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Robert Noah Bailey was born in 1867 in
Derbyshire, England, the eldest son of Robert and Mary Bailey. In England, he worked with
his father in a pipe moulding plant as an iron moulder's helper, until his family
immigrated to Enderby in 1888.
In Enderby, Bailey worked as a deck hand on the Red Star, as a
utility man in the flour mill, but with the city's incorporation in 1905, he was appointed
the dual role of city foreman and town constable. His job
entailed the policing of the town, impounding of animals and care of the pound, the
ringing of the curfew bell, the maintenance of city hall, and (until 1927) care of the
city waterworks.
Bailey had great enthusiasm for his job. After working as city foreman all day, he would
don his uniform and police the town for half the night. Bailey was a dedicated and
incorruptible policeman, and had a real insight into the principles of the law: a judge
once remarked that Bailey was "the best policeman who ever put on a uniform."
Bailey resigned from his job on February 28th, 1930. Several months before his death, he
suffered a paralytic stroke which left his mind impaired, and he passed away on April
30th, 1934.
Bailey's thriftiness was also legend: he often stole cigar butts from the ashtrays on
Cliff Street and smoked them! From his earliest work in the iron factories of England, he
had saved his money very carefully, and he left behind an estate of $36 000 after his
death.
Yuri Cowan
AlF School 1989