Constable Andrew URQUHART (30)

24 Oct 1897
City of Glasgow Police

PC Urquhart collapsed and died after arresting an aggressive drunk male who violently resisted arrest.

About 03:45 on Sunday 24^th October 1897 a woman called at Queens Park Police Station on the south side of Glasgow to report that her son; a 23 year old medical student was the worse for drink and was creating a disturbance at the family home.

She reported that he was ‘very disorderly’ and that the rest of the family were afraid to stay in the house with him.

The turnkey, PC Charles Heriot was sent out to find a constable to attend at the house in the upmarket Dixon Drive. He went to the corner of Allison Street and Cathcart Road where he whistled for assistance.

PC Heriot was joined a short time later by PC Andrew Urquhart and both made their way to the house. On their arrival they saw the accused being pinned down in the hallway by family members.  They got hold of the accused but the father refused to make any charge against his son so they were forced to release him. They were however asked to wait outside for a short time in case there was further trouble, which they did.

After a few minutes they heard shouting and swearing resume from within the house and found the accused brandishing a poker in the kitchen. He retreated into a scullery stating that he would strike the first person to approach him. PC Urquhart used a chair as a shield and was eventually able to subdue him again, but not before receiving several, apparently ineffectual, blows about his head.

PC Urquhart did not seem to be badly hurt, with only one small abrasion visible, and made no complaints as they marched the accused to the police office where he was taken to the charge bar. After a few minutes, and without warning, PC Urquhart collapsed as if having a fit. A doctor was summoned but he never regained consciousness and life was pronounced extinct.

The accused was remanded in custody regarding the death of PC Urquhart but a post mortem examination the next day concluded that PC Urquhart ‘suffered a weak heart and died of shock’ so he was liberated.

The Crown Office recommended no further proceedings in the death of PC Urquhart but the accused appeared at Queens Park Police Court in front of Bailie Fife on charges of Breach of the Peace and Assault, presenting something of a pathetic figure.

He professed sincere regret at his behaviour and the death of the officer and pled guilty to both charges, but only if reference to striking the officer on his head were removed. The Procurator Fiscal said the charge should remain unaltered but a form of words was eventually agreed.

His defence lawyer made a plea in mitigation making much of the accused’s good behaviour since the incident and his status as a medical student.

‘One could not help remembering on this occasion the great shock which the accused must have received by the sudden death at his side of Constable Urquhart on that Sunday morning, and the mental agony which he has endured since then, but especially immediately after the occurrence.’

The tone of reporting in the press also seemed to be sympathetic to ‘the lad’ due to the standing of his family in the community.

‘Deceased was 32 years of age, came from the North of Scotland, and had been about 8 years in the force. The sad event has created a deal of excitement in the southern suburbs, and there was great sympathy expressed to the [accused’s] family, who are well known in the Crosshill district.’

Bailie Fife, however, seems to have been appalled by the behaviour of ‘the lad’ precisely due to his social standing and, ignoring the plea for a suspended sentence or a fine, sentenced him to 30 days imprisonment.

The accused showed his true colours by his contemptuous response; ‘Give me another 30 days and be done with it!’

Constable Andrew Urquhart was 30 years of age and had about 8 year’s police service. He was married with two young sons. His wife received some support from the City Council and also began to take in lodgers to make ends meet, young men like her husband, who had travelled from the north to join the City of Glasgow Police.

PC Urquhart’s name is engraved on the Scottish Police Memorial and will never be forgotten.

 

 

---