Two women police officers outside Bow Street Police Station, London. They are WPC Ivy Ellis (left) and Inspector Alice Bertha Clayden (right). In 1922, during the period of the so-called Geddes Axe when the government of the day reduced the number of policewomen from 112 to 20, Clayden was put in charge of the 20 who remained, and was the first woman officer to hold the rank of Inspector.