7 Night Watch to Police,
1811-28
In the Liberty of the Rolls, a small area of Westminster, 50 inhabitants met in
late December 1811 to decide what should be done in light of the winter's crime
wave. One resident, John Prince Smith, an admirer of Patrick Colquhoun and
Jeremy Bentham, then published a detailed description of what had happened:
An Account of a Successful Experiment for an Effectual Nightly Watch, Recently
Made in the Liberty of the Rolls, London.^1 The initial proposal was for a
volunteer patrol of 150 reliable householders, sworn in as special constables.
By the next meeting, however, opinions had shifted and the residents decided
their reforms should be 'the uniting of the ancient duties of keeping watch and
ward with the employment of hired watchmen'.^2 No inhabitant would keep
watch and ward for more than three hours and this would be a temporary force,
while the directors of the watch hammered out a more permanent reform and
residents raised a subscription to fund it. At this point, a Mr Roworth argued:
every plan which proceeded upon the principle of the personal attendance
of the inhabitants, would be ineffectual, from the want of authority to
compel attendance. That it would become most burthensome and expens-
ive, from the loss of time which every inhabitant must incur; as well as
injurious to the health of many, from the nightly labour, and the general
irregularities which such duties occasion, where men are collected
together who are not used to have their rest disturbed. That subscribers
would, in the end, form themselves into companies for the purposes of
conviviality or frolic, rather than for patrolling the streets.^3This is as succinct a description of the problems inherent in the system of
personal obligation as can be found.
Over January 1812, the residents' committee and the governors and direc-
tors of the watch worked to improve their watch within the regulations of the
1774 Westminster Night Watch Act. The directors agreed to add three
patrols and an Inspector of the Watch if the residents would raise the
money. Four men were duly hired, ranging in age from 29 to 46, 'all healthy
and active men, of sober habits, and well recommended'. Sworn in as special
constables, the patrols wore dark coats and each carried a cutlass and rattle.^4
These residents were satisfied to leave the policing of their neighbourhood to
paid servants, from the labouring classes rather than the propertied, trusting
that the supervision of the directors of the watch would insure that they did
their duty effectively.
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