The Glasgow Police Museum which is based in the old District Court in St Andrew’s Square is due to close on 8 December. The Scottish Courts Service is taking over the District Courts from Glasgow Council but does not want the old court building, so the museum has been given notice to quit. The full story is on the Evening Times website at http://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/news/display.var.2468550.0.curators_anguish_as_glasgow_police_museum_is_axed.php
The Glasgow Police were Britain’s oldest police force.
The first attempts to establish a police force for Glasgow were made as far back as 1779 but it wasn’t until the Glasgow Police Act was passed in 1800 that a permanent force was established. The newly formed force, consisting of three sergeants, six police officers and 68 watchmen mustered for the first time in the Laigh Church, Trongate on 15 November 1800.
For the following 175 years the City of Glasgow Police served the city.
The force was finally disbanded on 15 May 1975 when it was amalgamated with other forces to form Strathclyde Police.
The Police Museum has a website at http://www.policemuseum.org.uk/ where you can read about the history of the force.
Sheena
Sorry to hear the museums fate. What is to happen to all the museum collections and indeed archives? Are they to be housed in another building, or hopefully not, fogotten about. I alone have at least three ancestors who served in the Glasgow Police. The earliest was in teh 1840’s and the most recent was in teh 1880/90’s. It would be a terrible shame if the history of the work that these guys did was to be lost. If you have time to reply to this email I would be interested to know if the museum is ever to open again somewhere else. I live in the highlands and have not as yet managed to see the Police Museum. Regards
Hi Andrea
Thanks for visiting.
The Police Museum actually re-opened in June last year in new premises. The new address is 30 Bell Street, Merchant City, Glasgow G1 1LG where it’s on the first floor and is open seven days a week in the summer (April-October) and on Tuesdays and Sundays during the winter. The website at http://www.policemuseum.org.uk/ is still on the go, and their contact email address is curator@policemuseum.org.uk
Sheena