One of the Grantham policewomen who dealt with these incidents may have been Edith Smith, who in August 1915 was appointed the first woman police constable in England with full power of arrest.
“GRANTHAM is mentioned in the report for 1915 on Women’s Police Service among the few places where women work under the direction of the chief constable or superintendent of the district and are maintained out of the rates, like policemen. In our police news we have recorded typical examples of policewomen’s work at Grantham. Other cases quoted in the report include the following:- A serious fight was taking place between two drunken soldiers who should have been in camp. The men had taken off their coats to fight. The policewomen cleared the crowd, separated the fighters, persuaded them to put on their coats, shake hands, and return to camp. During an East Coast Zeppelin raid policewomen were asked to assist in keeping order in the streets. An excited little crowd of women and tired children at one street corner could not at first be persuaded to go home when the raid was over, because of a suspicious light which remained in the sky. The policewomen calmed them, states the report, explained that the light had nothing to do with Zeppelins, but was merely the planet Venus, and sent the crowd quietly home. The expenses of the service, whose headquarters are at Little George-street, Westminster, are at present paid by voluntary contributions.”
The Stamford Mercury, 28th January 1916