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Birmingham City Police 1839 - 1974

1939 Birmingham City Police Ambulance. Not heard of police ambulance divisions before. Viv.

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Well spotted, norr me either. I was told that the fire brigade almost inherited the roll of rescuing people from traffic accidents, it just evolved and now it part of their role. Maybe the same with the Police, they dealt with medical emergency's. I am sure someone will know more.
 
Never heard of them but they must have been around for a while. eBay has models for sale listed as 1912 Birmingham City Police Ambulance.
 
The newspaper archives make several mentions of police ambulance divisions at various places, including Exeter, Stavele, Portsmouth and Burnley. the mentions al,l seem to state or imply that they were divisions of the St Johns Ambulance, which worked with the police, mainly in relation to traffic accidents, as shown in cutting below. they seem to have been formed in the early 1930s and there are references up till the 1950s

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The pic in #103 shows what the police would have looked like at the time my family were in Birmingham.

Thanks Vivienne
 
1939 Birmingham City Police Ambulance. Not heard of police ambulance divisions before. Viv.

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Hi Vivienne14 only this morning l was looking throgh my grandfathers Birmingham Police medals and came acroos one for Birmingham City Police Ambulance Competition,On the reverse is Roland Mason Cup l can only assume it was for snooker or billiards as ws in the Police team,I have tried to take a pic but it does not come out well.Hope this helps Joe90
 
Hi Vivienne14 only this morning l was looking throgh my grandfathers Birmingham Police medals and came acroos one for Birmingham City Police Ambulance Competition,On the reverse is Roland Mason Cup l can only assume it was for snooker or billiards as ws in the Police team,I have tried to take a pic but it does not come out well.Hope this helps Joe90
Just looked again and this medal was for Roland Mason Cup 1911,the one in the picture shows a PS receiving the cup in 1939 tried again for a photo but it not clear.
 
Thanks Joe, that's interesting to hear. Expanding on earlier posts, a suggestion for a Birmingham police ambulance corps through St John's Ambulance was reported in the Birmingham Daily Post as far back as December 1888. It seems there were probably Birmingham corps for fire, nursing, railways etc. too. If I've got this right, it looks to me like they were police who'd trained in St John Ambulance first-aid etc. Would they have been first and foremost policemen ? Or would they have been employed by St John Ambulance ? I also wondered if the uniform in post #104 was the regular police uniform, and does it have any special 'ambulance corps' clues ? Viv.
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According to the link in #109 they were police who had first aid training - at least in London and I assume that Birmingham was a similar set up.
 
Thanks Joe, that's interesting to hear. Expanding on earlier posts, a suggestion for a Birmingham police ambulance corps through St John's Ambulance was reported in the Birmingham Daily Post as far back as December 1888. It seems there were probably Birmingham corps for fire, nursing, railways etc. too. If I've got this right, it looks to me like they were police who'd trained in St John Ambulance first-aid etc. Would they have been first and foremost policemen ? Or would they have been employed by St John Ambulance ? I also wondered if the uniform in post #104 was the regular police uniform, and does it have any special 'ambulance corps' clues ? Viv.
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Hi Viv also found a St John's medal aswell but no date on it........Joe90
 
There are a number of newspaper reports of the Birmingham City Police Ambulance competition. The 1938 report included a photo (dreadful quality) but it seems to show police "treating" injured people so implies it was a first aid competition. However, there was a reference in 1931 to the 22nd Annual Competition for the Rowland Mason Trophy.
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Now found a reference in 1909 to Rowland Mason - West Mount Vicarage Road, Edgbaston. He was a local councillor and businessman.
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Smashing Janice ! Had a bit of a fiddle with the image you posted. Vivimage.jpeg

PS Think it might be worth having a separate thread for the Police Ambulace - shall set one up. Viv.
 
1939 Birmingham City Police Ambulance. Not heard of police ambulance divisions before. Viv.

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Hi All,
We seem to be getting mixed up with this Police Ambulance Division nonsense. I joined Birmingham City Police in 1952. There were no police ambulances then and I am reasonably satisfied there never were. After all what is the point in having 2 ambulance services, in fact 3 if one counts the St John Ambulance Brigade which is entirely voluntary and part time? N o. In fact if an accident occurs and there are persons injured the ambulance service is informed and they attend immediately, The Fire Brigade is called to rescue persons, if necessary, using specialist cutting equipment. Naturally They also attend if there is danger of fire e.g, leaking petrol. Fatal accidents cases requiring court action are dealt with by the police.
On joining every police officer below the rank of inspector is required to attend First Aid classes. Every year a team of about 6 offficers from each division who show the best aptitude for First Aid take part in the Rowland Mason First Aid competition . They were all normal police officers and wore the uniform of the day . Prior to 1952 they wore closed collar tunics but, thereafter, changed to collar and tie.
Old Boy
 
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