Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Three: Police Constable J. Martin, City of London Police, who was present at the Exchange Buildings, Houndsditch, on the night of 16-17 December 1910, when three City of London Policemen were murdered, resulting in the famous Siege of Sidney Street

Jubilee 1897, City of London Police, bronze (P.C. 961 J. Martin.); Coronation 1902, City of London Police, bronze (P.C. J. Martin.); Coronation 1911, City of London Police (P.C., J. Martin.) good very fine £300-£400

James Martin was born in Preston, near Faversham, Kent, in 1886 and attested for the City of London Police on 31 October 1890, having previously served as a Fireman with the London, Chatham, and Dover Railway. Numerous times Commended for his service, he was advanced Detective Constable, and was present at the Exchange Buildings, Houndsditch on the night of 16-17 December 1910, when three policemen were murdered- the crime shocked Londoners, and the following month the perpetrators were identified as hiding out in Sidney Street- the subsequent Siege of Sidney Street, in which the Home Secretary Winston Churchill himself was present, was one of the major police incidents of the early 20th Century. Martin was discharged, ‘unfit for further service’, on 27 November 1913, and died at Faversham, Kent, on 21 January 1925.

Sold with copied research including a copy of the book ‘The Houndsditch Murders ands the Siege of Sidney Street by Donald Rumbelow, in which the recipient is mentioned numerous times.