Night Watch to Police, 1811-28 119fifties and a very rare man turns up now and again in his sixties, usually
someone who has grown old in the service of his parish. How typical these
three localities were is uncertain but it is indicative of the care some parishes
took to hire qualified men.^83
Watch commissioners also realized that if they were going to retain more
qualified men, they had to offer competitive wages. Wages were sometimes
increased to compensate officers for new or additional duties. In StJames,
Clerkenwell, the paving commissioners in 1816 added to the duties of the
watchhouse keeper and the superintendent of the watch. Their wages were
increased to 25s. and 28s. a week, respectively, competitive with those of
skilled labourers.^84 Most watchmen earned in the range of 12 to 16 shillings a
week in the 1820s, equal to or slightly better than those of unskilled workers.
The great advantage to employment as a watchman was the steady work, not
vulnerable to the trade cycle. The great disadvantages were that watching
was night work, not something that suits everyone. The men were expected
to stay sober and alert in all weathers, and were too often targets for assault.
A few parishes offered their men more than wages. In St Marylebone and
the West Division of Southwark, watch authorities established relief funds
for men who fell ill or were injured on duty. The men contributed a small
amount from their weekly salaries to fund them. In 1825, the St Marylebone
fund paid out £101.17s.Od. in benefits and had a healthy balance of
£377.18s.10~ d.^85 St Marylebone was probably the only parish to establish
a regular policy of granting pensions to its watch officers and men. By 1823,
the vestry was paying out 13 pensions.^86 Sickness and retirement funds were
occasionally granted to deserving men in other parishes on a case-by-case
basis. In 1825, the watch trustees for St Luke, Middlesex paid the medical
expenses and lost wages for three men assaulted in the line of duty. The
trustees did so only after the surgeon and the injured parties applied for
help.^87 However, considering that most of the labouring poor did not even
have the hope of a pension, even an occasional one granted at the discretion
of a parish vestry was perhaps an advantage, if one lived long enough to
need it.
With rising employment standards and pay came rising expectations of job
performance. In 1822, St Marylebone demoted four sergeants to regular
watchman because they were illiterate.^88 Watch authorities became less
tolerant of their officers taking on daytime jobs that could interfere with
their effectiveness at night. The Paving Commissioners in both Divisions of
Southwark were insistent that their constables 'not be allowed to engage
themselves in any Employment except what belongs to the Commissioners'.
In 1822, three men employed by the West Division were reported for neglect
of duty and the Commissioners learned that all three had full-time day jobs.
The men were given the choice of either giving up their daytime work or
resigning from the watch. We do not know which they chose.^89