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Latest Interesting Article

Interesting Articles

 

 

 

This section features interesting articles written by former colleagues on a wide range of subjects related to the Bermuda Police Service or recounting personal experiences.   We are delighted to receive articles from anyone who wishes to put pen to paper, and will assist with editing where necessary.

 

 

Governor "apoplectic" over theft of Gunpowder!

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Scene of the Gunpowder Plot Re-enactment at Tobacco Bay 
 
History came alive in St. George’s on Saturday 16th of August 2025, when a determined group of "rebels" re-enacted the theft of over 100 barrels of gunpowder from under the nose of Governor George Bruere, just as they did 250 years ago.  Spectators witnessed the rebels quietly rowing three of Bermuda’s traditional pilot gigs into Tobacco Bay where they waded ashore, collected the gunpowder barrels and hurried back to the gigs and rowed their “explosive”  cargo out to a waiting sloop to be delivered by sea to George Washington’s army which was rapidly running out of ammunition under seige by the British Army in Boston.
 
Governor George Bruere looks familiar!
(photo courtesy Blaire Simmons R.G.)
 

The only possible ”fly in the ointment” was if Governor Bruere – who bore a remarkable resemblance to our good friend John Dale – would be awakend and be able intercept them during this daring raid, and lo and behold,  the Governor showed up at the last minute along with one of his soldiers, and rushed down to the beach in a vain attempt to stop the thieves.  Rumour had it the Governor was still suffering the effects of  his nightly rum ration as he took a spill in the water trying to catch up with the rowers!

The event was organised by the Bermuda Pilot Gig Club in memory of Maurice Johnson, one of their founder members who was passionate about staging this event but sadly died suddenly in March of this year.

The Royal Gazette carried an excellent article on 18th August, headed “Re-Enactment of 1775 Gunpowder  Plot  thrills residents” as they reported:-

“The sight of an angry governor marching down to Tobacco Bay in a re-enactment of a dramatic night in Bermuda’s history captivated residents on Saturday.

The replay of the Gunpowder Plot of 1775 received resounding applause as the Bermuda Pilot Gig Club reproduced the daring episode when the island played a significant role in the American War of Independence.

The event marked the 250th anniversary of the infamous event.

Narrator - Kristin White
(photo courtesy of BERNEWS)

The scene — which was narrated by Kristin White, of Long Story Short — involved several dozen men (and women) mooring their boats on the shores of Tobacco Bay with their fingers on their lips to capture the secrecy of the plot.

Rebel rowers sneak into Tobacco Bay
(photo courtesy BERNEWS)  

The men ran uphill and broke into the unguarded ammunition magazine above Tobacco Bay, re-enacting what happened on August 14, 1775.

Men (and women!) head down to the bay with their barrels of gunpowder

 

They then ran downhill with 100 casks of British gunpowder, delivering them to a rebel ship that waited offshore.

An almost exhausted Rebel Gunpowder Thief!

 

The operation was thought to have been co-ordinated by Colonel Henry Tucker with the knowledge of rebel leaders such as Benjamin Franklin.

The stolen powder made it to the Continental Army led George Washington, providing much needed munitions for key US engagements, notably in Boston, Massachusetts and Charleston.

At Saturday’s event, George Bruere, the Governor, played by John Dale, rushed down the slope towards Tobacco Bay, calling the theft “a most atrocious” and “heinous crime”, as spectators looked on in glee.

A dejected Governor Bruere arrived just too late to catch the culprits!
(photo courtesy BERNEWS)  

 

He shouted angrily at the men, ran on to the beach and tried to board a small boat but fell overboard. He failed to catch the thieves who by this time were way offshore with the gunpowder.

The culprits row over to the waiting sloop
(photo courtesy Blaire Simmons R.G.) 

CLICK HERE for the full report in the Royal Gazette. 

BERNEWS also provided excellent coverage of the  Gunpowder Plot Re-enactment including an album of photos and a video.  CLICK HERE to view the BERNEWS article.

H.E. Governor Andrew Murdoch and U.S. Consul General Antoinette Hurtado
(photo courtesy BERNEWS)  

Despite Governor Bruere being furious over the theft of his gunpowder 250 years ago and accusing the culprits of disloyalty and treason in supplying it to the Continental Army led by George Washington, our present Governor H.E. Andrew Murdoch attended this re-enactment of the Gunpowder Plot along with the U.S. Consul General Antoinette Hurtado,  and it appears that all has since been forgiven!

 
 Dennie O'Connor, owner and CEO of Beach Boys Ltd., at Tobacco Bay Beach House
along with family and staff in costume, all of whom did a superb job hosting
the Gunpowder Plot event at Tobacco Bay.
(photo courtesy of BERNEWS)
 
 
 "All the Action" on Video - A Must See!
 

SUPERB VIDEO OF ALL THE ACTION -   Since first publishing this article I discovered a superb video recording of the re-enactment produced by Mo Hamza which shows all the action at the scene of the Gunpowder Plot re-enactment as it takes place, including stunning shots taken from overhead by a drone camera.  Mo Hamza has very kindly given permission for us to provide the following link to his video which is a "must see" for this special event.  We understand that Mo is available to provide his services for special occasions and events here in Bermuda.  CLICK HERE to view the video.

 

George Washington
(Photo courtesy The Bermudian Magazine) 
 

Letter of Thanks from George Washington  -  For anyone interested in learning more about the veracity of our Gunpowder Plot we  highly recommend that you read an excellent article,  "The Legendary Gunpowder Conspiracy of 1775" published in the Bermudian Magazine which includes a personal letter of thanks from George Washington to "The Inhabitants of the Island of Bermuda" dated 6th September 1775.  CLICK HERE  to view the article.

 

Editors Note -   Our good friend and former colleague, retired Inspector John Dale, has been actively involved in local theatrics since at least 1976 when he performed at City Hall Theatre in the Gilbert and Sullivan Society production of "Riddigore" along with a contingent of fellow police officers. CLICK HERE to view our ExPo website article, "Police Thespians On Stage", along with a photo of the police members of the cast and crew of "Ruddigore."

 

18th August 2025
Roger Sherratt
Editor

NARPO article on Bermie EXPO

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Joe Tildesley "roughing it" in Bermuda

 

Regular readers of our ExPo website will probably recall that late last year we wrote a couple of articles about retired Inspector Joe Tildesley of the West Midland Police who was visiting the Island with his wife Joan who is also a retired West Midlands officer. Joe is Secretary of the Birmingham Branch of the National Association of Retired Police Officers (NARPO) and he and Joan have been coming to Bermuda to visit their daughter who has been living here for the last 7 years.  We suspect that Joe would also find any excuse to play on Bermuda's golf courses!

On arrival in November, Joe wanted to make contact with someone from our ExPo Committee to learn more about how we operate, and was also keen to meet with our wider membership.   He expressed interest in writing an article about ExPo for his next Birmingham Branch Newsletter, and also said he would be writing a more in-depth article for the National NARPO magazine which is distributed to nearly 100,000 retired UK police officers.

Initial meeting at Mariners Club
(l-r) John Skinner, Roger Sherratt (standing). Joe Tildesley & George Rose
 

After first meeting with George Rose, John Skinner and Roger Sherratt at Mariners Club (our Police Recreation Club was closed for renovations) he was invited to our annual pre-Christmas lunch at Mad Hatters which was a great success, where he throughly enjoyed chatting to our members as can be seen in the following photos.

Pre-Christmas Lunch at Mad Hatters - 2024
 
Ray Bell, Joe Tildesley and Bill Butterworth
 

CLICK HERE to view the  article on our Ex-Bobbies Christmas Lunch 2024 and more photos.  

Joe was as good as his word, and he wrote the following excellent article which was published in the National NARPO Newsletter in May 2025.

 

NARPO NEWS ARTICLE 
BERMUDA – EX POLICE ASSOCIATION
 

Since 2017 I have been a regular visitor to Bermuda with my wife, as we visit our daughter  who is a lawyer on the island. It remains a British Overseas Territory and its policing model has long been established along the tried and tested UK model, with the fledgling Force established in 1879.

Many of us of a certain age remember those adverts in the much missed ‘Police Review’, inviting serving Police officers to apply for a three-year secondment. At the same time those Officers had to resign from their UK Police Force. Hundreds of colleagues, especially during the 1960’s, 70’s and 80’s moved to Bermuda.

How many of us serving at the time did not consider exchanging the cold and drab of many of our inner-city roles, to what appeared to be the idyllic opportunities in Bermuda. I should stress that only male Officers were recruited at this time via the advert. At the same time as this recruitment of serving officers was taking place, Bermuda was also recruiting via a number of national Newspaper adverts, for UK residents with no Policing experience.

In 1962 a Police Training School was established and serving Officers recruited from the UK completed a short localisation course, whilst the new recruits completed a full three months of training, very much based on the old district training centres which many of us will recall. Of these new Officers many returned home at the end of the secondment but a large number remained, not only to complete their policing service, but many to marry, have children and make a lifelong contribution to the island.

During the seven years I have been travelling to Bermuda I met a number of individual serving and retired officers, but it was only during my latest visit between November 2024 and January 2025, that I made the conscious decision to find out more about retired Police Officers on the island. I can tell you that the Ex Police Association is a strong, vibrant association that meets regularly and has some 300 members. I met up with their Committee on the 21 November and the warmth of the welcome simply re-inforced the bonds of Policing friendship. Roger Sherratt their immediate Past President went out of his way to supply me with additional information and a good whistle stop guide to the Association can be found at expobermuda.com

Thursday afternoon Get Together - Mariners Club
(l-r) John Skinner, Ernie McCreight, George Rose, Joe Tildesley, 
Peter McNulty, Charlie Mooney and Sean McNulty
 

In addition Committee member John Skinner has almost completed his book which he hopes will record every Police Officer who has served on the island, including of course all those who came and served from the UK. I was invited to attend their Christmas function at the ‘Mad Hatters’ restaurant and some fifty retired Officers made the event truly memorable. It is not often at the end of a Police function to be serenaded with a rendition of an unofficial singing of the Bermuda national song, ‘Bermuda is another world’!

John serenades Joe Tildesley with
"Bermuda is Another World"
 

Everyone went out of their way to introduce themselves, still being very proud of the individual Forces they served in prior to moving to Bermuda. The retired Officers are in rude health and rightly proud of what they achieved as Bermudian Police officers and equally importantly their individual role in helping to make Bermuda a truly successful multi-cultural, small island state. 

I had no understanding of just how difficult policing was in the 1970’s and 80’s in Bermuda. In September 1972, the Commissioner of Police, Mr. George Duckett was murdered outside his residence, and in March 1973, the Governor, Sir Richard Sharples and his ADC, Captain Hugh Sayers, were shot and killed outside Government house. Bermuda was thrown into turmoil. Tourism nose-dived and international businesses were hesitant to deal with the island.

Two men were arrested, charged and subsequently convicted of the murders and were sentenced to be hanged. The execution date was set for December 1977 and a period of rioting swept the island. The sentence was carried out on the 2 December 1977 and they were the last people to be hanged not only in Bermuda, but anywhere in the world where British Law was still in effect. Policing on the island at this time was no sinecure! Female Officers only began to join the Bermuda service in 1962 and though the below list of retired officers contains only male names, I do assure you that they are now fully integrated! For any of you reading this article can I recommend ‘One hundred and thirty five years of service’, a brief history of the major milestones of the Bermuda Police Service.

May I finish by mentioning those retired officers on the island and their legacy of service and commitment. I was astonished to learn that since 2012, those retired Officers have not received any indexation whatsoever to their Police pensions. The Bermuda government plead poverty with the island suffering some serious financial pressures and have simply told the pensioners, ‘We cannot afford to give you the indexation’. I can only begin to imagine what would happen in the UK, should the government suddenly announce, we will not honour the annual CPI indexation! At the very least I think we might be marching on parliament! Attached are just a couple of photos of Joe meeting some of the local Committee. This is the list of the retired Officers who attended the Christmas function and where they began their UK service. I hope this short article might rekindle some pleasant memories and very much hope that some friendships might be renewed.

Carlton Adams            Bermuda Police                       
Oliver Bain                   Royal Grenada Police Force
Roddy Barclay             Edinburgh City Police             
Ray Bell                        Durham Constabulary
Peter Borland               Recruited from Liverpool       
Mark Bothelo               Bermuda Police
Vendal Bridgeman        Recruited from Barbados      
Roger Brydon               Northumberland
Bill Butterworth            Sunderland Borough              
 Keith Cassidy              Liverpool Police
Mike Chlebek                Recruited from Bolton           
Dave Cooper                Hampshire Police
John Dale                      Salford City                               
Larry Fox                       Merseyside Police
Stanley Francis             Royal Grenada Police Force   
Louis Griffiths               Recruited from Barbados
Neil Halliday                  Recruited from Wales            
Patrick Hamlett             Recruited from St. Vincent
Roger Kendall                Leicestershire and Rutland   
Kevin Knights                Suffolk Police
Gerry Lyons                   Recruited from Scotland        
Ernie McCreight           Glasgow Police
Ian McMillan                 Strathclyde Police                    
Charles Mooney           Recruited from Scotland
Rex Osbourne              Gloucestershire Police           
 Scott Pacheco            Bermuda Support Staff
Wayne Perinchief         Bermuda Police                        
'Moby' Pett                     Staffordshire County Police
Geoff Piggott                Cambridgeshire Police          
Dave Purcell                 Recruited from Grenada
George Rose                Birmingham City Police          
Phil Scarcliffe               Lincolnshire Police
Mike Shaw                    Recruited from the UK          
Peter Shaw                   Thames Valley Police
Roger Sherratt              Staffordshire County Police  
Ken Shillingford            Recruited from Dominca
Paul Singh                      Recruited from Trinidad        
John Skinner                 East Sussex Police
Terry Spencer                Bermuda Police                       
Paul Towlson                 Nottinghamshire Police
Norman Wilson             Recruited from County Antrim
  
Joe Tildesley
Secretary
Birmingham Branch
 

Acknowledgements – One hundred and thirty five years of service. The Bermuda Police Service. Author Christopher Wilcox.  Bermie ExPo

Looking for Lads and Lassies from Lanarkshire!

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Retired Superintendent George Barnsley

 

This article results from an email I received in March 2025, from Mr. George Barnsley, who is Chair of the Lanarkshire Police Historical Society.

George’s email came “completely out of the blue” and he was writing to advise that he was in the process of researching the history of Inspector Isabella Lee.  He had discovered  information on our ExPo website about Inspector Lee having served here as our first woman police officer. George explained that prior to coming to Bermuda, Isabella Lee was the first female police officer of Hamilton Burgh Police in Lanarkshire, Scotland,  and he was looking for any further information about Ms. Lee’s service in the Bermuda Police to facilitate research, along with any suitable photos, for an article he was writing about Ms. Lee. 

George clearly has a keen interest in Police history as a retired Superintendent with 32 years service with Strathclyde Police in Scotland, where the majority of his service was in CID, Major Crime, and latterly training at the Scottish National Police College at Tulliallan Castle. Following his retirement from the Police, George established his own business delivering investigation training to local authority investigators and Government Agency investigators. He also delivered police training in the United Arab Emirates and Qatar. .


Earlier this year George was honoured to be appointed a Deputy Lieutenant for the County of Lanarkshire. In this role he supports the Lord Lieutenant of the County who is the King's representative in Lanarkshire.

George has written a book 'The Lanarkshire Police Chronicles', covering the history of policing in Lanarkshire.

 

Inspector Isabella “Isobel” Lee

 

George's interest in researching Inspector Lee  could not have come at a better time because I had been intending for several years to write an article about our first woman police officer,  and I'm delighted that following our correspondence with each other, and armed with George’s own extensive research plus the information I was able to forward to him, he has written a superb article about the life of Inspector Lee which we have now published in our “Hall of Fame”. CLICK HERE to view the article.  

 

 Sergeant Walter “Walt” Sneddon

 

George had also mentioned that he was researching another former Bermuda Police officer, Walter “Walt” Sneddon, who had served in the Aidrie Burgh Police in Lanarkshire  prior to coming to Bermuda. I was able to provide him with information and photos of Walt who served here for 12 years, from August 1953 until November 1965. Walt had been promoted to Sergeant in 1960. He and his wife Dorothy had two children both born here in Bermuda.  Walt and Dorothy decided to emigrate to the U.S. in 1965 and they settled in Arizona. George completed his research and has written an excellent article about Walt Sneddon which we are delighted to publish here on our website. CLICK HERE to view it. 

 Inspector John Brown
(photo kindly provided by George Bullas)
 

George  briefly mentioned another police officer, John Brown,  who had joined the Aidrie Burgh Police way back in 1924,  and later joined the Bermuda Police where he became an Inspector, although he didn’t have any further information about him.  A quick check of our records through “Coops” List shows that John Mitchell Brown joined the Bermuda Police on 1st November 1932, and retired as an Inspector  on 4th June 1957.

However, on closely checking our ExPo website I just came across a “Wanted” Notice for  Information on Inspector John M. Brown, resulting from a request by  George and Anita Bullas from Canada, who returned to the Island after many years and were enquiring about George’s half cousin, John Mitchell Brown, who had served here in the Bermuda Police and rose to the rank of Inspector before leaving the Force to work for the Bank of Bermuda. They were aware that John and his wife Helen lived in Paget and Helen had worked in a jewellery store in Hamilton, but they left Bermuda in the mid-1960’s and settled back in Scotland.  They were buried in Ellon Cemetery in Aberdeenshre.  CLICK HERE to view the "Wanted" notice  on our website.

 
David “Bones” Fraser
 

While checking through our files I discovered  one other former Bermuda police officer who came here after serving in the Lanarkshire Police for 3 years from 1963-1966, and that was David “Bones” Fraser who served in the BPS from November 1966, mainly in Central Division (Hamilton) until his tragic death in June 1969. Sadly,  David took his own life. 

George also expressed interest in any other Bermuda Police Officers who originated from Scotland (especially Lanarkshire) who have served with the Bermuda Police?   If you have any such information you can contact us at info@expobermuda.com 

  

Published 24th July 2025
Roger Sherratt
Editor

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