‘established by custom’—in fact, by an act of 1621. Even though it had been true
before the civil war that the watch had already become a body of paid men, sup-
ported by what were in effect the fines collected from those with an obligation to
serve,^19 the Common Council did not acknowledge this in the confirming act
of 1663. The quotas established for each ward continued to be (as in the act of
1621 ) the number of men from whom those actually on duty on any one night
would be chosen (Table 4. 1 )—a total amounting to close to a thousand watch-
men. In fact, many fewer than that were raised and deployed, but it is clear that
the Common Council could not find the language with which to express the
Policing the Night Streets 175(^19) K. J. Lindley, ‘Riot Prevention and Control in Early Stuart London’, Transactions of the Royal Histor-
ical Society, 5 th ser., 33 ( 1983 ), 119.
Table4.1.Numbers of watchmen, City of London, 1663 and 1705
Ward 1663 acta c. 1700 numbers 1705 actc
in practiceb
Aldersgate Within and Without 44 — 25
Aldgate 34 25 25
Bassishaw 12 5 6
Billingsgate 30 14 21
Bishopsgate Within and Without 80 28 31
Bread Street 26 13 15
Bridge 25 20 20
Broad Street 39 23 24
Candlewick 24 12 12
Castle Baynard 40 17 24
Cheap 25 18 20
Coleman Street 32 18 18
Cordwainer 24 10 14
Cornhill 16 10 10
Cripplegate Within 40 24 24
Cripplegate Without 90 21 28
Dowgate 36 11 14
Farringdon Withind 50 28 36
Farringdon Withoute 130 51 61
Langbourn 34 22 23
Lime Street 11 8 8
Portsoken 60 27 26
Queenhithe 40 11 10
Tower 40 28 28
Vintry 34 11 14
Walbrook 20 14 14
Total 1,036 ( 469 ) 551
Sources: aJor 45 , ff. 425 – 26 ; bCLRO: Misc. MSS 9.3; cCLRO: P.A.R. 7 , p. 65 dincluding Blackfriars
eincluding Whitefriars, Bridewell, St Bartholomews the Great, and St Bartholomews the Less