, Guildford
David Easy: “The Siege of Sidney Street”
Jonathan Goodman: “The literature of crime”
David Hawkings: “Local archives and police history”
1993: Suffolk Police HQ, Ipswich
Colin Thomas: “The development and growth of the British Transport Police”
Keith Milner: “The Great Train Robbery “
Jonathan Goodman: “The Brighton trunk murders”
Stewart Evans: “The Peasenhall murder, 1902”
1994: Staffordshire Police Motor Training School, Stafford
Dr. Jenny Ward: “The Edalji case”
Ros Prince: “Strange murders in Staffordshire”
Jonathan Goodman: “The Wallace Murder Case, Liverpool 1931”
Harold Wright: “Donald Neilson known as the Black Panther”
1995: West Mercia Police HQ, Worcester
Niall Howe: “Policing in Northern Ireland”
Tony Judge: “Whatever happened to concensus?”
Laurence Lustgarten: “Policing at the end of the century: the democratic deficit”
Jeff Carpenter: “The Worcestershire Constabulary versus Adolph Hitler”
1996: West Mercia Police HQ, Worcester
Harry Wynne: “History of the Ministry of Defence Police”
Prof. Clive Emsley: “Rural policing in continental Europe during the 19th century”
David Cross: “Victorian crime in Birmingham”
Bob Pooler: “Tales of the Worcestershire Constabulary”
Diane Lees: “The Galleries of Justice, Nottingham”
1997: George Hotel, Nottingham
Richard Bullock, Under Sheriff of Nottingham: “The Shrievalty”
Derek Oakensen : “Victorian Police Discipline - The Brighton & Hove Experience”
Chris Forester: “The Metropolitan Police Mounted Branch”
1998: Kent Police HQ, Maidstone
Richard Ford : “History of Police Fire Brigades”
“Johnnie” Johnson: “Crime, Criminals & Punishment in Sussex,1800 - 1850”
Roy Ingleton: “Arming the Police”
1999: Lancashire Police H.Q. Preston
Colin Rogers: “Unit Beat Policing”
Colin Chipperfield: "Police Transport post WW2”
Bryn Elliott: “The Development of Police Aviation"
2000: Bramshill Police College
Jonathan Goodman: "Our Society – Connoisseurs of Crime"
Tony Speed: "The Development of Public Order Policing"
Graham Alexander: "Has the Golden Era Gone?"
Tony Leonard: "He Who Pays The Piper"
Colin Dexter: Author of the "Inspector Morse" stories
2001: Jarvis Hotel, Wetherby
Alistair Dinsmore: "Glasgow Police – The First 50 Years"
Jim Herlihy: “Irish Policemen in Your Family Tree"
Ray Broadstock: "Developments in Fingerprinting over the last 100 Years"
John Yearnshire: "The Mary Cotton Murders"
After Dinner Speaker: The Lord Mackenzie of Framwellgate OBE
2002: Carlton Hotel, Cheltenham
Fred Feather: "Murders in Victorian Essex"
Harry Wynne: "The Victorian Police 1840 - 1902"
Don Gibson: "Jerome Caminada - A Victorian Detective"
2003: The Lincoln Hotel, Lincoln
David Deptford: "Polmil. A colonial view of the day to day and emerging relationships between police and military"
Tony Diggens: "In the spotlight - the changing role of police and media relations"
Tony Rae: "The Police Roll of Honour"
Kevin Gordon: "The Eastbourne Borough Police"
2004: Holiday Inn, Chester
Maggie Bird: “The possibility of Jill the Ripper”
Simon Ovens: “Police Medals”
Steve Hughes: “Changes in Policing over the last 30 years”
Keith Skinner & Paul Begg: “Researching and writing Police Related Books”
2005: The Britannia Hotel, Manchester
Visit to Greater Manchester Police Museum at Newton Street for a Victorian Police Station lunch. Guests include the Lord Mayor of Manchester, the Chief HMI and the Chair of the GMP Authority.
2006: The Royal Beach Hotel, Southsea
Dr. Neil McCaw: “Arthur Conan Doyle – Sherlock Holmes Collection”
Dr. Clifford Williams: “History of Hampshire Constabulary”
Helen Barnard: “Aspects of Women Police”
Nick Rowley: “Special Investigations Branch, Royal Military Police”
Kevin Gordon: “History of the Railways and Canal Police”
2007: The Redwood Hotel, Bristol
Julian Lea-Jones: “Local Chief Constable of the 19th Century”
Alan Hayhurst: “A murder exhumed – only solicitor to be hanged for murder in modern times”
Helen Barnard: “Rose Tooke through her pocket books”
Mike Fountain: “Frank Castle Froest – Bristol lad made good!”
Mike Rowland: “My first love, my darling, the Clifton Suspension Bridge”
2008: Durham University
Helen Barker: “Treasures in Store – introduction to Beamish Museum”
Ken Banks: “A history of Criminal Identification”
Fred Feather: “The Murder of PC Gutteridge – the first use of ballistic evidence”
Harry Wynne: “Policing the Dockyards”
Chris Forester: “Policing the Contagious Diseases Act”
2009: The Raven Hotel, Droitwich Spa
Robin Skerratt: “Village life and rural policing”
Joan Lock: “The Dynamite Outrages - Britain Under Attack”
Bill Roberts: “Last Choir Standing”
Peter Picken: “Geoffrey Prime – Master Spy!”
Ian Patterson: “The Thick Blue Line”
Alex Rennie: “Farmhand to Chief Constable”
2010: Holiday Inn, Padworth, Berkshire
Mike Askew: “200 years of service in the Metropolitan Police – Four generations of Askews’ serving the Capital”
Dr. Tim Brain: “A turbulent journey? A history of policing in England and Wales from 1974”
Fred Feather: “The Cumbrian Link”
Janet Harris: “The Tottenham Outrage, 1909”
Kemi Rotimi: “The Encounter of the Metropolitan Police with a [Nigerian] Victim of Advance Fee Fraud in 1937”
Len Woodley: “Local Murders”
2011: Park Inn, Bedford
Roger Wood: “Bedfordshire Miscellany – Murders and Detection”
Dr Chris Payne OBE: “Chief Inspector George Clarke, Scotland Yard Detective 1840 - 1878”
Prof Clive Emsley: “The Great British Bobby”
John Emsley: “Molecules of Murder”
Alan Hayhurst: “The Manchester Martyrs, 1867”
Dr David Cox: “A Certain Share of Low Cunning – Bow Street Runners,
1748 – 1839”
2012: Ripon Spa Hotel, Ripon
Richard Taylor: “No Rest for the Wicked”
Simon Dell: “The Dartmoor Mutiny, 1932”
David Robinson: “Wensley of the CID: the Greatest Detective of them All?”
Guy Woolnough: “Who controlled the Streets? Police Discretion in a Victorian Town”
2013: Premier Inn – Glasgow
Prof Ken Scott: “The Police Service for Scotland”
Alistair Dinsmor: “Ambush in the Afternoon: 4th May 1921”
Chris Forester: “Metropolitan Police Communications and Transport”
Elena Ananyeva: “The First years of the Soviet Militia, 1917 - 1920”
John Newton: "The History of the Kenya Police"
Alan Hayhurst: "The Madelaine Smith case - Scotland's Mystery Crime"
2014: Hallmark Hotel – Derby
Stacey Camilleri: "Blood spatter analysis"
Dr Chris Payne OBE: "Gentleman Jim - the eventful life of Superintendent James Jacob Thomson, Metropolitan Police 1862 - 1887"
Joan Lock: "The Princess Alice Disaster"
George Fleming: "Not a happy one! - the lot of Sir Charles Warren"
Dr Clifford Williams: "An efficient City Force - 111 years policing Winchester"
Susan Parry: "The Red Barn Murder, 1827"
2015: Hallmark Hotel – Hull
Mike Covell: “Dungeons, Death and the Devil: The Dark History of Hull”
Dr Clifford Williams: “100 years of women policing in southern forces”
Angela Buckley: “Detective Jerome Caminada – Manchester’s Sherlock Holmes”
Dr David J Cox: “The Dunsley Murder of 1812 – a study in early 19th century crime detection, justice and punishment”
Paul Harrison: “When evil came – Murder and subterfuge at White House Farm”
Linda Stratmann: “Chloroform and crime”
Mike Covell: “Annison’s; Corpses, Carriages and Coppers”
2016: Imperial Hotel – Torquay
Linsday Siviter: “Lord Lucan – an enduring mystery”
John Newton: “The Mau Mau Emergency”
Chris Forester: “The Black & Tans – England’s shame, Ireland’s opportunity”
Steve Beamon: “Company Servant to the Queen’s officers – a short history of policing Britain’s railways, docks and canals”
Sandra Hempel: “Getting away with murder – the hit-or-miss business of investigating criminal poisoning in the 19th century”
Neil R A Bell: “Police Notice – Policing Whitechapel in 1888”
2017: Imperial Hotel – Torquay
Adam Wood: “Lucky Swanson and the murder of Mr Gold”
Michael Haunschild: “Houdini and the Police”
Angela Buckley: “Who killed Constable Cock? (1876)”
Angela Sutton-Vane: “From information to archives: the making – or unmaking – of police history"
Steve Beamon: “Police Strike, 1919”
Jon Wright: “We have a ‘Crime House’: teaching forensics to future CSIs”
2018: Honest Lawyer Hotel – Durham
Harry Wynne: “Back on the Borough Beat: History of the Sunderland Borough Police”
Prof Clive Emsley: “When Bobby met the Mafia”
Dr Pete Moore: “Sex and Drugs were not invented in the 1960s”
Patricia O’Sullivan: “Pot-shots at the Police - The Hong Kong Force moves into the 20th century”
Tony Rae: “Finding the Forgotten Fallen - Police Casualties of the UK and Empire”
Dr Clifford Williams: “The policing of gay / bisexual men in England and Wales”
Norman Kirtlan: “Death and other Dark Places"
2019: Federation House – Leatherhead
John Apter: “100 Years of the Police Federation”
Emelyne Godfrey: “Cats and Mice: How Police Officers Reacted to the Suffragettes”
Lisa Jones: “Hot and Sweaty Policing : The experiences of the English and Irish born officer in Colonial Queensland”
Mark Ripper: “Unreliable Policemen’s Memoirs”
Steve Smith: “Stop! Armed Police! Inside the Met's Firearms Unit”
Jon Wright: “The Strange Case of Sergeant Willmott”
Kate Halpin: “100 years of Women in Policing”
2020: via Microsoft Teams
Tom Andrews: “The Greatest Policeman? Capt Athelstan Popkess, Chief Constable of Nottingham City Police 1930 -1959.”
Doc. Peter Moore: “Hitler’s madness, visions from God and why we wear trousers” Subtitle - “A history of mind-bending drugs. “
2021: Federation House - Leatherhead
Corinne Brazier - “Police heritage and the National Police Chiefs’ Council: Introducing the Heritage portfolio”
Angela Buckley - “Eminently successful in the detection of real offenders’: The Ground-breaking History of the Manchester City Police”
Chris Forester - “METPOLA database - Metropolitan Police Orders (1864 - 1914)”
Dr Mary Fraser - "Police as ploughmen in the 1917 food shortages. How policemen helped to save the nation from starvation."
Paul Stickler - “The A6 (Hanratty) murder: A revised history of the police investigation and the account from the surviving victim’s perspective.”
Revd Canon David Wilbraham MBE - “Lest we forget: National Police Memorial Day”
Adam Wood - “Pitchfork: The Witchcraft Murder That Foiled Fabian of The Yard”
Roger Young - “The Bushey Bomb - A Turning Point in Terror?” (1880)
2022: Federation House - Leatherhead
Corinne Brazier: “An update from the National Police Chiefs’ Council Heritage Portfolio”
Neil R A Bell: “One day in the life of a policeman” - PC Hall and the Green Bicycle case, 1919
Prof Robert Green: “DNA, fact, fable and future?”
Jackie Malton: UK television script consultant and former senior police officer best known
for being the inspiration for the character of DCI Jane Tennison in the “Prime
Suspect” drama written by Lynda La Plant
Paul Stickler: “Murder Detective or No Murder Detective”
Dr Clifford Williams: “The life of a police objects collector: Ross Simms”
Adam Wood: “The Case of the Painted Bicycle Lamp: unsolved double murder in Coventry, 1906
2023: Federation House - Leatherhead
Corinne Brazier: “Rogues, villains and Peaky Blinders of the Birmingham Lock-up”
Angela Buckley - “The Bermondsy Murder - Scotland Yard’s First Great Challenge”
Matt Johnson - ” No Ordinary Day - Espionage, betrayal, terrorism, and corruption - the truth behind the murder of WPC Yvonne Fletcher”
Lindsay Siviter - “The representation of victims of crime in museums and
exhibitions”
Cedric Smith - “Peter Garland, QPM - Police Officer, Aviator, prisoner of war,
escaper, survivor and Chief Constable”
Jon Wright - “The faces of Derby Gaol - naming one of the earliest collections and
mugshots”
Revd David Wilbraham, MBE - After Dinner Speaker - Saturday evening
