Nine Nine Nine

Nice surprise for St Albans folk this morning to discover in the Daily Telegraph (and possibly other papers, as well as the BBC website) a grand photo of a pre-war wooden police call box – as in telephone call.

St Albans City Police Remote Police Box 1931
COURTESY BT and DAILY TELEGRAPH

The reason for this and other photos issued from BT's archives, was the 80th anniversary of the 999 emergency telephone number in 1937.  And there, above the door of the box shown, is the name of the owner: St Albans City Police.  Yes, St Albans had its own police force until after World War Two.

Before proceeding further we should clear up one or two confusions.  Firstly, the impression is given that, because 999 began in 1937 and the box looked freshly painted, the box itself also dates from 1937.  In fact, St Albans City Police invested in six of these boxes in 1931, not for the prime purpose of the public making telephone calls, emergency or otherwise, but as a remote police station in miniature, where duty constables could complete their reports and file them by phone to the station in Victoria Street.  Since many officers lived local to their patch it saved the journey into the town and back again.  Since the phone was there anyway (and an electric light and small heater) an external grill was fitted to enable anyone to call the police station directly – no dialling, you simply pressed the call button and waited for the desk sergeant or another station officer to inquire the purpose of your call.  In fact, these boxes were not technically 999 phones with a dial, but of course the police station would call out other services on your behalf as required.

St Albans City Police Remote Police Box 1931
COURTESY HERTS ADVERTISER

Unlike the AA and RAC roadside boxes, where members had a Yale-like key to open the door, so that they could make their calls in the dry, only police officers had a key to the police boxes.

By 1939 it was considered that a stronger box would be required during wartime conditions, and so the wooden boxes were replaced by brick structures with reinforced concrete roofs.

The question is, where were these police boxes located?  I know of two sites: Sandridge Road (but that is a long road and a more precise location isn't yet known); and the junction of Beechwood Avenue (which had just been laid out) and Hatfield Road.  The latter was, apparently, box number 1.

St Albans City Remote Police Box 1939
COURTESY PHILIP ORDE

The two photographs appear not to be the same box, judging from the nearby homes, and neither is the Beechwood Avenue location.  If any reader can offer the possible whereabouts of the other five boxes, or at least the locations of either of the boxes shown in the photos, that would be helpful.

Incidentally, a smaller, pillar-mounted enclosure version, introduced in 1935, included, for the first time, a blue lamp which flashed to indicated to a passing police officer to call the central police station; but of course there was no little office to shelter in!