Sheffield police houses not on Letsby Avenue!

Syd wrote: “I noticed a letter recently in the Star reporting the closure of Hammerton Road Police Station .

I have previously done some research on the station that might be of interest.

The houses in the area started to be developed sometime around the late 1800s and early 1900s. Hammerton Road was named after Joseph Hammerton, who farmed in the area in the 1860s and 1870s.

In 1963 my parents bought their first house and we moved from the nearby Burton Street to live in Cotswold Road at Wisewood.

Some of the houses on this estate were built on land that had previously been the grounds of Dykes Hall that was demolished in the late 1920s.

When we moved in to our new home we were told some of the dwellings in the vicinity were originally used to house police officers who had been stationed at Hammerton Road police station that was newly built circa 1928 to 1930. After construction these houses became known locally as ‘the police houses’.

I wondered if one of these officers may have been the first occupant of our house. After researching I could find no evidence of this but did find officers occupying houses in the adjacent Leslie Road and Chiltern Road.

Leslie Road was named after Lieut John H Leslie of the Royal Artillery, a military historian who worked as an ordnance expert for Vickers.

He was one of the previous occupants of Dykes Hall before moving out after four years. This road was adopted by the council in 1933, which would suggest it was built circa 1930.

Kelly’s trade directory for 1933 lists the following officers. In Chiltern Road:

No 5, Frederick Saunders, detective officer.

No 6, Thomas West, police constable.

No 18, Wilfred Davy, detective officer.

No 30, George William Atkins, police constable.

No 35, William Horace Miall, police inspector. (He was promoted from chief inspector to superintendent in Central Division in 1937).

No 50, Thomas Holt, police constable.

At 17 Leslie Road was Harry Steel, a police constable.

The police station contained living quarters for the commanding officer and his family, the door to the accommodation was down the side of the building and had the address of 1 Dodd Street. This would have been the postal and electoral address for the officer.

The earliest electoral roll entry found for this address was for 1931, showing Superintendent John W Bell, who could have been the first commanding officer in charge of the new station. Also registered at this address was Lucy Bell – presumably his wife.

Kelly’s trade directory for 1934 shows Thomas A Woodward, resident police superintendent, at this address.”