INSPECTOR William Donaldson, the ‘Hero of Haslemere’, has been awarded a Blue Plaque for laying down his life in the defence of the town hall, back in 1855.

Superintendent Duncan Greenhalgh and Pc Dan Keen joined 40 guests at the unveiling of the plaque to mark the death of the first serving Surrey police officer to die in the line of duty, in a ceremony at the town hall on Saturday.

It was the 11th unveiling under the Haslemere Society’s blue plaque scheme, organised in partnership with the town council.

Inspector Donaldson was fatally injured during the Haslemere Riot more than 150 years ago, when a drunken group of navvies stormed the town hall, where one of their number was being held.

He was battered to death while defending the building and is still remembered thanks largely to the efforts of local historian Jeff Harwood, who came across the records of his death in 1984.

A memorial plaque was installed at the town hall in 1994 and the town council hosts an annual ceremony of remembrance, attended by his descendants.

After the unveiling, former Haslemere Mayor Penny Bradley and Haslemere Society chairman Jane Stopford-Russell welcomed those attending, and society member Chris Harrison, who runs the Blue Plaque scheme, gave a dramatic account of the events surrounding the riot.

“Inspector Donaldson was a man of unblemished record who seems to have acted in an exemplary manner, to have tried to contain events, and to have had no agenda beyond fulfilling his duty of bringing drinking to an end before the onset of the Sabbath,” he said.

“Of the assailants, all except Smith, who was given two years for assault, were found guilty of manslaughter. Woods was sentenced to 20 years’ transportation, dying of alcoholic poisoning in Western Australia in 1882. The others received six years’ penal servitude.”