- Police Minstrels
The Police Minstrels was a concert party consisting of members of the
London Metropolitan Police .Founded in 1872 by ten officers from "A" Division (
Whitehall ), the Minstrels consisted of police officers who could sing or play a musical instrument. They performed atpolice station s to entertain the officers, and also gave publicconcert s in aid of police charities. The Minstrels woreevening dress andblackface makeup , in the manner of the typicalminstrel show s of the period, and sangnegro spiritual s and popularballad s and songs, as well as playing instrumentals. They also performed comedy sketches, originally written for them by the popularmusic hall artiste andpantomime dame Clarkson Rose . The Minstrels were very popular - in the 1928/29 season alone, they gave about 140 performances.Seats for the public concerts were sold door-to-door by uniformed
Sergeant s. Commissioners Sir William Horwood and Lord Byng both objected to this, as did thePolice Federation , claiming that people may feel intimidated into buying tickets and that it detracted from the dignity of the rank. The Minstrels survived by pointing to the amounts of money they raised for charity. However, Lord Trenchard discovered that ticket sales were entirely dependent on this method of selling and felt that this was a form ofblackmail . In 1932, he ordered that the door-to-door selling should cease. The Minstrels attempted to continue by selling tickets fromtheatre box office s and police stations, but were disbanded the following year.The Minstrels raised a total of £250,000 for the
Metropolitan and City Police Orphanage , theMetropolitan and City Police Convalescent Home , and the Widows' and Relief Funds. Trenchard set up the Commissioner's Fund to replace this vital source of income for these police charities.The most prominent member of the Minstrels was Sir
James Olive , the first Deputy Commissioner, who had been a founder member in 1872 and later became the group's president.References
*"The Times" Digital Archive
*Martin Fido & Keith Skinner, "The Official Encyclopedia of Scotland Yard" (Virgin Books, London:1999)
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