8 Before the Bobbiesparish vestries. The latter were increasingly dominated by wealthy, politically
powerful aristocrats who used a two-tiered approach to reform. First, these
vestrymen took the initiative in 1735 to obtain parliamentary legislation and
to establish more bureaucratic, professional systems of night watch. Second,
implementation of this legislation set a pattern of trial and error and piece-
meal reform. In the process, the policing of urban streets evolved, with a
significant emphasis on crime prevention and noticeable movement towards
more bureaucratic organization. The timing of these reforms and the rheto-
ric of their sponsors point to a concern about more ordinary crime, not riots
or political subversiveness, as a chief motivating factor. By 1739, the parishes
of Westminster set a pattern that would be copied all over the metropolis.
To appreciate the situation in Westminster, one needs an introduction to
some aspects of English local government. The parish and its governing
body, the vestry, were the linchpin. Sydney and Beatrice Webb note: 'By
custom, the right and power of the parish to provide for its inhabitants
whatever services or regulative ordinances were deemed locally expedient
was so vaguely extensive as to be practically without ascertained limits.'^7 The
vestrymen levied and collected local taxes, the parish rates. They nominated
and supervised other parish offices, such as overseers of the poor, constables,
and surveyors of the highways. Unpaid resident householders and/or rate-
payers usually served in such offices for a one-year term. A parish vestry was
thus responsible for the repair of the church; the relief of the poor,
orphaned, widowed, and aged; the closure of pubs on time; and the paving,
cleaning, lighting, and watching of the streets.
Vestries were either open or closed; the latter were also called select. Open
vestries were more representative of the whole parish. Anyone paying the
parish rates could attend an open vestry and have a say in parish affairs.^8
Select vestries were appointed by virtue of an Act of Parliament or imme-
morial custom. The act named specific men to the vestry and subsequent
vacancies were filled by nominations from the remaining members. Some,
such as the churchwardens or the rector of the parish, were ex officio mem-
bers. Select vestries were self-perpetuating, self-electing bodies, accountable
only to themselves and to the local magistrates, who were often vestrymen.^9
The social standing of metropolitan vestrymen varied considerably, from the
titled and wealthy men who served for St George's, Hanover Square to the
comfortable merchants and professional men of St Martin-in-the-Fields, to
the small shopkeepers and artisans of St Paul's, Covent Garden.^10
For law enforcement, the parish vestry could call on the constable and
other officers charged with keeping the King's peace. Constables were either
appointed and sworn into office by the local JPs or the steward and court leet