The archive charts the history of South Wales Police from its origins in 1841, when it was called the Glamorgan Constabulary, through to its amalgamation with Cardiff, Swansea and Merthyr Tydfil Police forces in 1969 and its subsequent renaming as the South Wales Constabulary, to its final name change to South Wales Police in 1996.

The richness of the South Wales Police archives, which thanks to the work of Mr Edward Ronald Baker, Deputy Chief Constable of the Glamorgan Constabulary and founder of the South Wales Police Museum, are one of the most complete in the United Kingdom, mean that this is very much a work in progress.

These archives have been researched with publically available information contained in the Glamorgan records office including newspaper articles from the time. The opinions contained within these archives are not those of South Wales Police.

Please find listed below a list of articles on the history of South Wales Police:

• Beginnings
• History of Policing in Great Britain
• Chronology of Chief Constables through time
• The Glamorgan Constabulary Force Area History
• First Chief Constable Charles Frederick Napier
• The First of the Many - the New Glamorgan Constables
• Police Dress
• Pay and Conditions in the 1840's
PC James James - A Victorian Policeman
• The Cult of Physique in Victorian Policing
• Early Challenges :
• The Rebecca Riots
• The Merthyr Rising
• The Laleston Poisoning
• The Senghenydd Coal Mining Disaster
• The Samtampa Tragedy
• The Llandow Air Disaster
• The Aberfan Disaster
  
• The Glamorgan Constabulary and Assize Duty
• Glamorgan Police Stations - A History
• The Controversy of Captain Napier's succession
• Policing Pontypridd in the 1850s
• Policing Cowbridge
• The Murder in the Storm of 1885
• Policing Aberdare
• The 1860 Aberdare Journal
• Policing the Rhondda:
• The First Rhondda Riot
• Rhondda Riots of 1910-1911
• The Tyntila Mystery
• History of Cardiff Police
• Jeremiah Box Stockdale – the Iron Copper
• Chief Constable William Mackenzie (1889-1912) – A Force for Reform
• 50 Years of Policing Cardiff 1955-2005
• History of Neath Police
• History of Swansea Borough Police Force
• Diary of a Swansea Police Officer
• History of Merthyr Tydfil Borough Police
• The First Merthyr Superintendents and the Battle for "China"
• The Tamar Murder
• The Glamorgan Police at War
• Island Farm Prisoner of War Camp
• The Role of Female Police Officers through History
• The Introduction of Unit Beat Policing
• History of the Special Constabulary
• History of South Wales Police Headquarters
• History of Fingerprinting

Last updated: 15/06/05