Law and Order - Constable Robert Ritchie Alma Faunce

Constable Faunce came to Springwood at an interesting time in the history of the area. In 1902 he was given the task of collecting names, under the Women’s Franchise Act, that would enable the ladies of the district to be included on the 1903 electoral roll. However the task was not easy, and the Nepean Times reported that at least a dozen ladies refused to be enrolled. The election of 1903 was the first NSW election in which ladies were eligible to vote.

      

Constable Faunce was also faced - on a regular basis - with the arrest of drunk and disorderly persons. The railway workings brought all kinds of people into the area and the associated problems cause by the influx.  Tramps were also a common occurrence in the district during the early 1900s, and there was always a theft of some kind to follow up. The tramps broke into the ‘grand houses’, usually left vacant during the week in the hope of finding portable goods to sell or perhaps something to eat. However, Constable Faunce was equal to his job because more often than not he caught up with the criminal, arrested the drunk, put out the fire or, on one occassion, captured an escaped lunatic.

      

He was born in 1875, the son of Alured Dodsworth and Henrietta Charlotte M. Faunce.  Alured Dodsworth was the son of Alured Tasker Faunce who arrived in Sydney with the 4th Regiment of Foot on 9th October, 1832. 

In 1899, Robert married Ethel J. Saunders and following their marriage three children were born; Alured D. in 1901, Richard A. in 1902 and Harry S in 1904.  In March 1905, a send off was held in the Royal Hotel where Constable Faunce was presented with a silver cruet, butter dish and two salt cellars with his name engraved on each. These were to be sent on to him when he took up his new position at St Albans.  Attending the send off were Messrs F. Wilson JP (Chair), S. Duncan (Vice Chair), T.F. Smith (Secretary) and many other gentlemen of the area. Messrs J.D. Ewens JP, A. Colless JP and T. Garrett sent apologies.

      

During the evening Mr Maidment (licensee of the Royal Hotel) sang ‘Hearts of Oak’ to those assembled, and was joined with further songs from P. & R. Tanner, F. Towle, J. Gibbes and others.

      

Constable Middleton took the place of Constable Faunce, who died in 1942.

Pamela Smith from The Making Of A Mountain Community: A Biographical Dictionary of the Springwood District.

Ref:

Alured Tasker Faunce of Queanbeyan, Monaro Pioneers, http://www.monaropioneers.com/.

Law & Order: Constable John Illingworth

John Illingworth, Springwood’s first Police officer, was born in Springwells in Yorkshire in 1852.  He learned the trade of bolt maker in his father’s business but is believed to have gone to sea for some years. 

Around 1875 he married Frances Mary Grainger and their first child Rosa was born in 1876, followed by Charley who died soon after his birth in 1879.  The Illingworths decided to make a fresh start in the colonies and John set off ahead of the family, arriving in Sydney in 1879 on the vessel Hankow.  Presumably Frances and Rosa followed soon after.  On the13th April 1880 he was sworn in as a constable of the New South Wales Police Force.

Police records describe John as being 5 feet 10 inches tall with blue eyes and brown hair, fresh complexion and good general appearance.  John was transferred to the Eastern District on 17^th May 1880 and he is understood to have been stationed at Parramatta before his appointment as the first permanent police officer at Springwood in 1881.

There had been local pressure for a police presence in Springwood from around the late 1870s with representation being made to Sir Henry Parkes.  While a lock-up was provided in 1879 it was not until 1881 that a combined station and residence was built on the site of present-day Manners Park.

Old police lock up left of picture

In May 1891 John Illingworth was transferred to Katoomba Police Station as officer-in-charge.  As a mark of their esteem the citizens of Springwood farewelled him with a function at Rayner’s Hall.  Following a speech by Mr. Rayner, John was presented with a beautifully illuminated and framed address accompanied by a purse of sovereigns.[1]

John’s duties at Katoomba also included those of Clerk of Petty Sessions and during his tenure he was promoted to senior constable.  On 31 March 1897 he left Katoomba to take up a position at Richmond Police station where he spent 10 years before transferring to Granville in March 1907.  He was promoted to sergeant second class on 1^st January 1908.  John Illingworth achieved fame in what would now be regarded as a somewhat obscure field; the game of checkers or draughts.  In Stearns’s Book of Portraits-Prominent Players Volume ii, published in 1898, his photograph is published over a text which states that he ‘is one of the best known players in Australia.’

John Illingworth died on 3^rd May 1913.  Illingworth Road, Yellow Rock commemorates Springwood’s first police officer.

Peter Chinn

Ref:

Nepean Times

Beverley Dodd Woodford (daughter of Bertha Illingworth)

Stearn’s Book of Portraits-Prominent Players Volume 11

This an abbreviated version of a longer article in The Making of a Mountain Community: a Biographical Dictionary of the Springwood District.

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[1] Nepean Times, 13.6.1891.