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Wednesday, June 28, 2023
Superintendant Jotcham
Our last example of Gloucester's finest is also the highest ranking,
Police Superintendant John Henry Jotcham. stiff upper lip and all.
Wow. It does seem that good looks were a prerequisite for being a policeman back then. I wonder what they looked like in the locker room...if they had a locker room.
Nothing much can happen in England without the infamous class system coming into play. Until only very recently when the police started to recruit university graduates on an accelerated promotion programme, the police were always traditionally drawn from the bottom of the lower middle classes, who were presumed still to know every trick in the book of the working classes, who were equally presumed to be more likely to break the law. To emphasize the fact that we are presumed to be policed by consent, officers were drawn from the local populace and had to live within the boundaries of the force in which they served. Superintendant Jotcham above might well have had a very stiff upper lip indeed, but this shrewd and steely-eyed individual would have had a distinct Gloucestershire burr, making him sound like a farmer to anyone above his social station. That was brilliantly and beautifully brought out in the film Gosford Park (2001, directed by Robert Altman and written by Julian Fellowes, who brought us Downton Abbey), when Inspector Thompson (Stephen Fry) has to be asked by Lady Sylvia McCordle (Kristin Scott Thomas) to put the milk in first when serving her a cup of tea.
You might in the past have been taken for a colonial - if that is not too painful for you. Many in the hotter colonies didn't use milk because without refrigeration, it would go off.
My father had a career in law enforcement so this set was much appreciated.The men I met over the years were pretty much like these gentleman, handsome and quite burly. Attributes that were not lost on me!
Wow. It does seem that good looks were a prerequisite for being a policeman back then. I wonder what they looked like in the locker room...if they had a locker room.
ReplyDeleteSome Victorian police stations had dormitories, so there were likely some sort of changing rooms.
DeleteNothing much can happen in England without the infamous class system coming into play. Until only very recently when the police started to recruit university graduates on an accelerated promotion programme, the police were always traditionally drawn from the bottom of the lower middle classes, who were presumed still to know every trick in the book of the working classes, who were equally presumed to be more likely to break the law. To emphasize the fact that we are presumed to be policed by consent, officers were drawn from the local populace and had to live within the boundaries of the force in which they served. Superintendant Jotcham above might well have had a very stiff upper lip indeed, but this shrewd and steely-eyed individual would have had a distinct Gloucestershire burr, making him sound like a farmer to anyone above his social station. That was brilliantly and beautifully brought out in the film Gosford Park (2001, directed by Robert Altman and written by Julian Fellowes, who brought us Downton Abbey), when Inspector Thompson (Stephen Fry) has to be asked by Lady Sylvia McCordle (Kristin Scott Thomas) to put the milk in first when serving her a cup of tea.
ReplyDeleteI drink my hot tea straight up without anything added. What social class does that put me in?
DeleteYou might in the past have been taken for a colonial - if that is not too painful for you. Many in the hotter colonies didn't use milk because without refrigeration, it would go off.
DeleteI've been called worse.
DeleteA fascinating and entertaining walk down memory lane - in this instance, a lane I know so well. Very many thanks. Much appreciated, Jerry.
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome, Julian!
DeleteMy father had a career in law enforcement so this set was much appreciated.The men I met over the years were pretty much like these gentleman, handsome and quite burly. Attributes that were not lost on me!
ReplyDeleteMakes me smile to know the series had personal meaning for you.
DeleteThanks Jerry, it did. There was a respect that one had for men like these.
ReplyDelete