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mpsheritage.bsky.social
Metropolitan Police Museum and Crime Museum
@mpsheritage.bsky.social
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Metropolitan Police lives and stories 1829-now.

Open to researchers and visitors by appointment.

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mpsheritage.bsky.social
Metropolitan Police Museum and Crime Museum @mpsheritage.bsky.social · 5d
It's that time of year again! We'll be linking all our posts into a thread right here. #Museum30
magnifyzoology.bsky.social Gracie Price @magnifyzoology.bsky.social · 21d
Here are the prompts for #museum30 2025 - the ninth year!

If you would like to join in all you need to do is share an image, inspired by each days' prompt, throughout November. Don't forget to include #museum30 so other's can find your posts.
mpsheritage.bsky.social
We are always expanding our #LGBThistory holdings, for example by close contact with the Met's liaison officers to that community, but they began with our acquisition of 'This Small Cloud', the 1986 publication of the memoirs of a gay officer who served from 1925 to 1950. #Museum30 #rainbow #LGBT
Book cover showing a closeup of a black and white photograph of Daley in his Met helmet, with the superimposed title 'THIS SMALL CLOUD / A Personal Memoir / HARRY DALEY / Introduction by P.N. Furbank'.
November 10, 2025 at 7:45 AM
mpsheritage.bsky.social
This is probably the earliest #map in our collection showing the Met's original 17 divisions (geographical areas) as of 1837, only three years before its remit expanded from a 7 to a 12 mile radius from Charing Cross. #Museum30
Map of London on a pinkish background, the Thames running across the centre. It stretches from Brentford to the River Lea west-east and from Highgate to Penge Common north-south.
November 9, 2025 at 10:30 AM
mpsheritage.bsky.social
Annie Parker #stitch ed this sampler (now on show in our #CM150 exhibition) using her own hair as thread and gave it to the Rev John Horsley, chaplain to Clerkenwell Prison. In 1884 he gave it to our collection - Parker herself died the following year of TB aged only 35. #Museum30 #womensart
Cream sampler with a frilly border and details of hearts, showing two quotations from the Psalms and one from C H Spurgeon's 1855 book 'The Character of Christ's People' ("Thy home is in heaven"). At the four corners are inscribed the virtues of Prudence, Justice, Temperance and Fortitude and on the right side is a black stain.
November 8, 2025 at 10:36 AM
mpsheritage.bsky.social
16-year-old Daisy Pollex Adams appeared in the witness #box during a November 1901 Marylebone hearing into the practices of Ann and Frank Jackson's Theocratic Unity Temple near Regent's Park. At the Old Bailey the following month he was found guilty of Daisy's rape and Ann of abetting it. #Museum30
Drawing by William Hartley of a young girl in the witness box - she has long wavy hair, a large hat with a pom-pom in the centre, and a coat or jacket with large buttons. At bottom right is the artist's note "girl Adams Swami case victim" (Ann had culturally appropriated that Hindu religious title), at bottom centre his monogram and the court location ("WH MARYLEBONE"), and at top right further artist's notes on how the sketch was to be published.
November 7, 2025 at 3:23 PM
mpsheritage.bsky.social
This isn't just a chamber pot, this a G (Finsbury) Division-branded chamber pot ... #Museum30 #clay
Large, deep and round white bowl or pot with black detailing round its lip and elaborate decoration around its sides, including a logo reading "METROPOLITAN POLICE SERVICE / G DIVISION".
November 6, 2025 at 1:23 PM
mpsheritage.bsky.social
Met history is shared across many collections other than our own - for instance, the Albert Medal awarded to PC William Cole for getting a bomb out of the crypt of Westminster Hall 140 years ago is now in the @ukparliament.parliament.uk collection. #Museum30 #sharing #CM150 #BonfireNight
Page of a scrapbook kept by Inspector Frederick Abberline, best known for the Whitechapel Murders investigation, but also heavily involved in that into the bombs planted by Harry Burton and James Gilbert Cunningham on 24 January 1885, two at the Houses of Parliament and one at the Tower of London. This page is on display in our current exhibition and shows newspaper courtroom sketches of some of the witnesses (including Abberline himself), "Links in the chain of evidence" (the two trunks and a bag which had contained the devices), Burton and Cunningham themselves, the heads of the prosecution and defence team (the latter being William Quilliam, later the first British convert to Islam), and in the centre a scene of Miss Liveridge testifying at Bow Street Police Court. The trial later moved to the Old Bailey from 11 to 15 May 1885, where the pair were sentenced to life "for feloniously conspiring with [persons unknown] ... to depose the Queen from her Royal name and style of Queen of Great Britain and Ireland" and on "Other Counts for conspiring to levy war against the Queen, with intent by force and constraint to compel her to change her measures and to intimidate and overawe the Houses of Parliament".
November 5, 2025 at 11:38 AM
mpsheritage.bsky.social
It's that time of year again! We'll be linking all our posts into a thread right here. #Museum30
magnifyzoology.bsky.social Gracie Price @magnifyzoology.bsky.social · 21d
Here are the prompts for #museum30 2025 - the ninth year!

If you would like to join in all you need to do is share an image, inspired by each days' prompt, throughout November. Don't forget to include #museum30 so other's can find your posts.
November 5, 2025 at 10:30 AM
mpsheritage.bsky.social
We have 18 binders of sketches by John Worsley, who provided them for the Met & other constabularies from 1969 to 1999. He also created the PC49 comics, artwork for the 1980s 'The Wind in the Willows' TV series, & (as a #WWII naval POW) the dummy 'Albert RN'. #sketchbook #Museum30 #remembrance
Row of three negatives of sketches of women, with a handwritten label pasted to one end reading "Mar. 31 1979 / Airey Neave murder. / Anti Terrorist . Two girl friends of suspect.".
November 4, 2025 at 12:33 PM
mpsheritage.bsky.social
Get your skates on - it's only six tour weeks 'til Christmas! December slots for our #CM150 exhibition are now available at www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/metropolit....
Six male uniformed Met officers in helmets running out of a doorway in a glazed-brick wall and into the open back door of a post-war police van. Above them, two large round glazed windows with vertical bars.
November 4, 2025 at 10:58 AM
mpsheritage.bsky.social
The #eyes definitely have it in this Photo-Fit kit from our collection. Invented by Jacques Penry, it replaced the American Identikit in 1970 and was itself replaced by E-FIT in 1988. This one is on the object shortlist for our #Forensics125 exhibition next year - stay tuned! #CM150 #Museum30
Blue metal filing case with dividers, with its contents spread around it. These include paintbrushes and varieties of noses, glasses, moustaches and eyes from the kit.
November 3, 2025 at 7:58 AM
mpsheritage.bsky.social
This #signage was put up at the Crime Museum under Commissioner Sir Edward Bradford - his first wife Elizabeth Adela Knight was great-niece to Jane Austen. Our collection holds the claws of the tigress which claimed Bradford's left arm at Guna in central India in 1863. #Museum30 #CM150 #Austen250
Artistic sign, with each line in a different font, reading "Museum is open on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays between the hours of 2 and 4 P.M. only, upon presentation of a proper order 8th May 1894. By order of the Commissioner.".
November 2, 2025 at 10:30 AM
mpsheritage.bsky.social
We are two Museums (founded in 1875 and 1949), an archive and a reference library, covering the lives of Met officers and staff ever since 1829 and the crimes they have solved. #CM150 #Movember #Museum30 #Introduction
Sketch of a man in a waistcoat, suit and tie stands in a courtroom dock holding a notebook. He has dark hair with a side parting, pince-nez spectacles perched on his nose, and an impressively large moustache. This is one of over 140 courtroom sketches by William Hartley in our collections. It shows surgeon Dr Augustus Pepper (1849-1935) giving evidence in 1907 or 1908 about the exhumation of Thomas Charles Druce to prove he was not the 5th Duke of Portland. Pepper's part in the 1880 Harley Street Mystery and the 1910 Crippen case appears in our #CM150 exhibition until April 2026.
November 1, 2025 at 9:00 AM
Reposted by Metropolitan Police Museum and Crime Museum
philswallow.com
Today sees the 171th Anniversary of the Charge of the Light Brigade. Here is my tribute to the great Benjamin Beeson, a survivor who went on to serve as a member of the Metropolitan Police Mounted Division, based at Sanderstead: youtu.be/iHykEUsqw0I
@mpsheritage.bsky.social
Benjamin Beeson - Sanderstead's Local Hero, from the Crimean War to loyal Policeman
YouTube video by Phil Swallow
youtu.be
October 25, 2025 at 8:43 AM
mpsheritage.bsky.social
#OnThisDay 115 years ago began the trial of the murderer of Cora Crippen, a Polish-American music hall artiste also known by her stage name Belle Elmore. The investigation leading to it is fully covered in our #CM150 exhibition in Sidcup. #OTD #OnThisDayInHistory #truecrime #storyofamurder
Pencil sketch by William Hartley (one of 21 of the pre-trial hearings and trials of Crippen and his lover Ethel Le Neve in our collection), showing the moustachioed and besuited Dr William Willcox being cross-examined by Arthur Newton, part of Crippen's defence team. In the foreground is one of the wardresses from Holloway Prison who had charge of Le Neve, whilst another image inset at bottom right shows PC Gooch of the Met.
October 18, 2025 at 8:28 PM
Reposted by Metropolitan Police Museum and Crime Museum
storiesofbritain.bsky.social
Ruth Ellis born #OTD in 1926. The Welsh nightclub hostess shot her lover outside a Hampstead pub. She was the last woman to be executed in Britain. Hear her story in our Women and Crime podcast: tinyurl.com/4hducnyh #history #truecrime
October 9, 2025 at 8:52 AM
mpsheritage.bsky.social
I was married but I'm not married anymore. Women don't like the vehicle.
A print showing the Met supervision launch "Alert" in 1891, going at a fair lick with smoke coming from her single tall funnel. In the background are Waterloo Bridge and the Thames Division station at Waterloo Pier. The image is taken from a Strand Magazine article titled "A Night with the Thames Police".
October 16, 2025 at 4:42 PM
mpsheritage.bsky.social
A busy day on C (St James's) Division in 1963 ...
hannahhowe.bsky.social Hannah Howe @hannahhowe.bsky.social · 27d
Beatles fans in Palladium battle with the police. Five hundred screaming teenaged girls besieged the Beatles at the London Palladium yesterday. Two inspectors leading a force of twenty sergeants and constables walked slowly towards the girls.
October 14, 2025 at 2:14 PM
Reposted by Metropolitan Police Museum and Crime Museum
lucyworsley.bsky.social
The secret's out! Read more about ⚰️VICTORIAN MURDER CLUB⚰️ here!
www.bbc.com/mediacentre/...
October 13, 2025 at 9:59 AM
mpsheritage.bsky.social
Today we're remembering all the #goodboys in Met history, from the bloodhounds loaned by Commissioner Warren in 1888 for use in Whitechapel to Dexter the wellbeing dog today. #dogsofbluesky #worlddogday #jourinternationalduchien #doglover #blackandwhitephotography #policedogs #goodboy
Black and white uniform of a man from S (Hampstead) Division in post-1952 Met helmet, jacket trousers and on-duty armband squatting in front of a fence. Beside him is an Alsatian or German Shepherd with perked-up ears and head cocked to one side who looks at the officer intently.
October 10, 2025 at 12:00 PM
mpsheritage.bsky.social
'The Crime Museum Uncovered' opened #OnThisDay ten years ago at @londonmuseum.bsky.social, the first of only two public exhibitions of the collection ever. The second is now on in Sidcup and runs until April 2026, with December bookings opening in early November.
#OTD #ThrowbackThursday #CM150
Met police car with its door open behind blue and white police crime scene tape. Above to the left a sign stating 'THE CRIME MUSEUM UNCOVERED' and above to the right one panel of the rotating triangular New Scotland Yard sign.
October 9, 2025 at 12:22 PM
Reposted by Metropolitan Police Museum and Crime Museum
helen60.bsky.social
My husband's great-grandfather William Henry Symonds was a Police Constable with the Metropolitan Police. He joined in 1882 (King's Cross Division) and transferred to Willesden in 1887. He was assaulted in 1890 (account below) and retired in 1908. I would love to find a photo of him! #genealogy
October 6, 2025 at 3:27 PM
Reposted by Metropolitan Police Museum and Crime Museum
polhissoc1985.bsky.social
This year's edition is themed around Police #Museums. We have a story of the Crime Museum, about @mpsheritage.bsky.social, a look in the National Emergency Services Museum, and the Kent Police museum.
#PoliceHistory
October 5, 2025 at 2:11 PM
Reposted by Metropolitan Police Museum and Crime Museum
polhissoc1985.bsky.social
The Police History Society is delighted to preview the front cover of this year's Journal which will be landing slightly earlier than normal this year, due to conference being earlier.

This year marks our 40th anniversary, so we are celebrating our ruby anniversary with a change of cover colour.
October 5, 2025 at 2:11 PM
mpsheritage.bsky.social
#BHM #BlackHistoryMonth #BlackHistoryMonth2025 #BlackBritishHistory
ihrblackbritish.bsky.social IHR Black British History Seminar @ihrblackbritish.bsky.social · Sep 25
The IHR Black British History seminar series is now on BlueSky!

Follow us for updates and keep your eyes peeled for information about our upcoming seminars 👀

@ihr.bsky.social #BlackBritishHistory #historians #academia
Photograph of the Black People’s Day of Action, March 1981
October 2, 2025 at 10:03 AM
mpsheritage.bsky.social
#Hivemind time again! We've had an enquiry about the medals of this smart-looking chap (Grenadier Guards c. Boer War, then Met 1903-1928, plus army for the First World War), photographed in Elephant and Castle. Any thoughts @nationalarmymuseum.bsky.social @se1.news and @kennintonrunoff.bsky.social?
Black and white studio portrait of a male Met officer in tunic, belt, on-duty armband, sergeant's stripes and medals. Next to him is a stand on which rests his helmet, which like his collar shows the divisional number A44. Closeup of the photographer's stamp reading 'L. BENDER / 40, LONDON ROAD, / LONDON, S.E.1.' Closeup of medals from the first image - Queen's South Africa Medal, 1914 or 1915 Star, British War Medal, Victory Medal, ????, ????
September 25, 2025 at 12:40 PM