Westminster, 1720-39 27information in the vestry minutes about the actual transgressions that led to
these dismissals. On one occasion, a watchman was fired for 'misbehaviour
towards one of the churchwardens', but in all other cases, either no reason
was given or the men were charged with 'neglect of duty'. The beadles were
reprimanded twice and admonished to be more vigilant in apprehending
vagrants.^111
During the first year of operation the vestries also adapted the system of
rate collection. Previously, the funds for the watch had been collected by rate
collectors appointed by the Court of Burgesses. In 1735, in both St James's
and St George's, the beadles were initially designated as collectors of the
watch rate and paymasters for the watchmen. In the first year, both parishes
set the watch rate at four pence in the pound.U^2 It became evident, however,
that having the beadles act as rate collectors was not efficient. In St George's,
the vestrymen realized after six months that rate collection took up too much
of the beadles' time and prevented 'them doing more Serviceable Business
for the Interest of the Parish'. Instead, a rate collector was hired to collect all
the parochial rates, the choice subsequently of most parishes.^113 In both
these examples, that of the disciplinary system and the rate collection, the
process of adapting the actual operation of the night watch system moved the
system into more formal procedures and its officers into more specialized
functions.
By 1739, then, the basic pattern of the night watch was in place. When
voluntary efforts proved inadequate, parish authorities sought legislation to
establish the night watch on a more formal basis and obtain the power to tax.
Once the legislation was in place, the basic structure of constables, beadles,
and watchmen was set up. Additional changes and adaptations would be
made over the course of the next decades in the system, but none that
fundamentally altered what was established in the 1730s. The numbers of
watchmen employed in any one parish sometimes increased as population
increased and as more houses and streets were built. The amount of the
watch rate in various parishes fluctuated with the number or pay scale of the
watch. The form, however, was set. The decentralization of police authority
was confirmed by the 1730s legislation, but parochial cooperation and imita-
tion led to a degree of similarity, even conformity, from one parish to the
next. The vestries and their watch committees were the governing author-
ities. They set policy, determined the level of the watch rate, and adminis-
tered discipline. Watchhouse keepers guarded prisoners, supervised beadles,
and cared for the watchmen's equipment. Beadles patrolled the streets by
day, assisted the overseers of the poor, and kept an eye on the watchmen and
the constables as well. The watchmen spent their nights on the streets,