The hidden history of the efforts of Scotland’s police officers to save the country from starvation during the First World War has been uncovered in a new book by a University of Glasgow academic.
Professor Mary Fraser spent seven years piecing together how police were redeployed as agricultural labourers during the crisis years of the war.
In 1917, hundreds of police officers were sent to work on farms throughout the UK in response to a food crisis caused by ships importing grain being sunk and the failure of the potato harvest.
More than 400 policemen were released from normal duties in March and April to help farmers as a national starvation crisis loomed.
Many also returned for the autumn harvest, according to Fraser’s new book The British Police and Home Food Production in the Great War.
In Scotland, at least 128 policemen were released to work in agriculture. That included 90 from Glasgow, 50 from Edinburgh, 41 from Berwick, Roxburgh and Selkirk, and 40 from Dundee.
Fraser unearthed the story in the library at Tulliallan Police College, poring through 20 years worth of the Police Review and Parade Gossip magazine, founded to give police a voice.
“I found it fascinating and I had no idea about it,” she said.
“You hear a lot about the land girls and prisoners of war working in fields – but they didn’t go into agriculture until after the police. A lot of their contribution has been lost.
“In 1917, the government realised it needed to make a huge effort to increase its home food production. Ships carrying grain were being sunk and because 81 per cent of grain was imported, that was a real catastrophe.”
“You hear a lot about the land girls and prisoners of war working in fields – but they didn’t go into agriculture until after the police. A lot of their contribution has been lost”
Professor Mary Fraser
She said the government turned to the police as a natural choice, drawing on links between farming and policing that were already strong.
“One third were recruited from agriculture. Police used to go into rural areas for a recruitment drive – they were stronger and more robust than those in cities.
“Farmers were the ideal workforce for the police. At the time, police were recruited by their height and chest measurement. You needed big, beefy men.”
Fraser said the numbers themselves tell a story.
“In Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk they only had a force of around 60 – and 60 per cent of them were sent into agriculture for around two months.
“By 1917, police were reduced by a third because they had gone to war. The numbers released into agriculture despite the fact they were a third down shows it was a serious, critical issue.
“What they actually did is really not known, but what was needed was ploughing. It was heavy, manual work. Ploughing disused land, or land that had been used for pasture.”
Police also had a huge part to play in maintaining peace in their new postings.
“When people face starvation, you get civil unrest,” Fraser said.
“What happened in Glasgow is particularly interesting. A huge problem at that time was a potato famine and the city was particularly badly affected.
“Glasgow Housing Association women were near riot. It was a class war situation.
“The provost sent police to agriculture. Ninety police from Glasgow – out of a force of 2,000 – were sent to work in fields around Glasgow and further afield on the east and west coast.
“It was, I think, motivated by being seen to do something. It boosted the provost – newspaper articles appeared praising Glasgow as leading the way.”
But when they arrived at the farms, police were called upon to manage unrest between farm workers and soldiers who had also been called to work on growing food.
“Farm workers were being paid less than soldiers bought in and were expected to show them how to do the job. It bred resentment. Police were there to keep the peace as well as work themselves.”
By 1918, the impact of police helping grow food was clear.
“There was a massive increase in crops – the largest in memory,” said Fraser.
“That is in no small part down to the police. It helped raise morale at a time of intense war weariness.”
Fraser thinks there could be a lesson for modern policing.
“The media view and public view of police is of fighting crime,” she said.
“But actually most of their work is about keeping peace. The lesson for now is that police are here to manage and support the population.”
After the war ended in 1918, the Police Act of 1919 outlawed police membership of unions and created the Scottish Police Federation – which is how this magazine got its name.