Women police officers past and present formed a guard of honour outside Kirk Braddan for the funeral of the island’s first WPC.
Margaret Corkill, who became the Manx constabulary’s first full-time woman police officer in 1967, died peacefully on September 6 at Brinnington care home in Douglas.
The guard of honour at the church was made up of serving women officers in uniform, as well as a number of retired women officers, many of whom worked with Margaret.
Chief Constable Gary Roberts led the tributes, describing her as a ‘kind, decent and compassionate woman, who exemplified all that is good about the constabulary’.
Margaret was selected into the Constabulary in September 1967, having previously worked as a civilian clerical officer at Ramsey police station. She passed out of training in May 1968.
She went on to serve mainly as a uniformed officer, spending several years in the ports unit.
Her last four years were spent working in the CID records department, before retiring from the force in August 1988.
It was in the police that she met her late husband, Sergeant Archie Corkill, who had been widowed with young children.
When Margaret was sworn in there was also a serving cadet, Pat Moss, who became a constable when she reached her 19th birthday.
There were no other women before them other than a police matron, whose duties included searching female prisoners.
For some years female officers did specific duties that related to women and children.
They were not permitted to work night duty, working no later than 2am and always being with a male officer after dark.
Robin Oake’s arrival as Chief Constable in 1986 led to changes being made and the recruitment of women began to increase.
In the past decade the percentage of female officers has risen from about 16 per cent to about 33 per cent.