This week in 1829, Robert Peel (Member of Parliament in 1809; Home Secretary beginning in 1822; Prime Minister in 1834 and 1841-46) introduced the Metropolitan Police Act into Parliament to establish a unified police force for London, the city’s first organized police force. The Marine Police Force (aka the River Police) was established in 1798 at Wapping, as the first organized police force in London, but their activities were largely confined to the docks and did not address lawlessness and crime in the rest of the city.
Before 1829, policing was a rather haphazard business, with the Bow Street Runners (established by novelist Henry Fielding) in the 18th century; there were wardens and thief-takers, as well as what we would now call private investigators. But nowhere was there a centralized or professionalized force; a place where information was gathered, organized, and deployed; or an established uniform or code of conduct. But with London growing larger each year and crime on the rise, it was becoming clear that something needed to be done.
However, Londoners were nervous about a police force – because they didn’t want a police state. It hadn’t been that long since the law-keepers in France had been able to pick people up off the street and hurl them into jail willy-nilly, with no writ of habeas corpus, and we all know how that went.
One of the ways that Robert Peel (the nickname “Bobbies” derives from his first name) reassured the public of the benevolence of the London Police was through their clothes.
Rather than dressing these new constables in military red, with ornate epaulettes and medals and in metal helmets (see above), Peel dressed them in gentlemanly blue swallow-tail coats with one neat row of brass buttons as their only ornament (see below). The new constables wore top hats instead of helmets – and while the top hats were reinforced with cane, so that they could be used as step-stools to look over the London walls, and the brim could break a man’s nose, the hats looked polite. (No, this group doesn’t look particularly cheerful, but it was customary not to smile in photographs.)
The new constables also carried truncheons rather than guns – round wooden sticks, approximately two feet long and 1 inch thick, that Americans call “billysticks.”
At first, the truncheons were carried in a long pocket in the coat; later, they were affixed to the belt with a spring-mechanism; and still later, special pockets were sewn down the side of their trousers to hold the sticks conveniently. They also carried wooden rattles (below) that they could shake or whirl to raise an alarm or summon a cab; in the 1880s, they were given whistles.
Peel divided London up into “Divisions” and put headquarters at 4 Whitehall Place, which backed up to Great Scotland Yard. In 1842, a plainclothes division was created, and they were stationed at the headquarters; hence, they became known as “Scotland Yard.”
The entire force for London consisted of fewer than 1,000 men, including superintendents, inspectors, sergeants, and constables. Constables worked 7 days a week for £1, had only 5 days of vacation, and were required to wear their uniforms at all time, whether on or off duty. (!!!) No wonder they were susceptible to bribes…
In 1877, the Trial of the Detectives convicted 4 senior inspectors at Scotland Yard of taking bribes from con men; afterward, the Yard was brought under more stringent governance and the wages increased, so that men did not have to take bribes to have a living wage.