New Means to Old Ends 81watchmen need lanterns or did they only make the men too visible? Picca-
dilly decided lanterns 'were attended with very great Expense without being
any real Benefit or Utility, but. .. tended to encrease [sic] Robberies and
House Breaking', and dispensed with them.^157 What arms, if any should
watchmen carry? In 1785, Hanover Square purchased some 'small carbi-
nes, ... the same sort as those used by the patroles belonging to the public
Office in Bow Street', for some of its watchmen. Most, however, continued to
carry staves as their only weapon.^158 Parishes used more identifying marks
and badges to distinguish watchmen from others on the streets and enhance
the visibility of law enforcement officers. The trustees of St Leonard, Shore-
ditch, numbered the watchboxes, and watchmen wore coats with a corres-
ponding number.^159
A controversial - and traditional - method of enhancing detection and
prosecution was to offer rewards. The government offered a £40 statutory
reward to anyone responsible for the conviction of serious felons, like high-
way robbers and occasionally offered money for the apprehension and/or
conviction of the perpetrators of specific crimes. The purpose of rewards was
to promote prosecutions by crime victims or their families. Reformers were
often critical of rewards because they were seen as corrupting. There were
cases of malicious prosecution for the sake of rewards and instances where
juries were reluctant to convict because they were suspicious of the prose-
cutor's motives. Many believed constables and other police officers would
not arrest someone until he 'weighed forty pounds', that is until he com-
mitted a crime for which a reward would be paid.^160
Local authorities were reluctant to abandon rewards altogether because
they used them to encourage diligence and as a mark of recognition for
extraordinary service. In St Anne, Soho, the vestry resolved in 1791: 'if the
patroles watchmen and Supernumeraries continue to do their Duty for
twelve Months without Complaint of Neglect, that each and every of them
be allowed and paid half a Guinea as a Gratuity for their attention.'^161
Rewards used in this way were a supplement to wages. The Clink Paving
Commission in Southwark, on the other hand, gave one of its watchmen
2s.6d. 'as a Gratuity' when he helped put out a fire.^162 On occasion, rewards
were used to spur the watch to be alert for particular types of crime. In 1791,
StJames, Piccadilly
Ordered that printed Bills be stuck up at the Cornor [sic] or most conspic-
uous part of every street in this Parish offering a Reward of Three Guineas to
any Constable, Patrole or other Watchman of this Parish who apprehend
... any person for stealing ... any Lead or Iron belonging to the Dwelling of
any of the Inhabitants ... or in breaking or entering any such Dwelling.^163There were differences between the rewards offered by parochial watch
authorities in the late eighteenth century and statutory rewards, which dated