Joseph Leivers Harrop was born in Nottingham in 1883 to James Harrop and his wife Ellen Clifton. Ellen was the daughter of Elizabeth Leivers and Thomas Clifton. (Elizabeth herself was born 1821 at Greasley, Nottinghamshire to Joseph Leivers and Hannah Rowbottom). So Joseph is another descendant of the Greasley Levers family.
Joseph’s middle name Leivers, no doubt given in honour of his maternal grandmother, cemented the connection to the Leivers family through the generations.
Joseph came from a large family of ten siblings. Tragically two brothers were killed in the First World War, brother Harry joined the Sherwood Foresters and died in France in 1916 and brother William joined the Grenadier Guards and died in Belgium in 1917. A double blow for the family.
Joseph’s father and grandfather were retired Inspectors in the Nottingham City Police. His brother James Harrop as well as some nephews and cousins were also in the force. His uncle was the Deputy Chief Inspector for Nottinghamshire. So it was no surprise that Joseph himself would join the police.
In 1906 Joseph became a police constable with the Nottingham City Police. He was 23 years old, having spent a few years as a journeyman butcher. Joseph then spent 13 years in uniform before being transferred to the CID of Nottingham Police Force. It was then his career of criminal photographer began.
As the police photographer Joseph was responsible for photographing crime scenes, criminals and also fingerprints.
In an online article entitled “Crime Scene Photography in England, 1895-1960, published by Cambridge University Press, 3 Jan 2018, it talks of how after the First World War, amateur photographic knowledge began to be consolidated into the larger English police forces. They recruited amateur photographers into specialized photographic departments. In 1901, the London Metropolitan Police began a six-month trial in which members of the Fingerprint Branch of the Criminal Investigation Department took photographs themselves rather than hire professionals. The cost was at an average cost of one-fourth of the fee charged by professional photographers. This in-house photography saved time in production and also ensured secrecy by using their own staff. (https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-british-studies/article/crime-scene-photography-in-england-18951960)
Joseph retired in 1931 when he was a Detective Sergeant in the CID of Nottingham Police Force. He had served 26 years with the Nottingham force.
He was described in a newspaper article (Nottingham Journal 7 December 1931) as Nottingham’s leading exponent of criminal photography. He had been the police photographer for the Nottingham force for 13 years, photographing thousands of criminals, countless crime scenes in addition to thousands of finger prints. He said he had photographed nearly every local criminal convicted of a felon.
Joseph is quoted as saying that “Photography is playing a constantly increasing part in criminal investigation”. He also stated that during retirement he intended to keep up his interest in photography but would no longer be confined to the gruesome subjects as he had in the past!
In 1935 Joseph’s cousin, William Riley, a police constable at Beeston, was awarded the King’s Silver Jubilee Medal at the hands of the Duke of Portland at the Shire Hall, Nottingham. The Silver Jubilee Medal was created to commemorate the 25th anniversary of King George V’s accession to the throne. Various people in public life were chosen to receive the medal. An article in the South Notts Echo, Nottingham dated 8 June 1935 described why William had been awarded the medal. It was to recognise his long service combined with good character and merit during His Majesty’s reign. His colleagues agree he thoroughly deserved the award due to not only his exemplary career, but also his tireless work for benevolent causes such as the British Legion.
The number of Joseph’s relatives in the police force was highly unusual and must have influenced Joseph in his choice of career.
Joseph Leivers Harrop was married to Mary Ann nee Stannage (also known as Nance) but there were no children. On the 1939 Register Joseph described himself as a Detective Sergeant although he had been retired a few years. Perhaps he still considered himself a part of the force. He had taken early retirement and was still only in middle age.
In July 1948 Joseph Leivers Harrop died at his home of 83 Sherbourne Road, Nottingham aged 65 years after being in failing health for two years. The obituary in the Nottingham Evening Post 29 July 1948, described him as ex Det. Sgt Joe Harrop and that he was from a well known police family. Joseph was cremated at Wilford Hill, Nottingham.
