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Margaret Damer Dawson was born in Sussex in 1875. Educated at the London Academy of Music she became organizing secretary of the International Animal Protection Societies in 1906. As a result of her work for animal welfare Dawson was awarded silver medals by Finland and Denmark.
On the outbreak of the First World War, Dawson was asked to help find British homes for Belgian refugees. Dawson was shocked to discover attempts by British men at railway stations attempting to recruit Belgian women as prostitutes. After a meeting with Sir Edward Henry, the Chief Commissioner of Police, Dawson decided to form the Women's Police Volunteers (WPV). The government had always opposed the idea of policewomen but with a large numbers of policemen joining the British Army, it was considered a good idea to have women volunteers to help run the service. Another reason that Dawson's proposal was accepted was that her members were willing to work without pay.
Dawson became commandant and Mary Allen, a member of the Women Political and Social Union, became her deputy. In 1915 Dawson renamed her organisation, the Women's Police Service (WPS). At first the WPS concentrated its work in the London area. Wearing a dark-blue uniform, the WPS were assigned responsibilities such as looking after the welfare of refugees.
In 1916 the Admiralty recruited a member of the WPS as an undercover worker in an attempt to expose spying and drug taking at the Scapa Flow Naval Base. The Ministry of Munitions also used the WPS to search women workers at its factories. At Gretna, near Carlisle, over 9,000 women were employed to produce munitions and 150 members of the WPS had the responsibility of searching them when they entered and left the factory.
Margaret Damar Dawson and Mary Allen
By 1918 there were WPS women on duty in Edinburgh, Birmingham, Glasgow, Bristol, Belfast, Oxford, Cambridge, Portsmouth, Hull, Plymouth, Brighton, Nottingham, London, Southampton, Folkestone, Reading and Grantham. However, in many cases they were not sworn in as full members of the local police force and could not make arrests.
When the Armistice was signed, there were over 357 members of the Women's Police Service. Commandant Dawson and Subcommandant Mary Allen, asked the Chief Commissioner, Sir Nevil Macready, to make them a permanent part of his force. He refused, saying that the women were "too educated" and would "irritate" male members of the force. Macready instead decided to recruit and train his own women. However, Dawson was awarded the OBE for services to her country during wartime.
Ill-health forced Dawson to retire in 1919 and she was replaced as Commandant of the Women's Police Service by Mary Allen. Margaret Damer Dawson died in 1920.
Women's Police Service at Euston Station
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