Heroic story of Avon and Somerset’s first life-saving police dog
This week saw the retirement of PD Ash[1], one of Avon and Somerset Constabulary’s[2] finest and most highly decorated police dogs. He is one in a long line of police dogs to have served with great bravery over the years so we thought his retirement would be a good opportunity to celebrate the force’s very first four-legged officer.
Below is the story of Jim, the very first Avon and Somerset Police Dog[3], who saved the life of one fellow officer and seems to have been born to patrol the streets of Bristol. Such an important part of police life was Jim that officers each paid for his upkeep.
Below, Avon and Somerset Police force historian Alan Vowels describes the force’s remarkable first four-legged crimefighter, from his unusual introduction to the force to the day he made national news headlines.
Jim, the first Avon and Somerset Police Dog
It was on a Summer’s Day in the mid-1920s that Father O’Connell first spotted the cardboard box as he made his way through Kings Square in Bristol. The box looked out of place and so he made his way over to it and cautiously lifted the lid and looked inside. Within was a small ball of black and brown fluff in the form of an Airedale puppy, staring longingly at him. Shortly thereafter, he presented the box to the Mother Superior of St Mary’s private hospital. The Sisters excitedly adopted him, named him Jim, paid his dog licence fee and over the next year, he became a regular sight in the hospital buildings and grounds. And then, overnight, he left…writes Alan Vowels.
Following an instinct only he could understand, at the age of about 12 months, Jim left the hospital and, having found a Police Constable, proceeded to follow him for the entirety of the officer’s beat. In the morning, the PC returned Jim to the hospital but that night he left again and found an officer to follow.
Each morning he was brought back and each evening he escaped and patrolled a beat with a PC. Jim decided, for reasons unknown, the dour-looking police station at Brandon Hill was now his home and the police constables were now his new friends.
By early 1925, Jim had moved into the station and even had his own basket in the parade room to sleep in. Jim was formally adopted by the station, the officers all volunteered to pay a shilling a week towards his upkeep and PC Simms volunteered to feed him and give him a weekly shampoo and bath. To mark his adoption by the station a collar was made or him and inscribed with the legend ‘Jim (Police Dog) Brando Hill Police Station, Clifton[6].’
Jim soon assumed a routine where he would sleep through the day in his basket, and when the officers paraded in the evening prior to going out, he would walk up and down the line before choosing a PC to patrol with that night. It was never the same PC as the night before.
One of the most amazing things about Jim was that despite all the enticements and encouragements of the Sergeants and Inspectors, he would not follow anyone other than a Constable. Now famous in the local press, one of the local papers, the Bristol Observer, even wondered in an editorial how Jim could tell the difference between the ranks.
“Meet PC ‘Jim’, the Clifton Police Dog…a dog of unusual intelligence and can tell a Sergeant from a Police Constable” – an article in Western Daily Press newspaper in May 1926.
PD Jim Saves a Life
Meet ‘PC Jim’ the Clifton Police Dog, described as a dog of unusual intelligence in an article in the Western Daily Press newspaper in 1926 (Image: Western Daily Press)
Already earning his place in the history of Avon and Somerset as possibly its first ever police dog, Jim took it to a new level when in October 1928 he saved the life of one of his adopted PC’s.
It was 1.30am and Jim was accompanying PC 133 Ogbourne on his beat along the Wells Road when the officer collapsed in the street, shattering his jaw, and rendering himself unconscious in the process. Jim initially barked for attention but when this failed, he returned to the police station and stood outside barking continuously.
PC 75 Nash, on duty inside, opened the door and proceeded down the hill to identify the reason for Jim’s distress but was unknowingly heading in the wrong direction. Jim grabbed the officer’s trouser leg in his teeth and pulled up the hill to encourage the PC to follow him. Three times he returned to PC Nash and tugged his trouser legs, ‘pulling’ him up the hill. The PC followed Jim some distance, where he discovered his seriously injured colleague and was able to facilitate an ambulance.
PC Ogbourne made a full recovery from a situation that the local press was quick to point out could have cost him his life. In the month’s following Jim’s rescue of the injured PC, the Mother Superior of St Mary’s gifted him to the Bristol Constabulary who, on February 8 1929, paid for his dog licence.
For aiding in the officer’s rescue, the Bristol Dog’s Home commissioned a special silver collar and medal detailing Jim’s loyalty. On 26 May 1930, a special ceremony was held in his honour within the Lord Mayor’s Parlour at the Council house, and the Lady Mayoress of Bristol awarded Jim with a “very beautiful” collar and engraved silver medal.
Both national and local newspapers printed his story.
References
- ^ PD Ash (www.bristolpost.co.uk)
- ^ Avon and Somerset Constabulary’s (www.bristolpost.co.uk)
- ^ Police Dog (www.bristolpost.co.uk)
- ^ Anger at new rule banning some dog walkers in parts of Somerset (www.bristolpost.co.uk)
- ^ First three Brits infected with dog disease as condition spreads among pets (www.bristolpost.co.uk)
- ^ Clifton (www.bristolpost.co.uk)