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Murdered officer’s bravery
remembered
a century after his
death
by IPA’s chosen charity
A policeman who was murdered as he tried to stop a factory break in more than a century ago, has had his
bravery honoured by the The Police Roll of Honour Trust. The Trust are the UK Section of The International
Police Association nominated Police charity.
Police Constable James Gordon, 26, was attacked with iron bars as he
stopped a gang of men breaking into a boiler works factory in St Helens,
Merseyside, in 1893. Although his death is listed in official police records,
his grave at St Helens Cemetery was left unmarked. But 120 years later
his resting place was tracked down. Once The Police Roll of Honour Trust
found out about this tragic state of affairs they commissioned a specially
engraved headstone for his grave and arranged a dedication ceremony to
mark the anniversary of the Scotsman’s death. Mounted police officers
from Merseyside Police led the official party into the cemetery as a police
guard of honour was formed leading up to the grave. Serving officers, some
of whom are members of the IPA, Police cadets, police community support
officers and members of the public were also among up to 200 people who
gathered to pay their respects. The memorial service was led by the force
chaplain of Merseyside Police.
The ill fated officer was born James Reid Gordon in Fordoun,
Kincardineshire, Scotland, on January 19, 1867, he was the son of poor
farmers and after his father’s early death his mother was left to fend for
James and his seven siblings, one as young as five months old. There
being no work in his home village he moved to St Helens where he joined
the St Helens Borough Police force and became Police Constable 57. It was
a challenging period for keeping law and order at a time of the national
miners’ strike over wages.
Just four-and-half years into the officer’s service he was the victim of an
unprovoked attack one cold winters night 1893. He disturbed three men
who had broken into a local Boiler Works. Despite severe head injuries
he managed to detain the attackers and help get them to the local police
office where he was given first aid and then sent home. He was to report
back a few hours later to give his evidence in Court but he never made
it back to duty. He succumbed to his injuries a short time later. His three
attackers were found guilty of murder following a trial at Liverpool and
sentenced to death, although their sentences were later commuted by
Queen Victoria to 15 years of hard labour.
PC Gordon was buried on November 16, 1893 and at his funeral were
mounted police officers from Liverpool, a large gathering of officers from
Liverpool and St Helens, and a huge number of local townsfolk. The police
and public of St Helens donated about £30 towards a headstone but
instead this was sent to his poor widowed mother in Scotland.
Steve Lloyd, the Trust Manager of The Police Roll of Honour Trust, told the
IPA “As an organisation we have never known of a murdered police officer
being left in an in unmarked grave before.”We see it as part of our work to
correct such wrongs. “We may never know why this local police hero was
left to lie in an unmarked grave but The Trust are pleased to be able to
mark his grave so that everyone knows where the young
PC James Gordon lies at rest. His duty well done.”
“This proves the job of a police officer never changes.
It will always be inherently dangerous.
“Any donations we receive from members
of the IPA will go to help us fund this sort
of project. It helps us prove our motto
‘LEST WE FORGET’.
POLICE WORLD
Vol 63 No. 1, 2018
24
IPA News