This police truncheon is believed to have been used by Victorian policeman Mark Merritt, to defend himself during a number of violent assaults. The truncheon was donated to Tavistock Museum following many years in the Merritt family.
Of all the exhibits in Tavistock Museum the one which attracts the most interest is the School Punishment Book from Stowford Church of England School, a small village school, near Lifton. The book was completed for the period February 1935 until November 1946 and records the names and misdeeds of 105 pupils between the ages of 6 and 14. As so many visitors have asked for a copy of the book the museum decided to publish it and now has copies available for sale from the museum shop and on the Devon Museums website.