The photograph & text below are from Bedfordshire
Police 1840 - 1990 by Andrew Francis Richer, published by Paul
Hooley and Associates.
Chief Constable Boultbee 1840 - 1871
Captain Edward Moore Boultbee was born near Temple Balsall in
Warwickshire in 1797. His early career was spent as a seaman with the East
India Company working the shipping lanes between Britain and the Indian
ports of Calcutta, Bombay & Madras. In 1818 he was shipwrecked and cast
adrift when the Cabalva sank in a violent storm at sea. In later life
Captain Boultbee occasionally entertained his dinner guests with a vivid account
of the sailor's ordeal and their eventual rescue.
Boultbee's service with the East India Company proved
valuable in his securing his appointment as the first Chief Constable of the
Bedfordshire Constabulary. The formal qualifications required of prospective
chief constables under Home Office regulations in 1840 were not particularly
demanding - their age was not to exceed forty-five years, they were to be
physically fit to perform their duties, be of good character and not have been
certified bankrupt. Boultbee's prime attributes for the post were his wide
experience of life and his proven ability to manage men in the disciplined
environment found on board ship. His organisational ability was tested to the
full as he set about the task of finding six men to become superintendents in
the Bedfordshire force and a further forty men to be employed as constables.
