The British Bobby

Origin of BOBBY

Bobby, nickname for Robert, after Sir Robert Peel, who organized the London police force.

First Known Use: 1844

The British Bobby, a Unique History!

The British Bobby was organized in the late 1700’s, essentially becoming the first police force as we know them today. Until the start of the Industrial Revolution which brought thousands of people into cities, most crime was combated by the local constabulary with the help of the occasional citizen patrol. As the cities became more crowded, organized police forces were established to protect business interests. In England, one of the most prominent organized police forces was the Thames River Police, created in 1798 to deter thefts along the London wharves.

The Thames River Police, numbering about 80 full-time men, policed by establishing a patrol presence in the London port. The private police force was so effective that Parliament authorized money to add the men to the public payroll. The public was suspicious of waves of permanent police roaming the streets, but the many urban problems brought on by surging immigration and increasing poverty began to weigh on Londoners.

It took the vision of 41-year old Robert Peel, later a two-time Prime Minister of England, to establish the world’s first permanent police force. In 1829 Peel sponsored the Metropolitan Police Act which passed Parliament. As the founder of the police force, the men on patrol became known popularly as “peelers” or “bobbies.” The former nickname faded away and the moniker (nickname) “bobbies” lives on today.

Much of which Peel created lives on today as well. He believed that the police force should operate from a centrally located headquarters which should be easily accessible to the public. Of prime importance would be recruitment, selection and training of the police force. All “bobbies” would be dressed in proper uniforms and be paid a full-time weekly wage. Peel established a system to determine crime rates to measure the effectiveness of the new force.

The police would be responsible only for crime detection and prevention which would be accomplished by the establishment of regular patrol areas, known as “beats.” Historically, police would only show up after a crime had been reported. Peel wanted his men to become familiar figures to the public within specific geographic zones. He reasoned that a conspicuous, known figure would be able to better elicit help from the citizenry in the event of a crime. By becoming familiar with the people and places on his beat, the “bobby” could readily recognize suspicious things out of place and help deter crime. The patrol concept would be universally adopted by police forces the world over. It was Robert Peel’s greatest innovation.

To maintain organization among his men on patrol, Peel adopted a paramilitary structure of command. Lacking such a line of command, it would be all too easy for the “bobbies” to lapse into the uncommitted ways of their watchmen predecessors. Peel’s men were to be patient, impersonal and, above all, professional.

The Metropolitan Police Act was initially limited to the outer parts of London and did not apply to the mile-square City of London. The “bobbies” were not immediately popular and were often jeered at (laughed at) on patrol. The preventive tactics proved successful, however, and the police force showed skill in handling erupting street riots. Crime prevention was not the only duty of the “bobbies.” They kept a lookout for fires. They lit streetlights as they walked the beat. They called out the time.

The Bobbies were issued with a wooden truncheon carried in a long pocket in the tail of their coat, a pair of handcuffs and a wooden rattle to raise the alarm. By the 1880s this rattle had been replaced by a whistle.

To be a Bobby the rules were quite strict. You had to be 6ft tall (or as near as possible), and have no history of any wrong-doings.

These men became the model for the creation of all the provincial forces; at first in the London Boroughs, and then into the counties and towns, after the passing of the County Police Act in 1839. Early Victorian police worked seven days a week, with only five days unpaid holiday a year for which they received the grand sum of £1 per week. Their lives were strictly controlled; they were not allowed to vote in elections and required permission to get married and even to share a meal with a civilian. To allay the public’s suspicion of being spied upon, officers were required to wear their uniforms both on and off duty.

The public was won over and the police began patrols in the City of London in 1839. Slowly the concept of the police force expanded to rural areas. In 1856 Parliament finally mandated that police forces be established in outlying provinces. By this time police departments were forming in the  rest of the world based on Robert Peel’s model.