Racial Prejudice & Police Hiring - 1894

1894 – Police Matron

        In 1894, the Board of Police Commissioners in Hamilton decided that a full-time “police matron” should be hired to deal with females who had been arrested and held at the No. 3 Police Station awaiting an appearance at the Police Court and a potential transfer to the City Jail.

          Hamilton’s No. 3 police station was the biggest station in the city and was located at the corner of King William and Mary streets, just a few blocks east of the downtown core.

          Across the street from the station, and beside the Bethel Mission, lived a woman named Mrs. Martha Lewis. Mrs. Lewis, a black woman, was often called upon by the police when the services of a police matron were required to deal with issues arising from the detention of female prisoners.

          When the decision was made to create a full-time police matron job, Mrs. Martha Lewis applied.

          Upon hearing that a woman “of colour” was in the running for the police matron position, a deputation from the Women’s Christian Temperance Union (W.C.T.U.) demanded the opportunity to appear before the police commissioners.

          On May 10, 1894, a dozen ladies from the W.C.T.U., headed by the current president, Mrs. Wolfkill, marched in the meeting of the police commission which, at the time consisted of Hamilton Mayor A. D. Stewart, Police Magistrate George Jelfs and Judge Muir.

          Mrs. Day-Smith was chosen as spokeswoman for the organization. She stated that while the W. C. T. U. had no issues with Mrs. Martha Lewis on a personal basis, the organization did emphatically feel that it had a serious objection to her appointment as police matron because of her color.

          “This objection should not be considered in a Christian sense,” Mrs. Day-Smith went on to say, “but there is no doubt that in the minds of many ignorant persons, it would be an objection. I know that I can’t get a white servant of mine to sit at the same table with a colored servant.”

          The W. C. T. U. , Mrs. Day-Smith stated wanted a police matron appointed who was a Christian lady of culture and refinement who would be sympathetic to the organization’s goal of “rescuing the perishing.”

          Police Magistrate George Jelfs asked Mrs. Day-Smith what , in her opinion, the duties of a police matron should be.

          Mrs. Day-smith replied that she felt a police matron should be able to take juvenile offenders in her confidence, so that she could strive to influence them to the good, and, at the same time, learn the cause of the offender’s criminal behavior. The matron should be in constant communication with the W. C. T. U. to inform the organization of the names of the fallen.

          Mayor Stewart, at this point, cut into the discussion abruptly.

          “I don’t share Mrs. Smith’s view that because a woman’s skin is black therefore she is incapacitated from holding an office, and worthy of consideration,” he declared emphatically. “ If the heart of a man or woman is right, it doesn’t matter in heaven, and shouldn’t matter here on earth, what color their skin is. I am prepared now to vote for the appointment of Mrs. Lewis as police matron.”

          Judge Muir was in some support of Mrs. Day-Smith’s perspective, feeling that a white woman would be more likely “to have more influence with white children than a black woman could ever hope to have.”

          Police Magistrate Jelfs objected to the pressure tactics being used by the W. C. T. U..

          “It seems to me,” he said, “that there is too great a tendency nowadays for charitable ladies to try to do their charitable efforts to some official. They want to do good by proxy.”

          Police Sergeant-Major Prentice, present at the meeting, was asked how well Mrs. Lewis had performed her duties in the past.

          “Very satisfactory,” he replied. “She is a woman of good character and kind disposition.”

          Magistrate Jelfs then moved that Mrs. Martha Lewis be appointed police matron at a salary of $100 a year.

          Mayor Stewart agreed, but Judge Muir cast a dissenting vote.

          The motion was carried.

          “I’m sorry that the appointment does not meet your approval, ladies,” Mayor Stewart stated. “Mrs. Lewis may not be highly cultured, and it is true, her complexion is dark; but she is a good, kind woman.”

          Muttering loudly, “it’s too bad, it’s too bad,” Mrs. Day-Smith, followed by the rest of the W. C. T. U. delegation, withdrew haughtily from the meeting room.
    A member of the W.C.T.U., Ellen Powell, was deeply in opposition with the views of Mrs. Day-Smith and others of the W. C. T. U.'s executive as expressed at the police commissioners' meeting.
    In a letter to the Hamilton Times, Ellen Powell wrote ;
    Sir. - I sincerely hope the Christian people and the public at large will not conclude that the deputation of ladies from the Hamilton W. C. T. U. who waited upon the Police Commissioners to discuss the appointment of a police matron voiced the view of the entire union. I feel deeply grieved to learn that the serious objection raised to the appointment of Mrs. Martha Lewis was only one of complexion, and as one of the W. C. T. U. I regret the slight to our coloured brothers and sisters. It's true God makes no difference, and it's about time we, as Christians, ceased doing so. Let us do away with the barriers that race, colour and creed have raised, and, as the Apostle writes in Galatians, be "All one in Christ Jesus." The aim of the Women's Christian Temperance Union is, or ought to be, the working and praying for the extermination of the liquor traffic, the rescue of the erring, the lifting of the fallen, and winning the world for Jesus. This shall be accomplished "In His Name" and by His Spirit, and in no other way.
     Ellen Powell,
     237 John street south.