century they left the approval process in the hands of the deputy aldermen and
common councilmen of the wards.
What is perhaps most striking about the changing employment of deputy
constables is the huge variation across the City, revealed in the data in Table 3. 3 ,
which sets out the proportion of deputies among the serving constables in each
ward in the four years 1728‒31. These figures suggest that in Lime Street and
Cornhill, virtually every constable serving in those four years was a substitute
for the man originally elected; in Farringdon Without, on the other hand, only
three out of the seventy-two serving constables were deputies, and in Cripple-
gate Without, none. The proportion of hired men in the other wards was spread
reasonably evenly between those two extremes, with the largest number clus-
tered between 35 per cent and 50 per cent. The median was 43 per cent and the
average about 39 per cent. The number of substitute constables appears to have
148 Constables and Other Officers
Table 3. 3 .Percentage of deputies among serving constables, 1728 – 1731Ward Percentage of deputies among
serving constables, 1728 – 31
%
Cornhill 94
Lime Street 94
Bassishaw 88
Coleman Street 71
Candlewick 61
Tower 60
Cheap 55
Dowgate 50
Bridge 48
Aldgate 46
Vintry 44
Bread Street 44
Walbrook 43
Billingsgate 41
Cripplegate Within 39
Bishopsgate 39
Cordwainer 38
Queenhithe 36
Aldersgate 28
Langbourn 27
Broad Street 23
Farringdon Within 19
Portsoken 10
Castle Baynard 8
Farringdon Without 4
Cripplegate Without 0
Source: Reps 132 – 5