Law and Order in London in the Late 19th Century

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Law and Order in London in the Late 19th Century

At the beginning of the nineteenth century 60% of Britain's population

lived in the countryside, this meant there wasn't any need for police

officers as people were living far apart and away from shops and

financial areas. Crime was minimal, apart from small crimes like petty

thieving and crimes over land etc.

But as technology developed the Industrial Revolution began, steam

powered factories were built all over the country, a new industrial

development. The factories were mainly built in urbanized areas like

London, Birmingham and Glasgow, but for the factories to be run

effectively workers were needed. The workers had to unfortunately work

long shifts and therefore needed to live close to the factories, but

this meant that people had to move out of the rural countryside and

into the urban cities.

This caused problems, over populated areas around the factories meant

that the minimal police forces were struggling with the increasing

local population and crime. The police force knew big improvements

were needed in the force to tackle the escalating problems.

The Metropolitan police force was developed from a very basic force,

the Met. Police force was set up in 1829, in 1829 London's population

had risen from under a million to 1.5 million, and their were only 450

constables and 4,000 junior watchmen for the whole country. The new

force was set up to carry out the functions of the existing Constables

and watchmen but to also patrol the streets deterring crime and

keeping the peace. The Metropolitan officers wore a navy blue uniform,

with a tail-coat, a top hat and as few badges and decorations as

possible so they were distinct to any army uniform, nicknames

developed for these new figures of security, for example 'bobbies' was

a phrase used frequently. The new 'bobbies' were armed only with a

truncheon, in the 1840-50's inspectors occasionally carried a firearm,

mainly revolvers.

Many of the new recruits were dismissed because of drunkenness, and

even some of the ones who got through the selection process were told

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