Constable Deason (244G), 1850s, 1860s - how to find identifying information

[DebsR]

Evening all,

An ancestor of mine, George John Augustus DEASON (b 1825 Poplar, London; d. 1908 Poplar, London) is listed as a police constable on some censuses/baptism records etc (he seems to have had various occupations at other times though - including Gate Keeper, Timekeeper Man, Seaman, Bricklayer, General Labourer, Clerk, etc.)

By searching for 'Constable Deason', I found some interesting newspaper articles from between 1857-1862 in Clerkenwell - which would fit with George J A Deason's life in terms of dates and location. The Constable Deason I've found has the identifier of 244G; is there a way to find out more information about the person with that identifier (e.g. police archives? any other archives?), in order to verify whether or not it's 'my' George J A Deason e.g. full name, date/place of birth, plus of course any other information about him to add to what I already know?

On a related note, does anyone know what being a 'Gate Keeper' and/or 'Timekeeper Man' might have involved? Might they have been related to his work in the police?

Many thanks in advance for any help or insight!

Deborah (Reynolds)

[jorose]

Some records are held by the national archives under MEPO and right now you can download some:
https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C14147511
 
Once you get to it you want MEPO-4-334_2.pdf (Images 72 - 144) and page 61 within that document.
He's the only Deason in this record set so I imagine the

April 23 1855, George John Augustus Deason, 33565, dismissed 30 August 1866, recommended by Mr George Wilkes, 1 Hayfield Place, Mile End Road

I'm not sure how the numbers in this set and the badge numbers are connected.

[philipsearching]

On a related note, does anyone know what being a 'Gate Keeper' and/or 'Timekeeper Man' might have involved? Might they have been related to his work in the police?

I think these are most likely to refer to work in a factory.  A gatekeeper would have kept intruders out and kept an eye on workers leaving to prevent pilfering.  A timekeeper would have clocked the workers in and out (lateness would have been penalised by management).

Philip

p.s. - cracking find, jorose!

[DebsR]

Thank you so much jorose and philipsearching! I wonder why he was dismissed...