James Gordon

Died

:

13 November 1893

Age

:

26

Rank

:

Police Constable

Force

:

St Helens Borough Police

Cause

:

Homicide - Beaten

Duty Status

:

On Duty

Roll of Honour Citation

Died from the injuries he sustained after being beaten about the head when he disturbed three men stealing from a chicken coop.

Found dead in bed the morning after he was struck a number of blows to the head with an iron bar and later kicked in the head, when he and a colleague discovered three men stealing from a chicken coop at an engineering works.

On 16th March the following year all three men were found guilty of the officer’s murder and were sentenced to death but Queen Victoria later reprieved the men and they each received fifteen years penal servitude instead.

PC Gordon lay in an unmarked grave until 13th November 2013 when we were able to place a headstone in his memory.