Cecil Edwin SEWELL

Late of  Wycombe Rd, Yagoona, NSW

 

New South Wales Police Force

Regd. #  ????

 

Rank:  Constable

Stations: ?, Parramatta – Public Safety Bureau – Death

 

Service:  From  3 August 1948  to 2 June 1954 = 5+ years Service

 

Awards:  No find on It’s An Honour

 

Born:  ? ? 1927 at Werris Creek, NSW

Died on:  Wednesday  2 June 1954

Death location:  Parramatta District Hospital

Age:  27

Cause:  Motor Vehicle Collision – Rider – Pursuit

Event location:   Woodville Rd, near Farnell St, Merrylands

Event date:   Tuesday  1 June 1954

 

Funeral date:  Thursday  3 June 1954

Funeral location:  Baptist Church, Harrow Road, Auburn

 

Buried at:  Rookwood Cemetery, Rookwood

 

Area: Zone F, Sect:  Independent General K,  Grave 2643

 

 Memorial located at:  ?

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Here are some amazing photos for you,
I have attached some photos of dad in uniform also a few of funeral procession that I found. Dad was also one of the officers who escorted the Queen on her Coronation Tour in Sydney May 1954. I think that might be the photo of him on his bike. After Sydney tour he was to escort the Queen & Duke to Canberra but his bike broke down at Liverpool. A couple of weeks later he lost his life.
Thanks again.
Ron

CECIL is mentioned on the Police Wall of Remembrance

( NEED TO OBTAIN PHOTO OF TOUCH PLATE IN CANBERRA )

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FURTHER INFORMATION IS NEEDED ABOUT THIS PERSON, THEIR LIFE, THEIR CAREER AND THEIR DEATH.

PLEASE SEND PHOTOS AND INFORMATION TO Cal

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May they forever Rest In Peace

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On 1 June, 1954 Constable Sewell was riding a police solo motor cycle in Woodville Road, Merrylands.

About 4.45pm the constable became involved in the pursuit of a motor vehicle. As the pursuit neared the intersection of Farnell Street, an elderly man alighted from a bus, ran out onto the roadway and was struck by Constable Sewell’s motor cycle.

Both men sustained severe injuries and were conveyed to the Parramatta District Hospital.

The pedestrian was found to be dead on arrival and Constable Sewell died the following morning.

 

The constable was born in 1927 and joined the New South Wales Police Force on 3 August, 1948.

At the time of his death he was stationed at Parramatta.

http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/18427216

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Deadly toll

Alone in his patrol car, Chris Thornton had the police siren flashing as he chased a white sedan through Woy Woy.

Thornton, 35, a highway patrolman, had been in the force for 15 years. He was, his mother says, “the best driver I have ever seen”.

The reason for the chase that night in April 2002 is unknown. Both cars were seen travelling at high speed. Thornton was about 50 metres behind.

Meanwhile, Leonard Rowley, 56, an unlicensed driver, was driving to his local KFC to pick up dinner. He saw the first car flash past and judged – wrongly – that he had time to turn out in front of the patrol car. Thornton tried to avoid Rowley’s car but clipped the back, veered onto the wrong side of the road and hit a power pole.

Thornton died on the spot, which is marked by a permanent stainless-steel cross. Rowley later received a suspended two-year sentence.

“His life from the age of 12 was about helping people,” says Thornton’s mother, Freada Thornton. “He was in the surf club and he was there to rescue people and then he went into the force and he was doing the same thing.” His father, Barry Thornton, says: “He loved life. He had been in Gosford for 15 years and was so popular with the community there.”

Police pursuits are, says Barry, a necessary evil: “If they don’t catch the criminals there will be more deaths on the roads. The ones that they’re in pursuit of are the idiots that have done the wrong thing to start with.”

But pursuits have come at a cost to the NSW Police Department. Fifteen officers have died as a result of high-speed chases, beginning with the death of Constable George Boore in 1937.

Details provided by the NSW Police Association show a steady stream of fatalities involving cars and motorcycles. The full list of casualties is as follows:

April 2, 1937: Constable George Boore;

June 2, 1954: Constable Cecil Sewell;

November 14, 1958: Constable Brian Boaden;

December 23, 1958: Constable William Lord;

October 14, 1961: Constable James Kinnane;

September 7, 1963: Constable Colin Robb;

December 2, 1976: Constable Terry Moncur;

January 3, 1985: Constable Wayne Rixon;

July 25, 1985: Detective-Constable Steven Tier;

October 20, 1987: Constable Themelis Macarounas;

August 24, 1988: Constable Peter Carter;

June 13, 1989: Constable Peter Figtree;

June 14, 1989: Senior Constable Glenn Rampling;

January 14, 2001: Senior Constable James Affleck;

April 13, 2002: Senior Constable Christopher Thornton.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/Police-Pursuits/Deadly-toll/2004/11/05/1099547386960.html

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Cumberland Argus (Parramatta, NSW : 1950 – 1962),

Wednesday 1 September 1954, page 1

SEWELL FUND IS CLOSED

http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/132143069

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Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 – 1954),

Friday 4 June 1954, page 4

http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/27517645

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Constable Cecil Edwin SEWELL
Parramatta Police
Motor Vehicle Pursuit
2 June, 1954
Resting Place – Rookwood Cemetery, Rookwood

On 1 June, 1954 Constable Sewell was riding a police solo motor cycle in Woodville Road, Merrylands. About 4.45pm the constable became involved in the pursuit of a motor vehicle. As the pursuit neared the intersection of Farnell Street, an elderly man alighted from a bus, ran out onto the roadway and was struck by Constable Sewell’s motor cycle. Both men sustained severe injuries and were conveyed to the Parramatta District Hospital. The pedestrian was found to be dead on arrival and Constable Sewell died the following morning. The Sydney Morning Herald of 3 June, 1954 printed the following article, and funeral notices.

CONSTABLE’S DEATH FROM INJURIES IN CYCLE CHASE CRASH

Constable Cecil Sewell, 27, of the Public Safety Bureau, who knocked down and fatally injured a civilian while chasing a speeding motor cyclist on Tuesday, died yesterday from injuries he received in the accident. He will be buried at Rookwood Cemetery today with full police honours. Constable Sewell was chasing the motor cyclist along Woodville Road, Merrylands, at 70 m.p.h. about 4.45 p.m. when he struck John Thomas Nivens, 60, who had stepped from a bus. Nivens, of Patons Street, Merrylands, died later from his injuries. Constable Sewell, who was thrown from the cycle after it had skidded along the road for 60 yards, died in Parramatta Hospital at 6.30 a.m. yesterday without regaining consciousness. He suffered a fractured skull and internal injuries. Doctors said his condition was too serious to operate. He was married with two children.

FUNERAL TO-DAY

Constable Sewell’s funeral will leave for Rookwood after, a service at the Baptist Church, Harrow Road, Auburn, at 1.30 p.m. The Police Pipe Band will lead the cortege, and Public Safety Bureau motor cyclists will escort the funeral. The Superintendent of Traffic, Mr. H. E. Snowden, will represent the Commissioner of Police, Mr. C. J. Delaney. Among other police officers present will be the officer in charge of the Public Safety Bureau, Inspector J. J. Agnew, and the officer in charge of Parramatta Division, Inspector C. S. Jardine. Police are making a wide search for the speeding motor cyclist, whom they blame for the deaths of Nivens and Constable Sewell. A senior police officer said yesterday that the cyclist, if arrested, faced charges of manslaughter.

“FINE OFFICER”.

Mr. Snowden said last night: “Constable Sewell was an outstanding young policeman with a particularly fine character. He was a policeman the public and the Police Force could ill afford to lose. His workmates in the Public Safety Bureau are stunned by his death.” Mr. Snowden said that police would not treat reckless and thoughtless motorists and drunken drivers and speedsters with “kid glove methods”. “We are determined to exert every means at our disposal to make the roads safe for everybody,” he said.

SEWELL – Masonic Lodge Auburn No 404 U G L of N S W, The Officers and Members of the above Lodge are fraternally Invited to attend the Funeral of their late esteemed Brother C E SEWELL. For particulars see family notice. Regalia.”

The constable was born in 1927 and joined the New South Wales Police Force on 3 August, 1948. At the time of his death he was stationed at Parramatta. He is listed in the official New South Wales Police Honour Roll.

http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/18427216

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Sun (Sydney, NSW : 1910 – 1954),

Wednesday 2 June 1954, page 1

 

 

 

 

Thomas Gordon REA

New South Wales Police

Regd. #  ?

Rank:  Detective Sergeant

Stations: ? , C.I.B. Vice Squad ( since 1947 ) – death

Service:  From about 11 July 1928  to 27 April 1954  =  26 years Service

Awards:  No find on It’s an Honour

Born:  ? ? 1907

Died on:  Tuesday  27 April 1954

Cause:  Illness.

Event location:  “In a police car, Avoca St, Randwick”

Age: 47

Funeral date: Thursday  29 April 1954

Funeral location: 

Buried at: Eastern Suburbs Crematorium.  Jubilee Walls, B104

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THOMAS IS mentioned on the Police Wall of Remembrance

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Nothing is so far known of the death of Sergeant Rea, other than a brief article in the Sydney Morning Herald dated 28 April, 1954 which reported that “ Detective Sergeant Thomas Gordon Rea, 46, of the Vice Squad, collapsed and died on duty yesterday. Rea had been in the police force for 26 years and had been with the Vice Squad since 1947. His is survived by a widow and two daughters. ”

 

The sergeant apparently joined the New South Wales Police Force about 1928 and at the time of his death was attached to the Vice Squad, Sydney Criminal Investigation Bureau.

 

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