34 Before the Bobbies
middling rank residents he studied had lived in their parish for at least
fifteen years. These people, likely to be tapped for local office, especially
for vestries, would be familiar with their neighbourhoods and their pro-
blems.35 It is possible that the neighbourhoods that bordered on the City
had some of that same character. These would most likely be areas where the
more informal kinds of law enforcement could operate and where amateur,
personal service could also endure. However, as overcrowding and im-
migration into the East End increased over the course of the century, this
sense of social harmony altered, especially for those middling residents who
could or would not move to the more distant suburbs. The pressure on local
services thus also became an increasing burden, as streets expanded and
became increasingly overcrowded with the debris of human and animal
traffic.^36
Another distinction between east and west London was in parish govern-
ment. In Westminster, all parishes had select vestries, except for St Anne,
Soho, the tiny parish of St Mary-le-Strand and the even tinier Precinct of the
Savoy.^37 In contrast, 11 of the 15 out-parishes of Middlesex included in the
Bills of Mortality had some form of open vestry by 1800, where usually
anyone paying the local rates had a say in parish govemment.^38 Considering
the large populations of some of these parishes - Bethnal Green had 23 310
inhabitants in 1801 - parish politics in the East End could literally be a riot.
Whitechapel was known as a parish with turbulent vestry meetings, even in
the first half of the eighteenth century, as was Bethnal Green in the early
nineteenth.3^9
St John, Hackney had a complex system. Parish meetings were held every
few months, and at times had a large attendance. These meetings nominated
the surveyors of the highways, made church rates and, until1764, made the
poor rate as well. Alongside this rather democratic practice there was also a
select vestry that acted as an executive committee, overseeing the work of
committees and boards, like the Lamp and Watch Board, established by local
Acts of Parliament.^40 Only Christchurch, Spitalfields; StJohn, Clerkenwell;
St Luke, Old Street; and St Catherine-by-the-Thwer had unadulterated select
vestries.^41 Despite the differences between east and west, finding solutions to
the problems of water supply, sewer drainage, street paving, cleaning, light-
ing, and watching was a common challenge.
In 1738, Spitalfields had been the first parish to seek parliamentary
approval for an improved night watch. There were other, private and infor-
mal, improvements made in some parishes, but just how extensive or how
permanent these efforts were is not known. Occasional glimpses are seen in
newspaper items or the rare survival of the minutes of a society for the
prosecution of felons. In October 1737, The Daily Gazetteer reported: 'The
Gentlemen of Hackney have lately come to an Agreement, to have a good
and substantial Watch to Patrole between London and Hackney, from 6