Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Use Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Preferred Citation

Manchester (Va.) Regular Relief Roll of the Police Officers, 1877-1878. Local government records collection, Richmond (City) Court Records. The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia 23219.

Acquisition Information

This volume came to the Library of Virginia in a transfer of court papers from the city of Richmond. The front of this volume are stamped Docket Police Court, Town of Manchester, VA, but was used to record the roll of police officers.

Historical Information

The City of Richmond was named by William Byrd (1674-1744), who envisioned the development of a city at the falls of the James River and with the help of William Mayo laid out the town in 1737. The name probably came from the English borough of Richmond upon Thames, which Byrd visited on several occasions. Richmond was established in 1742 and in 1779 was designated the capital of Virginia effective 30 April 1780. It was incorporated as a town, although "stiled the city of Richmond," in 1782 and was incorporated as a city in 1842. It served as the capital of the Confederacy from mid-1861 to April 1865. Richmond was enlarged by the annexation of Manchester (or South Richmond) in 1910, and by the addition of Barton Heights, Fairmount, and Highland Park in 1914. Further annexations from Chesterfield County occurred in 1942 and 1970.

Manchester was established in 1769 on land owned by William Byrd (1728-1777) on the south bank of the James River. The General Assembly had authorized Fort Charles to be built there in 1645, and the site was soon named Rocky Ridge. After its establishment in 1769, the newly laid-out town was named probably for Manchester Parish in Chesterfield County. The parish in turn was named either for George Montague, fourth duke of Manchester, or for the town of Manchester, England. Incorporated as a town in 1834, Manchester served as the county seat for Chesterfield County from 1871 until 1874 when it was incorporated as a city (although Chesterfield did not move its courthouse until 1876). In 1910 Manchester was consolidated with the city of Richmond with the provisos that a free bridge would be constructed to connect Manchester with Richmond and that Manchester would retain a courthouse. Today the area is also known as South Richmond.

Scope and Content

Manchester (Va.) Regular Relief Roll of the Police Officers, 1877-1878, is a volume that records the presence or absence of the city police officers at the morning and evening shifts from June 21, 1877 through September 24, 1878. Officers are usually marked present but occasionally other notations are recorded such as sick, sent to Richmond, relieved by another officer, and so on. The chief of police is listed as J. A. Lipscomb and the officers as J. B. Fitzgerald, R. P. Smith, and R. C. Jones.

Towards the end of the volume there are several pages titled An established record of arrests made by police officers of the city of Manchester. Listed are name of person arrested, day and month, charges, witnesses, defendant's residence, and judgment. There are only four pages of this material, dated January 1, 1875 through January 31, 1876.

Arrangement

Chronological.

Index Terms

Corporate Names:

• Virginia. Circuit Court (Richmond)

Subjects:

• Police -- Virginia -- Manchester.
• Police -- Virginia -- Richmond.

Geographical Names:

• Manchester (Va.) -- History -- 19th century.
• Richmond (Va.) -- History.

Genre and Form Terms:

• Local government records -- Virginia -- Manchester.
• Registers (lists) -- Virginia -- Manchester.