A Surrey Policeman with a Past

January 2026 marks the 175th anniversary of the creation of Surrey Police, previously known as Surrey Constabulary. To commemorate we’ll be sharing stories from the collections on our social media and in our newsletter across the year, so watch this space! You can also read more stories from Surrey Police on the website for the Office of Police and Crime Commissioner for Surrey.

Among the records we hold at Surrey History Centre for the Surrey Constabulary is a recruitment register for the force ( Surrey History Centre reference 9152/1/2/1/4).  Recruit number 1897 was Sidney George Lewis who joined the force in March 1925 when he was aged 22.  Born in Tooting on 24 March 1903, he was a tall lad (6’ 1½”) who had trained as an engineer's fitter, but clearly decided the police was more to his liking.  First stationed in Godalming, he moved around the county over the next thirty years, his beat taking in Camberley, Rowledge, Coldharbour, Horne, Baldwins Hill, Egham, Stoke D’Abernon, Kingfield (Old Woking), Kingswood, Hersham, Walton on Thames, Bagshot and Shere.

He struggled to win promotion and was not, perhaps, a high-flyer – it took him six attempts to pass his sergeants' exam and then four attempts to finally obtain the rank of inspector, but Sidney was clearly a well-regarded member of the force who was awarded the Police Long Service and Good Conduct Medal in 1951. On his retirement in April 1955 his conduct was reported to have been 'exemplary', two early blots on his record (losing 14 days’ pay and his bicycle allowance in 1930 for drinking in a public house on duty and in 1931 being reprimanded for incivility to a member of the public) having long been forgotten.  He died in 1969.

A stolid career policeman he may have become, but Sidney Lewis is believed to enjoy the remarkable, somewhat horrifying distinction of being the youngest fighting Tommy of the Great War.  On 9 August 1915, Sidney had enlisted in Wimbledon, claiming to be a 19-year-old tailor. In fact, at that point, he was a mere 12 years old.  His story was believed and somehow, he passed his medical inspection.  He joined the East Surrey Regiment, but in early 1916 transferred to the 106^th Company of the Machine Gun Corps.  In July 1916, aged 13, he and his unit were involved in the dreadful carnage of the battle to capture Delville Wood on the Somme Front.  It seems to have taken his mother some time to realise what had become of her son, but in August she wrote to the War Office pointing out that one of their fighting soldiers was a mere boy.  Appalled, the War Office acted promptly, and Sidney was discharged and sent back to England.

You can read more of his war service story on our Surrey in the Great War website.

Image: Extract from the ‘Daily Mirror’, c. Sep 1916 (courtesy of Bournemouth News and Picture Service)