The original police pay list for the Maidstone Station from 1839

A rare insight into early policing at Maidstone has surfaced at a Shropshire auction house.

A document listing all the members of the first police contingent in Maidstone, was submitted for sale through Mullock’s auctioneers in Old Shippon.

It was the pay list for the force in 1839 and showed there was one superintendent, one inspector and 11 constables.

Auctioneer Richard Westwood-Brookes said: "The Maidstone Police Force was formed following the Municipal Corporations Act of 1835. It is therefore highly likely that the names listed comprise the very first police force in the town.

"Up until this time, there was not a formal Police Force. Law and order was enforced by a mixture of locally employed sheriff’s men, who were actually known as constables, and parish officials such as the beadles and parish wardens.

"Of course if matters got really out of hand, the called on the local militia."

Mr Westwood-Brookes said: "Social life was dangerous. Criminals had more than a fighting chance of getting away with their crimes, and detection was primitive to say the least.

"It was against this background that Sir Robert Peel founded the Police Force, but its development took many years to implement. Maidstone was one of the first major towns to have its own force, following the 1835 Act."

"The fact that this document dates from only a few years after the foundation of the Force, suggests that the various men who have signed it were in fact the very first policemen in the town."

The payroll for the week April 21 to April 27, 1839, reveals that the superintendent was paid £1,15s a week (£1.75p). The Inspector received £1,5s (£1.25p) and the Constables 18s (90p).

Two of the Constables couldn’t write. They had to make a mark in place of a signature.