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This month marks the centenary of the first policewoman appointed in Scotland . She was Emily Miller who was appointed to the City of Glasgow police force on 6th September 1915. She remained Scotland ’s only official policewoman until 1918, when the City of Dundee appointed Mrs Jean Thomson. The history books and records are often loath to acknowledge these early women were policewomen. Depending on what source you research they can be described as statement takers, court sisters, police sisters, and a variety of other titles. However, the statistics firmly record them as policewomen, as does the Baird Report, an official government review into the employment of women for police duties, which reported in 1920. Scotland was a bit behind the times in accepting a woman into the police, because the first women’s police service came into being a year earlier in 1914, and many of the first policewomen were former suffragettes. The two main suffragette organisations, the WSPU (W...

When I researched my new novel The Death Game which is set in 1919 Dundee I came across some interesting facts. The main character of my novel is the first policewoman in Dundee, and in the process of researching the origins of women police I came across many fascinating details. Did you know? 1 – The first women’s police service was formed by the suffragette organisations in 1914 when they abandoned their militant actions on the commencement of the First World War. 2 – There were two women’s police services in London at this time. The first of these was the Women’s Police Volunteers which later became the Women’s Police Service. The second service was the Voluntary Women Patrols. 3 – Between 1914 to 1918 the women’s police service was voluntary, although they worked closely with the official police forces. 4 – In 1918 the Commissioner of the Police, Sir Nevil Macready, appointed one of the voluntary services as an official women’s police force. Interestingly, h...