James Gordon

Died

13 November 1893

Age

Rank

Police Constable

Force

St Helens Borough Police

Cause

Homicide - Beaten

Duty Status

On Duty

Roll of Honour Citation

Disturbing three men stealing he was beaten about the head and later died from his injuries.

Roll of Honour Citation

Disturbing three men stealing he was beaten about the head and later died from his injuries.

Circumstances

Having disturbed three thieves stealing from a chicken coop they struck him a number of blows to the head before leaving him for dead. He rose and stumbled home where he was tended but died from his injuries.

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 on 13 November 2013 we were able to place a gravestone in his memory.