A police constable brought an escaped pony under control last week – 126 years after her great-great-grandfather, a former Metropolitan Police officer, was killed by a horse.

PC Stephanie Merville grabbed hold of the pony’s harness as it ran through traffic in Beddington Lane, and led it safely to its field, next to Asda, on Thursday, August 20.

In 1889, Kingston-born PC Henry Randolph Donaldson attempted to stop a horse that was running loose in south London but was hurt during the encounter and died from his injuries two years later in 1891, aged 49.

PC Merville said: “I began researching my family history when I was 18 with my grandmother. But, since she died, I have had to carry on by myself with the internet.

“I found out that he was in the Met Police during the time of Jack the Ripper, which must have been exciting.

“He also met my great-great- grandmother through the police.

“She served as a station matron, so her job was to look after the prisoners and do admin jobs for the most part.

“She lived until she was 83 and passed on bits about Henry to my grandmother, which is how we know a bit about him.

“But, other than a cousin who is a female officer in Mauritius, I don’t have anyone really in my family who is in the police.”

As for her own encounter with the pony, she said: “It was all very routine, really. I got out of the car, grabbed the pony and it was over.”