Cumbria Constabulary recently had a request for assistance in helping a member of the public with any details they may have on a retired officer of the old Cumberland and Westmorland Constabulary, the dates were pre 1900. His name was William Schollick (sometimes spelt Scholick) Wilkin, and he was known to have at sometime be stationed at Pooley Bridge. The constabulary now has no museum and there was no data, so I was asked on a personal level if I could assist the member of the public as I have recently done a number of historical policing issues.
I was able to supply that member of the public with nearly thirty incidents that the officer was involved in, and some family matters too. As it developed there came an interesting piece of information that could loosely be called Pooley Bridge history, so I thought I would document the officer here, for local knowledge.
William Schollick was born in Longtown in the second quarter of 1847, the 'Schollick' being his mother's name. He was the 1st born of five brothers and one sister, he and his brother John were born prior to the marriage of the 'parents', although John was recorded as a Wilkin. It may be that William had a different father, or just that the parents had not married at this time, but were a parental partnership. Little is known of him but in the 1861 census his mother was by then a widow, with William working as a bobbin turner.
William married an Elizabeth Scott, also of Longtown, in the 2nd quarter of 1869. From a eulogy of his death on 22nd March 1923, he was known to have worked for a short spell for the North British Railway, prior to joining The Cumberland and Westmorland Constabulary in 1870. Now as a police officer his life and career begin to be mapped out in newspaper accounts of court cases, and occasional family matters. His first recorded case was on 2nd February 1871 at Whitehaven court where Mary Anne Connolly, a 'fallen woman', was before them for being drunk and disorderly, PC Wilkin being the arresting officer. Through other cases in Whitehaven, his collar number is recorded as PC148. In March of 1872 he and a colleague were charged with assaulting two ore miners they had arrested for police obstruction. The allegation was the miners had incited a prisoner to assault the police officers. After a heated argument in court over procedural issues, the two miners was found Guilty, and the case against the officers was dismissed without any case going ahead against them. The other Whitehaven cases were generally licensing offences and assaults, the standard fare of any police officer who patrols the streets.
In May 1874 a change occurs where he is at Workington Magistrates with a case of theft of a plank of pitch pine wood from North Side area, the property of the West Cumberland Iron and Steel Company; William was then recorded as being stationed at Seaton, near Workington, still in West Cumberland; the culprit received 3 months imprisonment. There was another case of burglary in 1874 then he is recorded dealing with a case of someone playing 'Pitch and Toss', in Seaton in 1877; the offender was fined 2s 6d, with costs! On Monday 7th October 1878 a presentation was made to him by the residents of Seaton, of an inscribed silver tea and coffee service with a cruet stand, in gratitude of his work in the village over his 5 years as their officer. It was said that he had given a great deal of his time to the welfare of those in the village and there had not been a single refusal in the gathering of subscriptions for the gift by the committee. Constable Wilkin replied that he was both honoured and it was the proudest moment of his life.
He had now moved with his family to Pooley Bridge and would spend the final 16 years of his career at that rural office. He dealt with cases of snaring hares, and various cases of disorder in the village. In July 1887 he was at court with two men who had poisoned fish in a beck near Greystoke, one receiving £1 fine, the other £3, as it was his 3rd occasion before the court for similar offences. Police work invariably involves an officer in family tragedies, and one such case was the death of Isaac Howell, of Croft House, Greystoke Gill, who was found in the river Lowther on Friday 9th October 1891, having gone to tend stock; the inquest result was 'Found Drowned'.
The greatest public praise Constable Wilkin received was following a case before the Assize court towards the end of October 1886. A notorious burglar called Charles Webster (alias Thomson) 46 years, and a tramp called George Moor, 26 years had broken into a house of Isaac Harrison at Castle Sowerby on 18th September and stole property. Then on 17th October they broke into the house of William and Elizabeth Davis in Greystoke parish. On this last occasion Constable Wilkin tracked them from Watermillock to Windermere where he discovered they had then parted company. He sent a telegram to Kendal police, who detained Webster; Constable Wilkin then proceeded to Ulverston and apprehended Moor at a lodging house, with the assistance of the Lancashire Constabulary. At Carlisle Assizes, due to Webster's previous criminal record he received 5 years penal servitude, and Moor, 12 months hard labour. It was said that the officer had put a check on a crime wave in the area.
On 16th July 1896 he assisted in a dragging operation on Ullswater where a young lady called Annie Wilson, daughter of William Wilson the leaser of the Keswick Hotel, had been struck by the boom of the sailing yacht she was a passenger in, and knocked overboard, immediately sinking and she was drowned. It had occurred near Howtown and the drags were being used at Stybarrow Crag, in another operation to recover a body of a boy who had drowned on the Saturday. That operation was suspended to search for Miss Wilson's body. It was found near 10pm that day.
As his career drew to a close he came up to the moment where he had the narrowest of escapes from serious injury, or even death, and at the hands of poachers. On Thursday 21st January 1897 he came into Penrith in a very dazed state. At 6:10am he had come across two poachers at Red Hill, Sockbridge, carrying bags and each had a 6ft long ash stick. He went to search them and was threatened. He continued and was beaten by both with the sticks, yet managed to knock both down with his truncheon as he heard them shout about killing him and throwing him off the bridge and into the water. One got up and as the officer went to seize the bag, he was knocked unconscious by a blow to the back of the head and left lying in that state. Both men, James Thompson and Robert Thomlinson, had been known to him and were later arrested. He had been too ill to attend the remand hearing, a huge lump, being on the back of his head. At the Petty Sessions on Tuesday 2nd February Thomlinson received a 4 month sentence, and Thompson received 6 months, due to previous offences.
William retired from the constabulary in 1897 and the Wilkin family took up residence in Penrith. The 1901 and 1911 censuses showed him to be at 3 Mill Street and recorded him as a retired policeman and also said he was a farmer. The latter census stated that the couple had had 11 children, sadly only 6 now survived, and it is at this point that an ordinary story of a diligent officer, takes a turn that appears to be little known, if at all, in the Cumbrian area.
Of those children, John was a postmaster at Saltburn, William had a large ironmongery business at Barrow, Albert had gone into the confectionary business on the North East, and James was in British Columbia; the two daughters were now married. William and Elizabeth had celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary, but this memory was marred by Elizabeth's death, just a week after the happy event. William spent his time visiting family and it was whilst at Albert's house, on the North East that he died on Thursday 22nd March 1923. He was laid to rest at Penrith cemetery on Saturday 24th, a large crowd of family and friends accompanying him to his grave.
The son Albert was born at Pooley Bridge on 22nd April 1883 and it is that association with the confectionary business that is a revealing piece of Pooley Bridge history. He was born Albert Schollick Wilkin but when he died on 20th September 1943, he died as Sir Albert Schollick Wilkin. He had begun a confectionary business and this quickly expanded into one of the most successful brands the country has known, the Cremona Toffee. It led to the development of a 'Garden Village' industry, one of the first in the north; A. S. Wilkin Ltd., Cremona Park, High Heaton. He became a giant of the confectionary industry and was known to be heavily involved in any improvement in its conditions and standards. He became an executive member of a number of Food manufacturing federations and alliances. He later worked on the introduction of light industries to Tyneside, his company ideas gaining the approval and adoption of Ramsay McDonald. As WWII approached he gave his efforts towards anything associated with war production. He was also a member of the Newcastle and Gateshead Chamber of Commerce, and a member of the Council of Commerce, Kings College, Newcastle. He was a supporter of the conservatives and for the 12 years prior to his death he was chairman of the Central Division Conservative Association. Of his other accolades, he was a Freeman of the City of London and a member of the Worshipful Company of Feltmakers and Liverymen of the City of London. He was knighted in June 1939 'For Political and Public Services in Newcastle-upon-Tyne.
Albert died on 19th September 1943, aged 60 years, leaving a wife and three sons, all serving with the British Armed Forces. I am sure his illegitimately born father, who became a police officer, would have been proud of Albert's achievements.
Not wishing to detract from the work of others, I have attached two links which explain further the detail of Albert's rise from the son of a Pooley Bridge Police Officer, to become a Knight of the country. The 2nd link is a sale site, but they use a document to explain the history and adds to the story.
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