Museum of Policing in Devon & Cornwall

01/09/2026

This live performance on Sunday 20th September 'The Superintendent's Letters' at the Courtroom within Tavistock Guildhall Heritage Centre. Featuring our own Simon Dell MBE.

Booking and further information via the link for free tickets.

Please note: this is not our production but the Mini-Museum will be open that day 11am-3pm.

Join Tavistock Edge and Police Superintendent Mitchell of Tavistock Police Division, brought back to life, as he recounts cases from the ordinary lives of the citizens of Tavistock and West Devon during the last quarter of the nineteenth century when he was in charge of policing the Division here. T...

01/09/2026

01/09/2026

Have you ever visited an archive before?

If not here's your chance.

See how books and documents relating to policing history are catalogued, researched and stored.

Discover interesting stories and perhaps uncover something unseen for many years.

On Wednesday 16th September our Archivist and Volunteer Team from the Police Archive at Devon Heritage Centre, Exeter will be hosting two tours on that day.

Bookings for the 10.30am and 2pm tours are being taken now.

Please email: [email protected] to reserve your place.

Bookings will close on 13th September or earlier if the tours are full.

30/08/2026

Whilst attending a domestic disturbance at 6 Castle Street in the Barbican area, Police Constable Wilce was offered ‘violent language and threats’ by the householder Robert Humphries. After Humphries went back in doors, a cry of ‘murder!’ was heard from inside and Constable Wilce responded by opening the front door. Humphries grabbed the officer and pulled him inside, after which the officer was heard crying ‘help!’ Constable Wilce soon staggered back onto the street and collapsed and died suddenly. A post-mortem revealed Constable Wilce had no visible injuries and death was due to heart disease accelerated by a violent assault.
At the Coroners Court, PC Albert Ryan gave evidence. He said he was called from the Parade at 20 minutes past twelve. On arriving in Castle-street he found deceased lying on the ground, with a witness and others around him. PC Wilce's face was flushed, and the witness thought he was breathing.
Unfortunately, PC Wilce was dead.
Chief Constable Sowerby stated ' The fact that deceased had been engaged in a struggle would accelerate death. But for that he might now have been alive'.
Robert Humphries stood trial at Exeter Assizes on 12th November 1903.
He was convicted of manslaughter but the jury ‘strongly recommended the prisoner to mercy.’ He was ordered to undertake two months’ hard labour.

Constable Edwin Wilce had served Plymouth Borough Police for 19 years with only 6 days of sickness in nearly 2 decades.

With thanks to Mark Rothwell.

24/08/2026

Early in the morning of 25th August 1842, two men fishing on the banks of the River Camel at Wadebridge found the dead body of a man named Edward Brown. A short time later, Brown’s hat and a police constable’s official staff were located downstream.
A search was mounted, and the body of Parish Constable John Edmund Avery was found close by. It was supposed that Constable Avery had been investigating Brown for theft and had caught him in the act whilst on his rounds the night before.
A struggle ensued, and both men entered the water and drowned.

With thanks to Mark Rothwell.

24/08/2026

The Museum has been working to 'bash the backlog' as we prepare to catalogue the collection onto a new system.
One of our entries this week was a 'pince-nez' style pair of spectacles in a case. These were a gift on the retirement of Inspector Henry Maddock from Devonport County Borough Police in 1902. Unsurprisingly, the optic glass from 124 years ago has gone, but the spectacles still have the clever engineering to sit and 'pinch the nose' to stay in position.
Devonport County Borough Police were amalgamated into Plymouth Borough Police in 1914 at the outbreak of the First World War.

23/08/2026

Heritage Open Days is approaching fast.
We will open our Police Archive at Devon Heritage Centre, Exeter for Tours on Wednesday 16th September and our Stores Tours at the Police Station in Okehampton on Thursday 17th & Friday 18th September.
The Archive and Stores Tours will need to be booked.
The Mini-Museum in Tavistock will open as normal with the addition of 2 Sundays on 13th & 20th. No booking required.

To see what's on during the Heritage Open Days event for our museum and other attractions here's the website details: https://www.heritageopendays.org.uk/whats-on/search-2026-events.html

21/08/2026

The peace of Lostwithiel was broken in the summer of 1814 when a fracas between bystanders and two armed, drunken soldiers left the town’s policeman dead. On the day of the incident, the 28th Regiment of Foot was marching through Lostwithiel on its way to Plymouth and many of the townsfolk had gathered to watch. Two men of the regiment, Richard Rogers and John Sims, lagged behind somewhat worse for wear for drink and approached the town constable, William Hicks, and asked him for free passage by cart to the next town. The constable refused, and the duo became threatening and a scene soon developed. Residents began trading barbs with the men who then loaded a musket and threatened to shoot. A shot rang out but was only ‘flash in the pan,’ and the men reloaded. The noise attracted the attention of the town’s peace officer, Sergeant Joseph Burnett, who turned out in his official cloak to address the offenders and threatened to arrest whoever fired the shot. Sims shot Burnett twice at close range, with one bullet passing through him and hitting bystander Walter Davies. Burnett staggered into a public house and was later carried to his home where he died from his wounds. Davies died three days later. Rogers and Sims were committed to Bodmin Assizes on a charge of murder. Rogers was acquitted and later served in the Army during the Battle of Waterloo. Sims was hanged on 31st March 1815 and his body given for dissection.

With thanks to Mark Rothwell.