Bow Street Police Museum is a registered charity in England and Wales (No. 1191955). Our aim is to advance the education of the public in, and to promote good citizenship and a wider public appreciation of policing and the criminal justice system through an understanding of the history and development of policing and the administration of criminal justice in London.
Board of Trustees
Bow Street Police Museum is governed by a board of Trustees who are responsible for the overall strategic direction, key polices, major decisions and financial management of the Museum.
Katharine Alston
Katharine works with the Imperial War Museum as a Senior Producer, Public Engagement and Learning. Working collaboratively with external creative partners, she programmes and produces content for a variety of audiences. She is also Volunteer Director for the Deptford Ragged School Archive, a community outreach heritage project. Katharine has a PhD researching Family Learning and Museum Interpretation. She has previously worked with the Design Museum, The Horniman Museum and the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich.
Leonora Baird-Smith
Leonora has worked in the museum sector for over fifteen years, and is a specialist in collections management. In her current role as Head of Collections at the Zaha Hadid Foundation, she is setting up a new museum from scratch, and is working towards museum accreditation.
Leonora previously worked at the British Museum in a variety of roles, most recently as Head of Collections Management. She also spent a year as Head of Museums at the Metropolitan Police Service, and has a strong interest in the history of policing and crime.
Chris Gilbert
Chris is a qualified accountant with many years of experience in the public and charity sectors. He is currently the Director of Finance and Resources at The London Library where he leads the support services team delivering finance, facilities, IT and HR functions. He previously worked as a Finance Manager at the Home Office, and at London Transport Museum where he was Assistant Director: Business and Performance and a Board member of London Transport Museum (Trading) Ltd.
Chris has a keen interest in charity governance and is also a Trustee of the Association for Cultural Enterprises.
Philip Gough
Philip joined the Metropolitan Police Force in May 1968. In 1989 he was posted to Bow Street as an Inspector, where he remained until its closure in 1992. While at Bow Street Philip was one of the Duty Officers in charge of “C” Relief. He was then the Operations Inspector responsible for organising the police response for special events such as film premieres, demonstrations, visits by royalty, heads of state etc. to venues on Bow Street Division. Philip was also Secretary of the Bow Street Social Club and the Bow Street Inspectors representative of the Metropolitan Police Federation. Retiring from the Met in March 2001 Philip then worked for the Westminster City Council as head of their enforcement teams until 2003 and then as a consultant advising on crime, disorder, and anti-social behaviour.
Councillor Louise Hyams
Louise has had the honour and privilege of representing St. James’s Ward in which Bow Street Police Museum is situated, since her election to the Council in 1998. She is totally committed to improving the quality of life for all the residents of this diverse ward in the centre of London. Having been involved in most areas of the Council’s work, Louise is currently a member of the Licensing Committee and the Standards Committee of the council. Louise was Lord Mayor in 2008/9.
Jenny Ruddock
Jenny Ruddock has a background in audience insights and evaluation and has worked in the museum and heritage sector for over 10 years. Her current role is as the Audience Development and Insights Manager in the Chamber and Participation Team at UK Parliament, which involves looking at audience data, insights and targeting across Participation’s apolitical role in encouraging UK-wide democratic engagement through school visits, community outreach, public tours and events.
She has worked in a similar audience insights position at St Paul’s Cathedral, alongside carrying out freelance evaluation work. Prior to this, she spent several years as a Grants Manager working on London-based projects at the National Lottery Heritage Fund and has an MA Museum Studies from Leicester.
Teresa White
Teresa is a retail consultant and brand strategist working with heritage brands, museums, visitor attractions and charities on the development and implementation of their commercial strategy. Teresa also mentors managers to help them innovate and implement change, and runs specialist training programmes for their teams.
She has previously worked as a Brand and Marketing Director in the fashion and lifestyle sectors as well as advising organisations in education, travel and leisure who operate ancillary retail operations.
Advisory Board
We are currently developing plans for an Advisory Board, whose members will provide guidance and support to the Museum in carrying out its charitable objectives.
Details of how to apply for an Advisory Board role will appear here soon.