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© Courtesy of Greater Manchester Police Museum |
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Tanky's top disguises |
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Top Hat Terrace
On solving the case, Tanky spent his £1,000 reward on building the houses on London Road. His son was an architect, and is believed to have designed the houses and the carvings. The nickname Top Hat Terrace comes from the top hats worn by the police until 1872. Two of the carvings show Tanky staring down, dressed in his police uniform.
Officer, have you been drinking?
Police forces were a new invention in Victorian England. Some people employed evidently found it difficult to adapt to life on the straight and narrow. In 1856, a letter to the Leicester Chronicle complained of six constables, who between them had been reprimanded for drunkenness a total of 40 times. |
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The other carvings are of the detective in a range of disguises. For some time, the sculptures were the subject of fierce debate. Some believed the sculptures were of the faces of various criminals Tanky had put away during his career. However, the remarkable similarity between the faces eventually convinced people they did show Tanky in various undercover guises.
Never one for a quiet life, Tanky's departure from the Leicester Borough Police was suitably controversial. In a history of the city's police force, Ben Beazley draws attention to the contradictory nature of Tanky's exit from the force. "Failing eyesight and bodily strength" was the reason Tanky gave for retiring. However, immediately after leaving the force, he set himself up as a successful private detective!
Facelift for Tanky
© EMOHA
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In 1987, a council grant of £7,700 provided the carvings of Top Hat Terrace with a much needed facelift. Since then, the houses have remained an unlisted, but quirky, addition to the City of Leicester.
It is unclear whether the carved faces were commissioned by Tanky himself, or whether they were a later addition by his son in memory of the detective. In the spirit of the flamboyant character of Tanky, it is preferable to believe the faces were commissioned in his lifetime, a fittingly arrogant tribute to such an eccentric figure!
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