Life story shared by Paul Beecroft
IN MEMORY
OF
HYRAM BUNN
DIED 16TH April 1914 Age 49 YEARS
ALSO OF
ELLA AMELIA DIED 1897 AGED 1 YEAR
BELOVED DAUGHTER
OF
HYRAM AND MARY BUNN
Hyram BUNN is thought to have been born on 3rd December 1864 in Earsham, Norfolk. His parents were Charles Richardson BUNN, a Carter by trade and Martha BUNN (nee BUTCHER). His siblings were Ida (1867), Charles (1869), Eleanor (1872), Matilda (1874) and Arthur William (1876).
Nothing is known of his childhood or teenage years. The census for 1871 shows him living with his parents and two siblings in Earsham at the age of 6. In 1881 the census shows the family still living in Earsham, but Hyram is not shown as being there and does not seem to appear on any part of the census for that year.
In 1888 he is known to have left Norfolk and has joined Reading Borough Police. The census for 1891 shows Hyram residing at the Police Station in London Street as are many other officers. On 6th May 1891, in Earsham he married Mary PIPE, a local girl to Earsham. They returned to Reading and were resident at 78, Edgehill Street. Their union resulted in six children:- Leslie Hyram Harold Valentine (1891- 1952), Ida Mary (1893-1971) Ella Amelia (1896-1897), Charles Arthur (1897-1952), William Frederick Alan (1902-1983) and Norah Lavinia (1909-1990). Interestingly, Leslie’s birth was registered as Hyram Harold Leslie Valentine and William was to become known as Allan. In 1911 the census shows the family living at 56, Beresford Road, Reading.
After his initial training Hyram was soon patrolling the streets of Reading. Reading town he soon found was a busy place. On 25th November 1888 and incident occurred in Bridge Street, Reading. Local newspapers reported as follows:-
The Reading Observer
DRUNK AND ASSAULTING THE POLICE. – Thomas WHITE was charged with being drunk and disorderly in Bridge-street on the previous day, and further with assaulting P.C. Booth whilst in the execution of his duty.
P.C. Booth said that at 12.5 on Saturday night he was on duty in Bridge-street, and saw the prisoner and his brother both drunk and behaving in a disorderly manner. Witness requested them to go away. He took the brother into custody, when the prisoner took hold of him and attempted to rescue him. At this moment P.C. Bunn came up and took the prisoner into custody on a charge of inciting White to rescue him. Someone in the crowd kicked witness on the legs and pulled him back and he was compelled to leave go of Charles White. Witness recovered himself and saw the prisoner kick Bunn. Witness then took hold of the prisoner, and he kicked him savagely on the ankle. He then wrenched himself away and struck witness on the head and kicked him again on the hand. He was so violent that witness had to draw his truncheon. Witness blew his whistle, and another constable came up, and they were obliged to give him the “frog’s march.”
The Berkshire Chronicle
DRUNK AND DISORDERLY AND ASSAULTING THE POLICE.
Thomas WHITE was charged with being drunk and disorderly and assaulting P.C. Booth and P.C. Bunn on the 25th ult. in Bridge Street.
P.C. Booth said the defendant and his brother Charles were drunk and shouting near the Bear public house at five minutes past twelve. His brother was in a fighting attitude, and witness took him into custody. The defendant tried to pull his brother away, and then P.C. Bunn came up and charged the defendant with aiding and inciting Charles White to resist. Someone kicked witness on the legs, and he let go Charles White. As he did so he saw the defendant kick P.C. Bunn in the lower part of the stomach. P.C. Bunn asked witness to take hold of the defendant as he had kicked him, and he took hold of him. The defendant then kicked him on the ankle. He avoided the kick, or it might have been serious. The defendant then wrenched away, and struck witness on the side of the head and kicked him in the groin. He put his hand down to save the kick, and his thumb was put out. He pulled it back, and then took his truncheon out and struck the defendant on the hip to prevent his kicking. He blew his whistle, and another constable came up and assisted to bring the prisoner along.
The end result was that Charles White got away that night, and nothing further is known. Thomas White was fined 5 shillings for drunkenness or three days’ hard labour, and 15 shillings for the assault or ten days’ hard labour.
Dealing with such incidents was a common problem for police. On a Saturday night in May 1889, Hyram had to help a colleague out who had been assaulted. The newspapers once again reported on this incident:-
MILITIAMEN IN TROUBLE. – George YOUNG and George LAKER, militiamen, was charged with being drunk, and William WAKE, militiaman, was charged with assaulting P.C. Pocock while in the execution of his duty in Friar-street.
P.C. Pocock said he was on duty in Friar-street on Saturday night about 10.30 and saw the defendants in company with several other militiamen. They all appeared to be the worse for liquor, and were singing, shouting, and pushing about, and were walking four abreast so that other people had to leave the footway. He spoke to them, and several of them wanted to fight him, but the others prevented them. WAKE used obscene language, and he took him into custody, and received a blow from a stick across the face from one of the others; they all attempted to rescue the defendant. In the struggle witness and the defendant fell down together. They got up and WAKE struck him across the face with a stick several times. After that he was more quiet, and witness handed him to a civilian. When witness was on the ground they kicked him and hit him with sticks. He afterwards took LAKER into custody for being drunk. He used bad language, and he had a great deal of trouble to get him to the police station; some civilians assisted him.
P.C. Bunn said that he heard a policeman was being assaulted, and went up and saw LAKER and WAKE in custody and YOUNG was in the middle of the street with a crowd around him and using very bad language. Witness arrested him. The defendant was very violent, and several persons assisted him in getting him to the station.
They were each fined 10 shillings each, including costs or seven days’ imprisonment. They were allowed a week to pay.
It is impossible to mention most of the incidents that Hyram would have attended as a constable. Many of them were the normal everyday problems such as obstruction of the road by a hackney carriage, overloading a hackney carriage, driving a hackney carriage without a licence, drunkenness, assaults, causing damage and pick pocketing. One case that Hyram was involved in was a case of pick pocketing. On a Saturday afternoon in May 1894, Thomas Evans was in the Brewers Arms, Bridge Street when a sovereign was stolen from his waistcoat pocket. The thief then left the pub. The landlady had noticed what had happened and told Mr. Evans. Some three quarters of an hour later the thief returned to the Brewers Arms and the landlady accused him of stealing a sovereign. The thief denied it was a sovereign stating that he had taken a 2 shilling piece and a penny. The police were called and he was arrested. On the way to the police station the prisoner tried to bribe Hyram stating he would give him the sovereign if would let the case go no further. Although he wasn’t charged with bribery he was charged with the theft and went to prison for one month’s hard labour.
On 22nd October 1895, the Watch Committee and with approval from the Mayor, Hyram was promoted to Sergeant.
In 1897 the family suffered a great loss when Ella Amelia died. It is believed she was only one year old. No reason is known for her passing. She was buried in Reading Old Cemetery.
On the evening of Thursday 27th December and Friday 28th December 1900, Reading Borough Police held their annual dinner at the Queen’s Hotel. As was normal it was divided as it was necessary that half the force remained on duty. Each night some eighty to ninety people attended which included many local dignitaries. A report in a newspaper concluded with:-
A capital musical programme was well sustained by Messrs. W. Bonny, P.H. Kettley, F.W. Dormer, H. Lund, Dr. Wilcockson, Sergt. Bunn, P.C.’s Scotcher and Cook. A very enjoyable evening being spent.
It would appear that Hyram may well have played a musical instrument, but it cannot be confirmed.
Hyram was well thought of by his senior officers and members of the Watch Committee and as a result in March 1905 he was made Station Sergeant of the Western District, Reading Borough Police and worked from the Police Station located in Oxford Road, Reading.
In March 1907, Hyram and one of the Constables were responsible for saving the life of a family. During the early hours of a Sunday morning a grocer’s shop on the corner of Oxford Road and Wilson Road was found to be on fire. They managed to rouse the family living above the shop who were trapped as the staircase was full of smoke. A ladder was found and the family escaped. The Fire Brigade attended and were at work for an hour and a half and succeeded in stopping the fire from spreading.
Five months later, again in Oxford Road another grocer’s shop, which was also involved with the oil trade went up in flames, when a boy employed at the shop knocked over a lighted paraffin lamp. A newspaper reported the following:-
Realizing the danger, a neighbour, named William Johnson, went for the police and also procured the police hose, and Sergt. Bunn, of the Oxford Road Police Station, and three constables were quickly on the spot. A length of hose was at once run out, and the police played on the flames pending the arrival of the Fire Brigade. The fire attracted a crowd of some 500 or 600 people, and it was impossible for Sergeant Bunn and his men to keep them in check and at the same time fight the flames. Captain Hunt and Sergeant Major Trinder, of the Barracks, which are opposite the scene of the fire, kindly sent out a detachment of men to keep the crowd back and the police were able to attend to outbreak unhampered. After the Fire Brigade’s arrival the fire was soon extinguished. The shop itself and its contents were totally destroyed.
Hyram remained as the Station Sergeant until 3rd January 1914 when he retired after completing 26 years. A local newspaper reported his retirement:-
Police Sergeant Bunn, of the Reading Borough Police Force is retiring this month. He will get the maximum pension. Sergt. Bunn has been a familiar figure in the charge office at the Reading Police Station for a number of years, but for the past six weeks he has been in ill health.
Hyram seems to have been suffering from two chronic conditions working in tandem, at a time when medicine did not have yet have the tools to stop either one. He had diabetes (possibly Type 2) and active tuberculosis (phthisis). Newspapers described it as a long illness and that he had moved home to a cottage with a garden in the hope that his health would improve. Further reports state that he was confined to his bed. Some three months after retiring he passed away at Spencer’s Wood on 16th April. His son Charles was with him when he died.
Hyram’s funeral took place on Monday 20th April and was reported in the local newspapers:-
The Reading Standard & The Chronicle
EX-POLICEMAN’S FUNERAL
Borough Force Honour the Late Mr. Bunn
All the Reading policemen who could be spared from duty paraded at the funeral on Monday of Mr. Hyram Bunn, one of the office sergeants, who lived only a few months after his retirement on a well-earned pension. Marching with the cortege to the Cemetery, the stalwart members of the Force formed an impressive spectacle. The hearse was accompanied from Spencer’s Wood by P.S.’s Messer, Marsh, Martin, Mattingley and A.J. and H. Scotcher, who acted as bearers, and was met outside Holy Trinity Church by the Mayor (Alderman C.G. Field), the Chief Constable (Captain J.S. Henderson), A.H. Bull (chairman of the Watch Committee), Inspectors Staite, Chandler, Spencer and George, and Detective-Inspector Anderson. The cortege was met outside the church by 73 constables. Policemen lined the entrance to the church, and the coffin was carried to the grave by sergeants of the force. The service was conducted by the Rev. R.G. Webb in the church, and the committal sentences were read by the Rev. F.T. Lewarne, Vicar of Spencer’s Wood at the Cemetery.
The chief mourners were his widow Mary, his children and his brother Arthur.
Apart from the people mentioned above, many others also attended to pay their last respects which included Detectives, retired police officers, a clerk of the magistrates, councillors, an Inspector from the R.S.P.C.A and members of the public.
At some point his wife Mary moved away from Reading. She died in 1945 and is buried elsewhere.
N.B. Hyram Bunn is buried in Div. 51 in Reading Old Cemetery. The wording on his grave is not at this time known and what is actually written above at the start of his story is what might be written. The grave is currently overgrown with brambles, ivy and weeds and it is hoped that in the Spring of 2026 the grave will be cleared and the wording revealed.
Division 51, Plot 11851