Shirley Becke, who has died aged 94, was the first woman commander in the Metropolitan Police (the equivalent of assistant chief constable), having already carved out a career in what was traditionally a man's world as a gas fitter.
She was not a woman to differentiate between the sexes in the workplace, and believed that women could, and should, function as effectively as men, even in a police force with a "macho" culture. "There is no such thing as a lady policeman," she once ventured. "We are police officers who just happen to be women."
Shirley Becke in Piccadilly Circus, central London, c1970
When Shirley Becke first joined the force, in wartime London, the few women officers were largely confined to dealing with women prisoners and children. They were forbidden to marry, were paid less than men, and were not allowed to carry truncheons. Women now occupy senior positions throughout the British police, from anti-terrorist commanders to armed response personnel. The Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) has 77 women members, including four chief constables.
In fact, women had been employed as police officers since the First World War, despite opposition from the Police Federation, which in 1924 insisted: "It is purely a man's job alone". When Shirley Becke became head of the Metropolitan Women's Police 40 years later, the same organisation was still complaining that the service was being flooded with women who lacked the necessary physical strength to do the job.
But Shirley Becke had no truck with such attitudes. In the mid-1960s, by then promoted to the senior echelons of the Met, she launched a campaign to recruit more women officers, pointing out that policing was one of the few careers in which a young woman could "come straight in and do something positive and make her own decisions".
She herself had done just that. In the early 1940s Shirley Becke, then in her mid-20s, had resolved that she would contribute to the war effort by making her mark in the police force, and quickly earned promotion from pounding the beat on the streets of war-torn London into the ranks of the CID. As a young woman detective, she played a small but vital role in a murder investigation.
In November 1945 a notorious gangster known as "Russian Robert" was found dead in his car in Chepstow Place, Notting Hill. He had been shot in the back of the neck. A murder squad superintendent briefed Shirley Becke to trace two suspects, both armed, who had hurriedly left their Paddington boarding house.
Dressed in civvies, Shirley Becke went from door-to-door explaining that her "fiancé" had left her "in trouble" and that she had to find him as soon as possible. Eventually she found a woman who had seen the two wanted men, and who gave information that led to an arrest. The two men were hanged in April 1946.
During her time in the vice-ridden West End and Soho of the 1950s, Shirley Becke weathered her fair share of violent confrontations, but she had been trained in self-defence and made many successful arrests. Such experiences merely reinforced her belief that there should be no distinction drawn between men and women officers.
The women's service ceased to exist as a separate branch and was integrated into the main police service in 1969. In the 1970s, promoted to the rank of commander, Shirley Becke was the officer who briefed the couturier Norman Hartnell on the design of a new uniform for policewomen – an outfit that was to be dignified, recognisable, practical and hard-wearing.
Comprising a short cape, velvet-collared "box" jacket, white blouse and bow tie, a figure-hugging skirt and a peaked pillbox hat designed by Simone Mirman, milliner to the Royal family, it was tailor-made for each individual officer and cost £60. To Shirley Becke's great satisfaction, the introduction of the new uniform boosted considerably the recruitment of women.
She was born Shirley Cameron Jennings on April 29 1917 in Chiswick, west London, and educated at Ealing grammar school. Deciding to follow in the footsteps of her father and brother, she tried to enrol as a gas engineer but was told she must be in the wrong room as "we've never enrolled a girl before". She replied: "You have now."
In 1939, after five years' study at Westminster Technical Institute, she qualified, then spent two years working in a gas showroom before applying to join the police.
One of only four women to be chosen from 30 applicants, in 1941 she enlisted as a WPc at £3 a week and found herself one of just 120 women officers of all ranks. Of these, only 11 were serving with the CID.
When she started on the beat in the blitzed streets of London, wearing a cork helmet and knee-high laced boots, she persuaded her chief at Savile Row to let her join the men on regular squad duties. She soon got a taste of the rigours and risks of front-line policing. By 1945 she had joined the CID.
In 1948 she was promoted to detective-sergeant, and over the next 15 years rose to the rank of detective chief inspector. By 1959 she was based at Scotland Yard as the Met's senior woman detective. Two years later she was back in uniform as superintendent in charge of the women's force in south-west London.
She held this post for 18 months before returning to the Yard as deputy to Winifred Barker, the chief superintendent in charge of women officers. When Miss Barker retired in 1966, Shirley Becke took her place and ran a separate department for women officers known as A4. She became a commander when the rank was upgraded in 1969.
As the Met's first woman commander, and the highest ranking policewoman in Britain, she was also the first woman to join the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO).
With the coming of equal pay legislation, the new Commissioner, Sir Robert Mark, abolished A4 in 1973 and ruled that women could serve in any branch of the Met. Shirley Becke retired the following year.
Shirley Becke was awarded the Queen's Police Medal in 1972 and appointed OBE two years later.
She married, in 1954, Justice Becke, a chartered accountant who later became a vicar in Surrey; he predeceased her.
Shirley Becke, born April 29 1917, died October 25 2011
Dressed in civvies, Shirley Becke went from door-to-door explaining that her "fiancé" had left her "in trouble" and that she had to find him as soon as possible. Eventually she found a woman who had seen the two wanted men, and who gave information that led to an arrest. The two men were hanged in April 1946.
During her time in the vice-ridden West End and Soho of the 1950s, Shirley Becke weathered her fair share of violent confrontations, but she had been trained in self-defence and made many successful arrests. Such experiences merely reinforced her belief that there should be no distinction drawn between men and women officers.
The women's service ceased to exist as a separate branch and was integrated into the main police service in 1969. In the 1970s, promoted to the rank of commander, Shirley Becke was the officer who briefed the couturier Norman Hartnell on the design of a new uniform for policewomen – an outfit that was to be dignified, recognisable, practical and hard-wearing.
Comprising a short cape, velvet-collared "box" jacket, white blouse and bow tie, a figure-hugging skirt and a peaked pillbox hat designed by Simone Mirman, milliner to the Royal family, it was tailor-made for each individual officer and cost £60. To Shirley Becke's great satisfaction, the introduction of the new uniform boosted considerably the recruitment of women.
She was born Shirley Cameron Jennings on April 29 1917 in Chiswick, west London, and educated at Ealing grammar school. Deciding to follow in the footsteps of her father and brother, she tried to enrol as a gas engineer but was told she must be in the wrong room as "we've never enrolled a girl before". She replied: "You have now."
In 1939, after five years' study at Westminster Technical Institute, she qualified, then spent two years working in a gas showroom before applying to join the police.
One of only four women to be chosen from 30 applicants, in 1941 she enlisted as a WPc at £3 a week and found herself one of just 120 women officers of all ranks. Of these, only 11 were serving with the CID.
When she started on the beat in the blitzed streets of London, wearing a cork helmet and knee-high laced boots, she persuaded her chief at Savile Row to let her join the men on regular squad duties. She soon got a taste of the rigours and risks of front-line policing. By 1945 she had joined the CID.
In 1948 she was promoted to detective-sergeant, and over the next 15 years rose to the rank of detective chief inspector. By 1959 she was based at Scotland Yard as the Met's senior woman detective. Two years later she was back in uniform as superintendent in charge of the women's force in south-west London.
She held this post for 18 months before returning to the Yard as deputy to Winifred Barker, the chief superintendent in charge of women officers. When Miss Barker retired in 1966, Shirley Becke took her place and ran a separate department for women officers known as A4. She became a commander when the rank was upgraded in 1969.
As the Met's first woman commander, and the highest ranking policewoman in Britain, she was also the first woman to join the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO).
With the coming of equal pay legislation, the new Commissioner, Sir Robert Mark, abolished A4 in 1973 and ruled that women could serve in any branch of the Met. Shirley Becke retired the following year.
Shirley Becke was awarded the Queen's Police Medal in 1972 and appointed OBE two years later.
She married, in 1954, Justice Becke, a chartered accountant who later became a vicar in Surrey; he predeceased her.
Shirley Becke, born April 29 1917, died October 25 2011
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