PALESTINE POLICE FORCE

PALESTINE POLICE FORCE -- A superb collection of rare ephemera relating to the Palestine Police Force. [Palestine:

A large, diverse collection of Palestine Police Force (PPF) ephemera, offering a wide-ranging look at the realities of service as a Palestine policeman during the Mandate.

Comprising:
1 black woollen hat, with leather headband, maker’s stamp ‘M. & J. Goldstein Ltd 1947’ to inside felt, metal PPF badge at the front, ornamental plastic badge on side.
1 leather belt with metal PPF buckle.
1 wooden baton with leather strap with engraved serial number.
1 metal whistle complete with chain.
69 loose photographs and 1 negative showing members of the PPF, the majority in uniform including hat and belt, mostly informal but a few showing members on parade.
Photograph album, mostly Palestine, c. 1930s, containing 66 photographs (various sizes) 12 leaves, oblong 4to (205 x 250 mm.), (1 photographs missing). Original green cloth, (extremities lightly rubbed). 16 photographs and a Palestine Police certificate of discharge loosely inserted.
Sold with: 26 related items including PPF manuals and a group of badges, pins, and cufflinks.

The PPF was founded in 1920 after the establishment of Herbert Samuel’s administration, existing alongside separate Gendarmeries under the general command of Major General Tudor. In 1926, the Gendarmeries were re-organized and reconstituted as the PPF, with a membership consisting of British and Irish nationals, Muslim and Christian Arabs, and Jews. Throughout the period of the Mandate, the PPF often found itself facing shortages of personnel, especially during episodes of unrest such as the Hebron rioting of 1929 and the Arab rebellion 1936-1939. Recognising the scale of police intervention needed to control the disturbances in Palestine, the British undertook wide recruitment campaigns for the PPF, especially targeting schools and appealing to a boyish sense of adventure. Following severe disorder across 1946-1948 in the lead-up to partition, years which saw the highest death rate of PPF members in the entire Mandate, the force was disbanded in May 1948 at the formal end of British involvement in Palestine.