Tardis

The adventures of Dr Who, as he travels in the TARDIS, a police box, have been enjoyed for over 60 years. The TARDIS was supposed to blend into its surroundings, but damage to its chameleon circuit (for camouflage) has been broken since the Doctor visited 1963 London, and the TARDIS took the form of a blue police box. The name of the TARDIS is actually an acronym that stands for Time And Relative Dimension In Space. 

It was not just Dr Who that made good use of a police box. The original use of police boxes to house telephones for official police business, meant that they were a common sight on the streets of Britain in the early days of telecommunication. 

Records of correspondence held at the Museum of Policing in Devon and Cornwall show just how the original police boxes of Exeter were made in the 1920s and 1930s. The boxes were constructed from wood without sap, and no knots larger than a shilling (the size of a 5p). The doors were made of English oak with a yale lock, and 70 keys provided. The completed box was painted and signs were added, with the letters “Exeter City Police” in pale blue, “Police” in blue, “Ambulance” in white and “Fire Brigade” in red. The first order was proposed for 14 boxes at a cost of £29 each.

You would need a Tardis to fit all the items listed in the kit for a Police Box. It was really built to house the Police telephones, but files, cup hooks, telephone books, Police codes, rulers, inkwells, pens, a stool and stationery were also provided for each box. The dimensions (measurements rather than in space) were not given but the photograph of the Police Box in Gervase Avenue, Exeter shows that it was smaller than Dr Who’s police box.

Why is this so different to the Police box we know as the Tardis?

It was up to the different Police Forces to decide on their own box design and this one was made in Exeter. At this time places like Tiverton and Penzance still had their own police forces. The design we know as the Tardis was created 4 years later in 1929 by Gilbert Mackenzie Trench and was constructed from concrete with a teak door.

Finding out about your family history is a bit like being a time traveller. Hopefully, you won’t be encountering any Daleks, that is unless you have some Eastern European ancestors where the surname Dalek meaning would be “far away” or “distant.”

The Museum of Policing in Devon and Cornwall is in Tavistock’s Court Gate building, Bedford Square. Open every Friday, until October, from 11am until 3pm. Entry is free.