Salford always had a bit of a name for its local characters and their alcohol-fuelled antics.
This story from the Salford City Reporter of March 1916 shows the problems beat bobbies faced trying to control these ‘characters’.
On Sunday 5 March, Police Constable Gleeson was proceeding in an orderly manner down Ordsall Lane when he passed the Bricklayers pub.
To one side were two men bawling and shouting.
It emerged both had just been chucked out of the pub for threatening behaviour.
Gleeson got the brunt of their arguing and they demanded to be let back in so that they could assault an unnamed drinker.
The Bricklayers Arms, Ordsall Lane © Neil Richardson
The Bricklayers Arms in 2016 – Google Images
When the poor officer remonstrated with one of the men, John Collier Barlow, of West Duke Street, it would appear that Barlow wasn’t too happy with this unwanted interruption and began punching and kicking PC Gleeson.
While trying to hold on to the violent brawler, Barlow’s drinking chum Thomas Tarrant came behind the policeman and suggested “that he let his mate go” then struck him a blow on the chin which sent him sprawling to the floor.
Barlow managed to run away but with the help of his trusty truncheon and a community-spirited passerby named Jarvis they managed to hold onto Tarrant and escorted him to the nearby Regent Road police station.
A Manchester City police cell in 1910, similar to Regent Road station © GMP
In the struggle Barlow sustained a cut to his head which required two stitches at Salford Royal Hospital, which then was on Chapel Street, in the days before the move to its current site on Stott Lane.
A doctor at the hospital said that the truncheon had indeed caused the wound but it was only “slight in character”.
Tarrant wasn’t finished, and while at the station accused PC Gleeson of stealing £2 from him.
Could this be the story of a violent police thief, instead of a drunken brawler? It was a strong allegation to make.
The enraged PC searched Tarrant, and lo and behold, found a purse containing £2 concealed in his trousers.
Meanwhile PC Lamb – a well-respected if not feared officer in Salford – went searching for the other alleged culprit Barlow tracking him back to his West Duke Street home. As he prepared himself for the arrest the officer was spotted by a female neighbour who shouted a warning: “get out, get out the police are here.”
Barlow legged out of the back door into the arms of the wily PC Lamb who was waiting for him.
Strangely enough Barlow admitted his guilt straight away to the PC when he said: “You can’t blame me for having a run for my money, I wasn’t to go quietly when there was two of us.”
It was not the wisest of things to admit to a burly Salford policeman who famously had no sense of humour.
In court the Stipendary thanked the helpful passerby Mr Jarvis for his aid in arresting Tarrant. Jarvis batted away the compliment and said that he was only doing his public duty when he saw the policeman being assaulted by the two men.
It would effectively seal the prisoners’ fate.
The Stipendary sentenced both men to two months imprisonment with hard labour added on top.
Today the charge of assaulting a police officer carries a maximum sentence of 6 months in prison, even more stringent than 100 years ago, but this kind of conduct still continues to this day.
Main image © Greater Manchester Police Museum
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