On the Beat with PC John Carr - Crime in Victorian Spittal

John Carr worked as a police constable from 1850 until his death in 1867 with a beat covering Berwick, Tweedmouth and Spittal. Berwick ran its own police force until 1920, separate from the county of Northumberland. As part of his day-to-day work Carr kept a logbook of the occurrences he encountered and this is stored in the Berwick Record Office. From dealing with drunks, burglars, riots, assaults and general nuisances, Carr’s life as a policeman was a varied one. Based on these logbooks, this walk will re-trace his footsteps around Victorian Spittal picking out some of his most interesting entries.