Until the 1850s, policing in Britain was a hotchpotch affair. The first policing – introduced through the Statute of Winchester in 1285 – was a system of ‘watch and ward’ with a number of watchmen (according to a town’s population) keeping an eye on things from dusk to dawn. Their role was to arrest strangers, hold them until morning, and take suspicious characters to the sheriff. Other duties included raising the hue and cry to alert able-bodied men that a stranger had resisted arrest, the pursuit was on and urgent assistance was required.

All men between 15 and 60, housed equipment – according to their wealth – to keep the peace. Even the poor man’s bow and arrows were inspected twice yearly by appointed high constables. Defaults in equipment or watchmen were reported to the justices, who notified the king.

As populations (and crime) grew, parishes and townships each elected at least one parish constable annually. With roles numerous and diverse and in addition to a man’s own trade or occupation, the appointments were usually unpopular. Having taken an oath of service, parish constables were regarded as Crown officers and equipped with a staff of office as a symbol of authority. Apart from this ornately decorated, useful and necessary weapon of self-defence, the parish constables had no more value in crime prevention than any other able-bodied man.

Local Improvement Acts
In the mid-1820s, commissioners of larger towns began implementing Local Improvement Acts, levying rates to fund infrastructure schemes and a few paid police – usually night watchmen.

These watchmen were ‘…bound during the time of their being on Duty, to use their utmost endeavours to prevent Mischief by Fire, also Burglaries, Robberies, Affrays or other Outrages and Disorders within the limits of the Act; and are also required while on Duty to apprehend and secure all Malefactors, Rogues, Nightwalkers, Vagabonds and Disorderly persons, who shall disturb the Public Peace or whom they shall have cause to suspect of any evil Design …‘

One problem common to all forces was the ineffectiveness of the watchmen. With low pay mainly attracting those beyond hard work, most were only useful for lamp-lighting and calling the hours of the night.

A rapid influx of workers into urban areas created problems. Pubs and beerhouses thrived; drunken brawls and petty thefts abounded. The countryside also saw crime increasing, with stock and produce fairs in towns drawing followers who robbed and pilfered. Large numbers of people at large in search of work also attracted criminal activity. The provision of canals and railways meant poaching changed from a rural crime, carried out by small numbers of local men, into organised major operations. Gangs ran vicious battles with gamekeepers. Only the military were able to suppress riotous behaviour.

Resistance to policing
In 1818, a House of Commons committee investigated the disturbing increase in London’s crime, but did little – uncertain of the acceptability of a police force in a free country.

It took Robert Peel’s 1822 proposal for a professionally organised, full-time police force seven years to get Parliament’s approval. His Metropolitan Police Bill was finally passed on 19 June 1829.

Elsewhere, the Municipal Corporations Act, introduced in 1835, meant newly reformed boroughs (their councillors now elected by eligible ratepayers), could spend some of their rates on professional police. Since the Act was only permissive, and policing seemed an unnecessary expense, only 100 of the 178 reformed boroughs took immediate action. Under the Act, progressive, industrial towns such as Manchester and Birmingham, previously without councils, rapidly applied for incorporation as boroughs (to include surrounding townships). These new councils used their rights to set up forces, based on the Metropolitan Police model, adapted to suit the needs of their borough. Overseen by watch committees, numbers, structure, pay and equipment varied widely.

Many ratepayers were displeased, complaining of the cost, of being spied upon when going about their daily business, and the lack of need to ‘pay a parcel of walking gentlemen to defend you against injuries you had no cause to apprehend’ .

Nevertheless, police in urban areas started to bring some law and order to their streets. Not necessarily by preventing or suppressing all evil, but by shifting a portion of it into the countryside, where preserving the peace and protecting inhabitants was still the responsibility of the reluctant parish constable.

In March 1839, a Royal Commission published its Constabulary Forces report. It made grim reading.

With crime rising in rural areas and many habitual criminals living by depredation for over five years, plus a large proportion of prisoners in county gaols being people who’d migrated from towns, the Commission recommended paid constabulary forces be established. Organised on the same principles as the Metropolitan Police, they would be a ‘primary remedy for the evils set forth’ .

Counties adopting the County Police Act 1839 to raise and equip paid police forces, appointed a chief constable and no more than one paid police officer per 1000 inhabitants. Instead of a watch committee, magistrates oversaw the constabularies.

However, the Act (also known as the Rural Police Act or Rural Constabularies Act), like the Municipal Corporations Act, was permissive.

With many counties resisting the 1839 Act, yet another policing Act was introduced in 1842 to ‘infuse new life into the decrepit parochial system’ .

The Parochial Constables Act and an amendment (the Superintending Constables Act) permitted magistrates to build lock-ups and recruit paid full-time superintending constables to manage the district and its parish constables. This cheaper option, still heavily reliant on parish constables, remained an inadequate form of policing.

With no obligation to establish a professional force, petty jealousies about control, reluctance to commit funding and alternative systems available, policing rumbled on in a disconnected manner. By the early 1850s, with only 12,000 professional policemen in England and Wales, criminal activity was virtually unimpeded by the law.

The County and Borough Police Act 1856
Lord Palmerston, appointed home secretary in December 1852, unimpressed with the country’s fragmented, rudimentary police force, instructed a select committee to ‘consider the expediency of adopting a more uniform system of police in England, Scotland and Wales’. Its recommendations were reported in June 1853.

Palmerston’s new Police Bill, drafted in 1854, encountered resistance, partly because there was no financial support from government. On becoming prime minister on 4 February 1855, Palmerston re-appointed Sir George Grey as home secretary.

With Grey’s changes to the proposals and support from Palmerston, the County and Borough Police Act passed through Parliament on 10 March 1856, receiving Royal Assent on 21 July.

All counties and boroughs in England and Wales (Scotland having already acted) were obliged to have a police force. Treasury grants would fund a quarter of the wages and clothing – providing the force was deemed efficient by the new Inspectorate of Constabulary. Chief constables would also have to submit annual reports for their constabularies to the home secretary.

What types of men joined the police?
Although all were given equal chance to become policemen, initial preference was to select only the ‘most intelligent men of good character’. New recruits were required to be literate and provide written character testimonials. Height and age limits were stipulated.

Wages were similar to those of semi-skilled workers, but benefits included a uniform, boots, job security and opportunities for career advancement. Through work and study, men could progress through the ranks. Working class farmers or labourers could become middle class superintendents, and some did. However, with long hours, few rest days, and the constant threat of being assaulted, many soon returned to their former occupations.

Promising careers were also often cut short by a man’s own misdemeanours – mostly caused by the allure of alcohol, despite clear rules forbidding being drunk on duty or drinking in uniform.

It meant recruitment was a constant issue. Liverpool Borough Police held interviews every Thursday in 1857, in order to keep the force’s strength at required levels. Lancashire Constabulary lost a quarter of its staff in the first six months of being established and even thirty years later only two-thirds of new recruits stayed longer than a year.

Men were issued with constables’ instruction books, containing various laws and regulations to learn and abide by. Apart from brief training with a more seasoned officer, constables were largely on their own. If help was needed they had a stick with which to tap the ground, a rattle to spring and a baton to fend off assailants.

One of the key elements in reducing crime and instilling better behaviour in the Victorian streets was the hope that people might conduct their lives with more decorum, knowing they were being observed. Visibility was important. Constables were marched to and from their respective beats by their sergeant when coming on or off duty and were required to walk these beats in a specific direction – meeting their sergeants at appointed times and places.

Crime detection and information sharing
Being visible had its drawbacks. Experienced felons could watch a uniformed constable on his beat and gauge whether he would be away long enough from the area for them to complete their crimes undetected. They were also watchful after the event, knowing they might be under suspicion.

The Metropolitan Police formed its detective force in 1842, and forces established after that date appointed plain-clothed detectives from the start, solely for investigating crimes already committed. These were men of ‘great experience in police matters’ (though how, is a mystery!) and of ‘untiring diligence and activity’.

Photography, first used in the 1860s, was invaluable in recording criminals and identifying repeat offenders. Images could be shared with other forces and made apprehension of the right person more straightforward. By the end of Victoria’s reign, the possibility of using fingerprints for identification was also under discussion – the Met’s fingerprint branch being created in July 1901.

The introduction of whistles improved communication between constables in the street. Bradford purchased its first ten dozen in 1856, one of the earliest forces to do so. Telegraphy, installed in the 1870s, made inter-station contact easier, but was soon superseded by the telephone. By the end of the 19th century men were able to call their stations from on-street phones.

Transport was horse-drawn, but only the higher ranks, such as superintendents, had access to a conveyance. Bicycles as a mode of transport, did not appear until the early 1890s and proved very useful for pursuing escaping criminals– once the art of staying upright had been mastered!

Superannuation funds
An 1840 amendment to the County Police Act 1839, obliged county constabularies to create superannuation funds to pay for pensions and sickness. However, no such rule existed for borough forces.

Eventually the County and Borough Police Act 1859 introduced compulsory contributory police superannuation funds. The highest amount deductible from a man’s salary was 2.5%, and as expected there were calls for wage increases to cover this ‘loss’.

Such funds meant men who were ‘worn out and disabled from infirmity of body’ could be superannuated at half their weekly pay, but it was another 30 years before the Police Act 1890 allowed constables over the age of 55 the right to retire on a full pension (two-thirds of salary) without a medical certificate.

The establishment of professional policing was successful. By 1901, the earlier miscellany of policing methods had evolved into a body of around 45,000 men following similar rules and regulations, albeit in 179 separate forces with varying employment terms and conditions. These pioneers of policing faced comparable issues to those encountered by today’s police officers – but without the advances in technology and support that later developed.