RIDING or driving on the pavement in Oxford was a problem even in the 19th century.

One of the first decisions of the city’s first Chief Constable, Charles Head, who took up his post on January 1, 1869, was to instruct his men to clamp down on the practice.

They were told to report any person seen “driving or drawing any carriage, sledge, truck, barrow or velocipede upon the footway in any street.”

There was one concession: “This shall not extend to bath chairs or perambulators, so long as they are occupied.“ A reminder to officers came two years later when it was stated that “perambulators containing vegetables, linen etc are being wheeled on the footways” and that complaints had been received of “furious driving, especially by butchers’ and bakers’ carts, to the danger of the public”.

This was followed by an order calling attention to a local Act forbidding locomotives propelled by steam or anything other than animal power to pass through the city except from 11pm until 6am, and then only at a speed of two miles per hour.

When Mr Head took command of the force, then based in Blue Boar Street, he started a ‘permanent order book’ which gave instructions and information to officers.

It began: “Pc 18 dismissed this day for being drunk and sitting down in a doorway in St Giles when on duty at 2.15am.”

The next entry read: “Drowned in the Isis Pc 31. Paid to the 4th inst.”

In 1870, officers were warned about “petty pilfering”, a constable having been dealt with for taking an apple from a market stall.

Later that year, Mr Head ordered that “a police rattle will always be kept on the station, and in case of a fire, the officer in charge will ring the rattle in order to bring police on duty to his assistance”.

Police were expected to be on their best behaviour at all times. “No rough play or practical jokes are allowed among members of the force whether on or off duty, and any officer having knowledge of any breach of this rule is required to report forthwith.”

These reflections were given in a talk by the city’s third Chief Constable, Charles Fox, to members of the Rotary Club of Oxford in 1961.