Edith Smith

Edith Smith (21 November 1876 – 26 June 1923) was the first female police officer in the United Kingdom with full power of arrest. Early life Edith Smith was born on 21 November 1876, in Oxton, Birkenhead. She was one of six children of nursery and seedman James Smith and his wife Harriet. In 1897 she married stationer and tobacconist William Smith. They had three daughters and a son together. She worked for a time as a sub-postmistress. Her husband died in 1907. The 1911 census shows Smith had moved to London and was training to be a midwife. The daughters were at different schools and the son was in an orphanage near Blackburn. Shortly after this she took up a post as a matron at a nursing home. Police career Founded in 1914, the Women Police Volunteers (WPV) was staffed by volunteers such as Smith. It was founded by Nina Boyle and Margaret Damer Dawson, who fell out over its anti-prostitution role in London and elsewhere in February 1915, with Boyle leaving the organisation and Dawson reforming it as the Women's Police Service (WPS) with herself as head. Smith remained with the WPS and in August 1915 she was appointed the first woman police constable in England with full power of arrest. Her duties were to deal with cases where women were involved. She was concerned with trying to reduce the number of prostitutes in Grantham who were attracted there by the nearby army base. She received 28 shillings (£1.40) a week. In April 1917 this was raised to £2/10/– (£2.50) a week. This was more than the oldest male police constable in the force due to the fact that her "duties were most onerous", and took into account that she was also a qualified nurse. In 1916, PC Smith cautioned 100 wayward girls in larceny cases and also 16 women and 15 girls who had been found to be drunk. Ten prostitutes were convicted, 10 were handed over to their parents and 50 were cautioned. Smith wrote of her time in Grantham: "The appointment has made such a vast difference – the prostitutes have found that it does not pay and the frivolous girls have bowed down."