152:(WFL) and so for her the WPV was an opportunity for women to assist in catching criminals and to challenge male control of law enforcement, particularly in relation to sexual issues, ie, as an instrument to help and support women rather than to control their activities. However, Damer Dawson, who had previously campaigned against animal vivisection, was more concerned with policing public morality, particularly that of working-class women. The government agreed and from its foundation onwards the WPV's role was delimited to enforcing the public decency laws and supervising female workers such as
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168:
35:
156:. While this side of their work was generally approved, Boyle was to become alarmed that her organisation and other similar initiatives were being used to support anti-female propaganda and to curtail women's civil liberties. She also deplored the adoption of Regulation 40D, an anti-prostitution amendment to the
187:
to impose a curfew on what were described as 'women of a certain class' between the hours of 7pm and 8am. In contrast, Damer Dawson took a more pragmatic line, with the support of most of the WPV's members. As a result of this dispute, Boyle asked for Dawson's resignation, but instead Dawson convened
107:
had proposed that there should be female, as well as male, police officers. In 1883 the
Metropolitan Police had employed one woman to visit female prisoners under supervision, and by 1889, there were 16 women employed to supervise female and child offenders in police stations (a job formerly done by
239:
As the first uniformed women's police services, the WPV and the WPS helped accustom the government and the
British public to women exercising policing functions. By the end of WWI, there were 357 ‘lady policemen’ in London, as well as many others in English cities including Liverpool, Plymouth and
119:
met when Damer Dawson was working for the
Criminal Law Amendment Committee in 1914. Both Boyle and Damer Dawson had observed the trouble faced in London by Belgian and French refugees, particularly the danger of their being recruited for prostitution on arrival at railway stations. They were also
262:
in 1919, with Allen taking over command after Damer Dawson's death in May 1920. This led to tensions which ultimately culminated in Allen and four other senior WPS patrolwomen being taken to court in March and April 1921 by the
Metropolitan Police Commissioner for causing confusion by wearing a
135:
to form the Women Police
Volunteers (WPV) which would train women to patrol London on a voluntary basis. The volunteers would offer advice and support to women and children to help prevent sexual harassment and abuse. Boyle led the organisation with Dawson as assistant. The volunteer women were
301:
in 1938, the WAS accepted a government invitation to be represented on the body's
Advisory Council. Allen fulfilled this role until January 1940, when she stopped attending its meetings. When asked in the House of Commons on 12 June 1940 if the government would close down WAS,
255:, though later intakes did include former WPS volunteers. Damer Dawson requested to have all the WPS's volunteers made into official Met patrolwomen, but the Commissioner refused as he felt that it would cause friction because the women were too well educated.
306:, Under-Secretary at the Home Office, stated, "It is extremely doubtful whether this so-called organisation has any corporate existence at the present time". From the 1940s onwards the phrase 'Women's Auxiliary Services' was used as a catch-all term for the
91:(WPS) in the UK was a national voluntary organisation of women police officers which was active from 1914 until 1940. As the first uniformed women's police service in the UK, it made progress in gaining acceptance of women's role in police work.
263:
uniform too similar to that of the
Metropolitan patrol women. This ended in a token fine, a renaming of the force to the Women's Auxiliary Service (WAS), an alteration to its cap badge and an addition of scarlet shoulder straps.
890:
786:"OVERSEAS: Europe (Code 0(V)): Visit of Commandant Mary Allen (Women's Auxiliary Service) to the British Army of the Rhine in connection with use of Policewomen (National Archives, WO 32/3562)"
650:
231:
in
England with full power of arrest. The WPS's benevolent service also founded a babies' home in Kent, which after Dawson's death was renamed the "Damer Dawson Memorial Home for Babies".
471:
895:
880:
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and other forces asked to assist them. They had no weapons and no power to arrest anyone. Boyle herself was one of the first women to appear in a police uniform.
900:
164:. She described Regulation 40D, which punished women for their sexual relations with members of the armed services, as 'besmirching' the good name of women.
251:
Women
Patrols. The first twenty-three women recruited for these Patrols were drawn exclusively from the NUWW's patrolwomen, as was their senior officer
167:
517:
56:
43:
132:
658:
885:
183:, which proved unacceptable to Boyle and her beliefs. Boyle also denounced the use of the Defence of the Realm Act by the authorities in
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111:
Several women’s movements campaigned for more representation in this area; however the outbreak of war prevented any progress. In 1914,
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as "lady police searchers". Allen's focus became increasingly international - for instance, she represented the WAS on a visit to the
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74:
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and part of London until 1916, Dawson's new service enjoyed much greater success. Its members searched women employed at
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247:- who would be drawn upon in 1918-1919 for the first members of Britain's first official women's police force, the
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267:
149:
271:
161:
157:
538:
Women's identities at war: gender, motherhood, and politics in
Britain and France during the First World War
298:
124:
loitering near railway stations used by the increasing number of servicemen passing through the capital.
856:
Phillipa Levine, '"Walking the Streets in a Way No Decent Woman Should": Women Police in World War I.',
216:
116:
635:
315:
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in 1923 to advise on the use of women police. She also assigned it strike-breaking duties during the
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Margaret Damer Dawson (1863 - 1920), Police Pioneer - Founding member of ‘Women’s Police Volunteers’
259:
248:
137:
160:, that in many people's view revived some of the objectionable features of the nineteenth-century
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allowed to officially patrol the streets of London and to assist women in need, with men of the
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17:
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631:
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The WPS continued to exist after the introduction of women into police forces such as the
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However, it was the members of a third organization - the Voluntary Women Patrols of the
800:"WOMEN'S AUXILIARY SERVICE - House of Commons debate, 12 June 1940, volume 361 cc1254-5"
175:
In February 1915, Boyle and Damer Dawson disagreed over the use of the WPV to enforce a
318:, nurses and other women in the armed services, rather than for Allen's organisation.
874:
252:
724:
The Great British Bobby. A History of British Policing from the C18th to the Present
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562:
153:
128:
818:
339:
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a meeting of 50 policewomen, all but two of whom agreed to follow Dawson's lead.
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518:"VENEREAL DISEASE (House of Commons debate, 16 April 1918, Hansard, volume 105)"
121:
100:
402:
211:
While an organisation known as the WPV continued to patrol on its own terms in
551:
Routledge International Encyclopedia of Women: Identity politics to publishing
112:
196:
In 1915, Dawson changed the name of WPV to the Women Police Service, took on
228:
416:
The real facts of life: feminism and the politics of sexuality, c 1840-1940
321:
Members of the WAPC were attested in 1942 and later disbanded in 1946.
220:
212:
180:
851:
Women Police. Gender, Welfare, and Surveillance in the Twentieth Century
695:
804:
522:
184:
344:, article by William Salter, Elizabeth Watson and Stuart Norton (2008)
176:
202:
166:
819:
Metropolitan Women Police Association website, History section,
438:
From Suffragette to Fascist the Many Lives of Mary Sophia Allen
179:
on women of so-called 'loose character' near a service base in
571:
Women, policing, and male violence: international perspectives
28:
200:
as her second-in-command, and ended all links with the WFL.
492:
The Women's Suffrage Movement: a reference guide, 1866-1928
710:"Timeline of women police officers in the United Kingdom"
127:
Boyle and Damer Dawson sought and gained the approval of
266:
WPS members had been sent to Ireland in 1920 during the
615:"The Women's Police Service During the First World War"
52:
844:
Feminist Freikorps: The British Voluntary Women police
342:
1883-2007 Timeline of Women within the United Kingdom
340:British Association for Women in Policing website,
891:Women's organisations based in the United Kingdom
227:of the WPS was appointed the first woman police
846:, 1914-1940. Praeger Publishers, Westport. 1999
441:. Stroud: The History Press. p. contents.
367:Routledge International Encyclopaedia of Women
207:Dawson (left) and Allen in their WPS uniforms.
405:, Spartacus-Education, retrieved 19 July 2014
8:
896:United Kingdom home front during World War I
299:Women's Voluntary Services for Civil Defence
359:
357:
355:
353:
351:
766:(1925, Chatto & Windus), pages 178-179
881:1914 establishments in the United Kingdom
75:Learn how and when to remove this message
737:"Women in the Police Service, 1914-1918"
133:Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis
398:
396:
394:
329:
171:Damer Dawson in her WPS uniform, c.1917
590:(London: Robert Hale, 2015), chapter 7
549:Cheris Kramarae, Dale Spender (eds.),
430:
428:
426:
424:
335:
333:
901:Law enforcement in the United Kingdom
7:
682:Key milestones for women in policing
467:
465:
853:, Manchester University Press, 2006
839:, Chatto & Windus. London, 1925
751:The British Policewoman - Her Story
865:The British Policewoman. Her Story
753:(1979, Robert Hale), pages 130-131
505:The British policewoman: her story
476:, article by Louise Peskett (2020)
418:; Taylor & Francis, 1994 p. 51
25:
33:
805:Parliamentary Debates (Hansard)
684:, article dated March 7, 2024’’
649:Kelly, Kay (27 November 2012).
523:Parliamentary Debates (Hansard)
245:National Union of Women Workers
191:
148:Boyle's background was in the
18:Women's Police Volunteers
1:
858:The Journal of Modern History
632:"Hat, Women's Police Service"
312:Auxiliary Territorial Service
292:Lord President of the Council
219:factories. In August 1915 in
886:British women in World War I
680:Skills For Justice website,
583:Lock, Joan (30 April 2015).
308:Women's Auxiliary Air Force
95:The Women Police Volunteers
922:
651:"First police women in UK"
472:Brighton Museums website,
726:(2010, Quercus), page 157
553:; Routledge, 2000 p. 1192
364:Kramarae, Cheris (2000).
276:British Army of the Rhine
268:Irish War of Independence
120:concerned about existing
906:Women in law enforcement
540:; UNC Press, 1999 p. 130
272:Royal Irish Constabulary
162:Contagious Diseases Acts
158:Defence of the Realm Act
144:Tensions over WPV's role
47:may need to be rewritten
837:The Pioneer Policewoman
764:The Pioneer Policewoman
739:. Imperial War Museums.
588:The British Policewoman
573:; Routledge, 1989 p. 31
494:; UCL Press, 1999 p. 75
696:"History of Met Women"
208:
192:Women's Police Service
172:
150:Women's Freedom League
89:Women's Police Service
775:Allen 1925 Chapter 11
567:Elizabeth Anne Stanko
403:Margaret Damar Dawson
217:Ministry of Munitions
206:
170:
117:Margaret Damer Dawson
867:(Robert Hale, 1979).
636:Imperial War Museums
507:; R Hale, 1979 p. 23
486:Elizabeth Crawford,
143:
849:Louise A. Jackson,
661:on 23 February 2014
435:Boyd, Nina (2013).
280:1926 General Strike
260:Metropolitan Police
249:Metropolitan Police
138:Metropolitan Police
536:Susan R. Grayzel,
414:Margaret Jackson,
209:
173:
108:officers’ wives).
103:, campaigners for
860:1994; 66(1):34-78
316:Women's Land Army
198:Mary Sophia Allen
85:
84:
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57:lead layout guide
16:(Redirected from
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821:Period 1940-1959
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657:. Archived from
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565:, Jill Radford,
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526:. 16 April 1918.
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235:Interwar changes
129:Sir Edward Henry
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53:improve the lead
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835:Mary S. Allen,
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808:. 12 June 1940.
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593:. Robert Hale.
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55:and read the
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762:Mary Allen,
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663:. Retrieved
659:the original
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563:Jalna Hanmer
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452:. Retrieved
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51:Please help
46:
44:lead section
26:
863:Joan Lock,
749:Joan Lock,
665:11 February
586:Joan Lock,
503:Joan Lock,
297:set up the
225:Edith Smith
122:prostitutes
99:Before the
875:Categories
488:Nina Boyle
377:1135963150
325:References
113:Nina Boyle
65:March 2024
290:When the
229:constable
569:(eds.),
221:Grantham
213:Brighton
181:Grantham
454:20 July
383:19 July
286:Decline
185:Cardiff
597:
445:
374:
240:Hull.
177:curfew
618:(PDF)
667:2014
595:ISBN
456:2014
443:ISBN
385:2014
372:ISBN
115:and
87:The
490:in
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