64 Before the Bobbies
prostitutes or drinking in pubs while on duty. They also worried about
maintaining some distance between watchmen and their supervisors. In
St Anne, Soho, su~ervisory patrols were rotated among the different divi-
sions of the parish.^8 The combined parishes of St Andrew, Holbom, and St
George-the-Martyr used supervisory patrols during the winter and com-
plaints about absenteeism were common. The watch committee decided
that the patrols 'are of little or no Service in protecting these United
Parishes'. They failed as supervisors because
they are chosen from among the Watchmen and having served in that
Capacity for Seven Months in the Winter are at the Expiration of that time
reduced to the situation of Watchmen again and thereby placed on an
exact equality with the very Men whose conduct they have been appointed
to superintend.The Committee recommended that men be appointed to the permanent
rank of 'Sergeants of the Watch'.^39
Another goal was to create a distance between watchmen and those they
watched. St Giles-in-the-Fields was home to a large Irish community. Show-
ing their national, perhaps religious, prejudice, in 1807 the joint vestry of
St Giles and St George, Bloomsbury, required their new Sergeant Patrols to
be 'steady Englishmen'.^40 The most common way parishes tried to put
distance between watchers and watched was the rotation of watchmen. In
StJames, Piccadilly, the rotation of watchmen to different beats every night
was another innovation suggested by Luke Ideson.^41
For watchmen, having a regular beat meant that they became familiar with
its residents and this increased their chances for gratuities. It was so cus-
tomary for watchmen and beadles to solicit Christmas tips that there were
printed broadsheets of bad poetry they could buy and distribute. One from a
beadle in St Anne, Soho concludes:
... he offers what you see,
And hopes you'll not refuse the usual Fee.^42The watchmen of St James requested to be allowed to return to their usual
beats at Christmas, 'stating their apprehensions of losing the Benefit of their
Christmas Boxes, if their Beats were to be changed every Night'. This kind
gift was one of the cracks through which bribery and extortion could slip; not
surprisingly the watchmen's request was refused.^43
While rotating watchmen became common in many places, not all res-
idents preferred impartiality to familiarity. In May 1800, the St James,
Piccadilly, vestry received petitions from the residents of at least six different
streets requesting 'that the Watchmen might be settled on their respective
Beats .. .'.^44 In September, the beadles, while not specifying who complained,
testified that the rotation system 'was much complained of and generally