Formerly of Manchester & GMP; 10 years in Royal Navy. Served at Platt Lane and Salford, then Inspector at Ashton-in-Makerfield, Hall Lane, Bootle Street, R&D,& FCR. Founded and was long term Secretary of GMP Rifle Club.
Born in 1937, John Hanton joined His Majesty's Royal Navy in 1952 and left Her Majesty's Royal Navy in 1962. In these ten years he saw much of the world, serving on three warships and HM Royal Yacht Britannia, accompanying the Queen and the royal family on numerous voyages. He was a crew member for the honeymoon voyage of Princess Margaret and the Earl of Snowdon. He was also a member of the Devonport Field Gun Crew, and proudly took part in Royal Tournaments.
On leaving the navy in 1962 he joined Manchester City Police, later to form part of Greater Manchester Police — collar number E90.
His first posting was to Platt Lane, during which time he spent several years as the Area Officer for Whalley Range. He was promoted to Sergeant and posted to The Crescent, Salford, a posting which included a spell as Plain Clothes Sergeant. In 1979 he was promoted to Inspector and posted to Ashton-in-Makerfield. As an Inspector he also worked at Hall Lane, Wythenshawe; Bootle Street, Manchester; R&D, Sedgley Park; and Control Room, Headquarters. He created the highly successful GMP Rifle Club which won awards for team and Individual events. He was the Club Secretary for many years.
He retired from GMP in the rank of Inspector in 1992 after 30 years' service.
John is survived by his wife, Robina (Bina) and children, Andrew and Rosemary (formerly Constable 4781C, GMP)
I am indebted to Rosemary for fleshing out John's modest three sentence career profile and providing the photograph. I also thank Malcolm Howells for an additional snippet of information.
