When officers first joined they were required to swear oaths of allegiance. The oaths covers the three areas of Metropolitan Police work, a general declaration for Metropolitan Divisions, a declaration for HM Dockyards and War Department stations and a declaration for the Royal Palaces. They then signed the Attestation Register in front of a senior officer. These registers therefore give the signature of the officer and his date of joining. The Registers MEPO 4/352 – MEPO 4/357 cover officers from Warrant Number 51491 (Feb 1869) to 100310 (June 1911). This Registers can be downloaded for free from the National Archives. PC Walters attestation entry if shown below:
For the later registers officers swore all three oaths on joining. Previously they often swore just the main general oath. If they were later appointed to a Dockyard Division they would be required to attest again swearing the relevant oath. Consequently for some officers it is possible to find a second attestation entry, these are normally at the end of the book. This second entry can be very useful as it gives an indication of the date when they were transferred to a Royal Dockyard.