Sergeant Harry Daley (14 November 1901 – 1971) was the first openly gay British policeman. Born in Lowestoft he later moved to Dorking and, in 1925, to London where he joined the Metropolitan Police. Soon after joining the police, he met gay writer J. R. Ackerley and, through him, a number of other literary and artistic figures. Daley became the lover of writer E. M. Forster at the age of 25, a relationship that lasted seven years. After retiring from the police in 1950 he returned to Dorking where he lived with his brother and his partner. Daley wrote an autobiography that was published posthumously in 1986.
Early life
Harry Daley was born in Lowestoft, Suffolk on 14 November 1901, the second youngest of five children. His father, Joseph Daley, was an orphan born in Poplar, London, who became the skipper of a fishing smack; his mother was Emily née Firman, a former parlourmaid. From the age of three Harry Daley was educated at the local school and when he was nine-years-old his father died at sea in a storm. Because of this Daley decided to help support his family by becoming a telegram boy rather than attending secondary school. During the First World War, his mother, fearing Zeppelin raids and a German invasion, moved the family to Dorking in 1916 and Daley found work as a grocer's delivery boy. Daley's sole elder brother was killed while serving in the Machine Gun Corps on the Western Front on 7 November 1918, just days before the end of the war.
While living at Dorking, Daley was fascinated by London and spent his weekends in the capital's theatres, cinemas, galleries and concert halls. He was also an avid reader and bought quantities of cheap books from second-hand shops. Daley recognised he was a homosexual during his childhood and referred to his sexuality as a "small cloud" that followed him.
Police career
Hammersmith
Daley moved to London and applied to join the Metropolitan Police in 1925, starting his training at Peel House in March. Daley's first posting was to a station in Chiswick but he was soon moved to Hammersmith. At Hammersmith, Daley considered that the constables were under pressure to carry out arrests and issue summons. This resulted in many people being stopped and searched without suspicion, which Daley thought antagonised drunk members of the public and led to the arrest of persons in marginal cases such as workmen carrying home materials left-over from building sites. He stated that the policemen in Hammersmith augmented their wages by receiving bribes from bookmakers on their beat to "look the other way". Constables could receive a half crown (2.5 shillings) a day from each bookmaker at a time when weekly wages for a constable with two years service was £3 6s (66 shillings). Daley recalled collecting the half crown from the bookmaker on his beat from a window ledge. He also remembered receiving complaints when he took a day off and his replacement did not accept the bribe. Daley also described making more than 30 shillings in one day by helping motorists to park at the Olympia London exhibition centre, though a portion was passed on to his sergeant and the clerk at the police station. Daley considered that corruption decreased after the appointment of Lord Trenchard as commissioner in 1931: "when our superior officer were known to be honest, the majority of us followed suit".
Soon after joining the police Daley met the gay writer J. R. Ackerley. Daley had seen Ackerley's The Prisoners of War at the Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith, and was intrigued by its homosexual theme; while walking his beat. Daley made the acquaintance of the writer one day when Ackerly was fetching the milk from his doorstep. The pair probably had a brief sexual relationship and remained lifelong friends afterwards. Through Ackerley, Daley came into contact with a wider circle of writers and artists, including those of the Bloomsbury Group, whose member Duncan Grant painted a portrait of Daley in 1930. By the age of 25 Daley had become a lover of the writer E. M. Forster, a relationship that lasted for seven years. P. N. Furbank's 1978 biography of Forster notes that Daley was "plump, curly-haired, genial and rather cocky in manner: very intelligent, with a taste for music and opera, and a brilliant raconteur. He was homosexual and made no secret of it; indeed he was wildly indiscreet. His closest friends, and lovers, were mainly criminals." During this time Forster often accompanied Daley on his beat and Daley introduced him to a number of his working-class acquaintances. Forster considered that Daley was too indiscreet and friendly with criminals and ended their relationship in 1932.