Gerard Jacob Van Helden (c. 1848 – 12 June 1901) was a police detective who became Detective Superintendent in the Birmingham City Police Force in Birmingham, England.
Overview Gerard Van Helden was born in the Netherlands in about 1848. Working for his father he journeyed firstly to London and then to Paris. In 1867, he was caught in the Siege of Paris when the Prussians stopped all the French trains running. When the siege ended in 1871 he journeyed back to London and then to Birmingham. There he joined the Birmingham City Police as a Constable fourth Class. Within a year he received very rapid promotions and in 1872 was an Honorary Sergeant. By 1881 he was an Inspector having solved many important cases and in 1885 he was promoted to Chief Inspector of the Detectives Department, in Birmingham. His success was based on an ability to remember faces and be fluent in Dutch, German and English. At one time, he acted as bodyguard to the Right Honorable Joseph Chamberlain, (1836–1914), the Birmingham politician and one time Colonial Secretary and William Gladstone (1809–1898),Newspaper article, Death of Superintendent Van Helden. Evening Telegraph 14 June 1901. Viewed April 2014. the British Liberal Politician. Eventually he was promoted to Superintendent of the Birmingham City Police Detectives Department where his crime solving continued until his untimely death. He had an unusually eventful career and experiences and became known as "The Famous Detective".Newspaper article, Death of Superintendent Van Helden. The Birmingham Daily Argos 12 June 1901. Viewed April 2014. He was known countrywide.Newspaper article, Noted Detective Dead.Evening Telegraph 14 June 1901. Viewed April 2014.
Early life Gerard Jacob Van Helden was born in about 1848 in the small town of Gouda,Gouda is a city and municipality in the Netherlands. Gouda, which is famous for its Gouda cheese and smoking pipes. It was granted its city rights in 1272. the Netherlands. His father was a Hide and Skin Merchant. Gerard Jacob Van Helden was educated at a boarding school in Turnhout, Belgium, where he learnt English, French and German languages.Newspaper article, A Famous Detective's Death. Evening Telegraph, 14 June 1901. Viewed November 2013. After he left school he went to work for his father and was sent to Bermondsey Market, London, to do some trading. He was engaged by a company to go to Paris, which came under siege by the Prussian Army just after his arrival. For about two months, he was engaged in helping the French outside the fortifications constructing barricades, etc. and then was involved in preparing food for the population, at which he was, reputedly, very efficient. At the end of May 1871, the Prussians entered ParisWeb site Military History viewed December 2013. http://militaryhistory.about.com/od/battleswars1800s/p/siegeofparis.htm and Gerard Van Helden left making his way back to London. Three days later he arrived in London and two weeks later he arrived in Birmingham and joined the city Police force.Newspaper article, Superintendent Gerard Van Helden. The Birmingham Post, February 1895. Viewed April 2012.
The Birmingham Police Force Birmingham was England's second largest city.Book, A Brief history of Birmingham by author Tim Lambert.http://www.localhistories.org./birmingham.html. Viewed December 2013. Gerard Van Helden joined the City of Birmingham Police Force as a Constable 4th Class on 19 April 1871 and was given the Warrant number 4595.West Midlands Police Museum, Sparkbrook, Birmingham City Police records, page 333. Viewed 2012. In June 1871 he was promoted to Constable 3rd Class, December 1871 to Constable 2nd Class and June 1872 Constable 1st Class. sometime during the previous year he became attached to the Detectives Department of the Force and in October 1872 was made an Honorary Sergeant. The Birmingham Watch Committee were so impressed by his work results they awarded him a special gratuity for his vigilant conduct.Newspaper article, Superintendent Gerard Van Helden. The Birmingham Post. February 1895. Viewed April 2012. His ability in languages in multicultural Birmingham and an ability to remember faces had brought him to the attention of his superiors and his promotions continued. In March 1874 he was promoted from 2nd Class Sergeant to 2nd Class Sergeant, mainly for arresting four burglars. In January 1881 he was promoted to 3rd Class Inspector, April 1882 to Second Class Inspector, mainly in recognition of his services as an interpreter, in July 1884 to First Class Inspector and May 1885 Chief Inspector of the Detectives Department. In 1894 he became Chief Superintendent of that department.West Midlands Police Museum, Sparkbrook, Birmingham City Police records, pages 415 and 476. Viewed 2012. This rate of promotion on ability is unique.
In August 1873, a young Constable joined the Birmingham City Police named Frank Richardson,City of Birmingham, Police Entrants Book. Frank Richardson, Warrant number 4810. Assigned to Division 4. Page 394. West Midlands Police Museum, Sparkhill, Birmingham, viewed 2012. and was assigned to the Bradford Street Police Station, central Birmingham. Both lived in the centre of Birmingham with their new wives. There were four divisional offices in the centre of Birmingham at this time. Van Helden's office was in the main Town Hall complex and later Steelhouse Lane. As Van Helden became more involved in criminal detection he needed a Policeman as a uniformed presence and it appears he often chose Frank Richardson who was climbing the promotion ladder as he was. They worked together for ten years until Frank Richardson was promoted to Chief Constable and Fire Brigade Chief of Hereford in 1882.1.) Newspaper article, Presentation to a Police Sergeant. The Birmingham Daily Post, December 1882. Viewed Nov. 2013. 2.) City of Hereford Watch Committee minutes. 20 November 1882 pages 195 and 196. Viewed November 2013. where he was to remain until 1920.Book, Policing Hereford and Leominster by G. Forrest and T. Hadley. Page 52. . The link between them did not end here as Frank Richardson's second son, Alfred Richardson joined the City of Birmingham Police in 1890Police Entrants Book. Alfred Richardson joined 29 April.1891 Warrant 6164. West Midlands Police Museum, Sparkbrook, Birmingham City Police records, pages 415 and 476. Viewed 2012. and was soon working in, by now, Chief Superintendent Van Helden's office. Gerard Van Helden's experiences in office were well reported in the local newspaper The Birmingham Post as were Alfred Richardson's. Frank Richardson's experiences in Hereford were well reported in the Hereford Times. Alfred Richardson climbed the promotion ladder very quickly in the late 1800s and achieved the post of the Chief Constable of Newcastle-under-Lyme, StaffordshireNewspaper article, Chief Constable of Newcastle-under-Lyme, The Gloucester Citizen, August 1901. Viewed August 2011. and later the larger police force of Halifax, West Yorkshire.1.) Newspaper article, Mr. A.H. Richardson goes to Halifax, The Newcastle Sentinel, April 1903. Viewed August 2011. 2.)Newspaper article, The new Chief Constable of Halifax. The Halifax Guardian. April 1903. Viewed August 2011.
Gerard Van Helden solved 17List from The BlackSheep List, of British policemen, http://www.ancestry.co.uk. Viewed December 2013.(Note: the word 'Blacksheep' of the 1800s does not have the meaning of today.) major cases over the years. His first important case was a Criminal Investigation by the Jockey Club of England which was entered for a race at the town of nearby Wolverhampton. A horse that was not the favourite, won a race easily. After the race there was a rain shower and some white markings on the horse washed off. Gerard Van Helden was sent to investigate the matter and he discovered the horse's appearance had indeed been changed. The owners were arrested and charged. In 1885 he issued a special notice via The Birmingham Post newspaper to Constables and Peace Officers of the Borough of Birmingham regarding a jeweller who had thirty one gold finger rings with intent to defraud. Instructions given: "You are commended to bring him before a Justice of the Police." In another case which caught the public attention he regularly secreted himself in a small cupboard on the premises of a Birmingham jeweller who had often been burgled. It took Van Helden seven weeks of hiding until a man with a revolver entered the premises, which saw Van Helden leaping from his hiding place and handcuffing the burglar.Newspaper article, A Famous Detective's Death, Evening Telegraph, 14 June 1901. Viewed November 2013. Another very high-profile case involved the manager of a large bank who slipped out of England in 1883 and went to France with Gerard Van Helden a few hours behind him. The man then boarded a boat intending to flee to South America but Van Helden was able to apply for his extradition back to England using some rather unorthodox methods.1.) Article in national newspaper, The Daily Mail 14 June 1901. 2.) Police Review and Parade Ground Gossip, 22 February 1895. Viewed November 2013. He was always interested in protecting the Jewellery District of Birmingham,Web site on the Jewellery Quarter situated in Birmingham, http://www.jquarter.org.uk/webdisk/more1.htm Viewed December 2013. which included ending the transporting of hall-marks and lengthy and complicated trials took place between 1891 and 1893 when alleged forgeries and forged Hallmarks were made by Van Helden to a Jeweller in business in Preston, Lancashire, at the Preston Borough Police court. The accused were charged with selling chains using the Birmingham Hallmark when they were not from Birmingham.1. Newspaper article The Birmingham Post 1891. 2)Newspaper, Preston Chronicle, 31 January 1891 and June 1893. Viewed November 2013. On another occasion he followed an Assay forger to Philadelphia USA. and tracking the offender to several locations eventually apprehending him in Chicago, Illinois, where the District Judge ordered the offender back to England to stand trial.1.) Police Review and Parade Gossip, 22 February 1895 2.) Newspaper article, The Birmingham Owl, 6 May 1898. Viewed November 2013. Even when he became his departments Chief Detective Superintendent in 1892 his zeal for catching criminals personally did not diminish. Gerard Van Helden acted as a Protection Officer to the Rt. Hon Joseph Chamberlain the Birmingham MP,1.) Joseph Chamberlain was Birmingham's Member of Parliament from 1876 to 1885 and Colonial Secretary from 1895 to 1900.2.) Further reading, The Administration of Imperialism: Joseph Chamberlain at the Colonial Office (1969).by Robert V. Kubicek.