Rail crime is something that as users of railways we can all become a victim of.

Last year I was at Paddington Station and was amused by the announcement over the loud speaker system warning passengers that “Professional thieves operate at this station.”

I found this puzzling; since when had thieving become a profession?

As long as there have been railways there has been thieving.

Railways liberated crime and criminals, however it also made collaring villains and transporting them from one part of the kingdom to the other simpler and more cost effective. I believe the word police is taken from the French and has unpleasant connotations associated with the French Revolution and later Napoleon Bonaparte and was given by people in reference to “special constables” as a derogatory term. The specials, who were sworn officers were formed to protects docks and the new railways.

This force was used to police and control the Stockton and Darlington Railway and other railway companies used them to deal with the large force of unruly navigators (“navvies”) who were building the railways at that time.

The police also controlled the railways they were responsible for the safety of passengers and goods and therefore had to inspect track within their beat and allow trains to move forward only when safe.

Train control was their responsibility as signals had not yet been invented.

The Manchester Liverpool Railway had one police officer every mile, who allowed the train to proceed to the next policeman.

He would give the driver his truncheon to take to the next police officer were it was exchanged then sent back with the return train, which was the only way of showing that the track was clear and safe.

All of this was in a time without phones, or telegraphs and before clocks and watches being affordable for ordinary people.

When a train left a station no one knew where it was at any time until it arrived back at the station.

The police officers made sure that their truncheons were decorated or given their own mark, not only to identify it as their own property but, again, to prove that safety procedures had been followed.

The Great Western Railway Police would police Swindon during the nights, and the newly formed Wiltshire Constabulary during the day time.

The Great Western Railway Police had a reputation for being strict and alert.

Though the first recorded GWR officer to die was PC John Dickson on January 12, 1842, aged 48 when he was fatally injured when knocked down by a loco while signalling trains.

During the Second World War several officers were killed as the result of enemy action during air raids.

In 1948 all the railway police forces were amalgamated into the British Transport Commission Police Force, responsible for Railways and Docks. Today it is known as the British Transport Police.

The GWR has a unique footnote in history as in January 1845 its railways signal telegraph was the first to be used to track a murder suspect, John Tawell, on board a train from Slough to Paddington.

This is also the first known recorded case of a murderer fleeing the crime scene by train.

John Tawell was a Quaker who in 1820 had been transported to Australia in a prison ship for forgery.

Later he returned to England and became a wealthy chemist but in 1845 he was charged with poisoning his mistress Sarah Hart with prussic acid and, on being convicted of her murder, was the last person publicly hanged at Aylesbury in March 1845.