Women began working as police officers in the United Kingdom as early as December 1915 amidst the First World War. As with other countries, police forces in the UK were entirely male at the start of t
Cressida Dick, former Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Service in London.
Police in Birmingham with a matron in about 1919
Policewomen in the Birmingham City Police during the inter-war years.
Women police in Hull City in 1940
Dorothy Peto
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Dorothy Olivia Georgiana Peto was an English police officer. She was a pioneer of women policing in the United Kingdom who served as the first attested woman superintendent in the London Metropolitan
Women in policing in the United Kingdom
…in political high office. One of these women was Edith Tancred (1873–1957). She became a campaigner for the requirement of women police. The other was Dorothy Peto. Peto later decided to take the 'administrative path' within the Constabulary for promotion. Both Tancred and Peto were well placed in society to get…
Peto as head of the training school in Bristol, c. 1917