Robert Branford (police officer)

Superintendent
Robert Branford
Born(1817-09-01)1 September 1817
Stoke-by-Nayland, England
Died14 August 1869(1869-08-14) (aged 51)
Little Waldingfield, Suffolk, England
NationalityBritish
OccupationPolice Officer
EmployerMetropolitan Police
SpouseSarah Branford

Robert Brandford (1 September 1817 – 14 August 1869) was a police officer in the Metropolitan Police in the 19th-century. He is reputed to be the first black police officer in London.

Little is known about Brandford, and no photographs of him exist. He joined the Metropolitan Police on 24 September 1838, and was posted to Stone's End Police Station, near Borough High Street. He was promoted to Sergeant in 1846, and then inspector in 1851. By 1856 he was recorded as Superintendent of M Division, covering what is now Southwark.[1] Branford was also commended for his performance by a magistrate at Southwark Court.[2]

He was described, in the 1893 book "Scotland Yard, Past and Present", as “Not an educated man: but what to my idea was of much greater importance, he possessed a thorough knowledge of police matters in general. I should say he was about the only half-caste superintendent officer the Met ever had.”[3][4]

  1. ^ "The Met's first black officer who rose through ranks to become superintendent - in 1856". Southwark News. Retrieved 2022-05-30.
  2. ^ "Trailblazing black Metropolitan Police officer Robert Branford remembered, 200 years on". www.churchtimes.co.uk. Retrieved 2022-05-30.
  3. ^ Cavanagh. (1893). Scotland Yard, Past and Present Experiences of Thirty-Seven Years. London: Chatto & Windus. OCLC 1155249897.
  4. ^ "Historian hopes the story of a mixed-race policeman in Victorian Southwark will inspire new generation of black officers". Southwark News. Retrieved 2022-05-30.