Unfortunately, after Henry Fielding died the Runners became corrupted. This was a small detective force employing paid constables in London, intended to combat crime, and men wore red waistcoats which earned them the nickname Robin Redbreasts. He, and his half-brother Sir John Fielding, also a magistrate, set up the Bow Street Runners in 1750. Henry Fielding (1707-1754), author of Tom Jones, was well acquainted with London lawlessness, being a barrister and chairman of the quarter sessions from 1749, and also a Justice of the Peace. Their watchhouses, some also used as cages to hold prisoners, were sometimes converted into early police stations later on.ĭevelopment of the Police Force These were usually old, infirm men who were virtually useless for the position, so quickly acquired the nicknames right Charlies. From the time of Charles II cities employed night watchmen as assistants to the constables. Church has edited a contemporary account of the parish constable’s duties, and a detailed account of how they were appointed with a long list of those who were exempt is in Arnold-Baker ( Parish Administration). The position of constable was thus exceedingly time-consuming and resented by many who had to take their turn, with concomitant inefficiencies. Taking lewd women before the Justices of the Peace.Unauthorized building of additional cottages and dovecotes.Supervision of alehouses and providing a list of them for licensing at the brewster sessions.Providing lodging and transport for armed forces.Organizing ballots for raising local militia and compiling muster rolls.Collection of national taxes like the poll tax, hearth tax and land tax.Collection of county rates (taxes) which paid for the house of correction, roads and bridges, lame soldiers, travellers with passes, and the assizes.Escaped prisoners, riots and unlawful assemblies.

Securing prisoners and transporting them to quarter sessions or assizes.Vagabonds and intruders who had no right of settlement in the parish, and whipping vagrants.The village stocks, pillory and lock-up.He had a wide variety of responsibilities (Hey, Fitzhugh): A constable was unpaid, (but did get expenses re-imbursed), and had to be an able-bodied male resident aged 25-55 who was required to serve when called unless he could pay for a substitute, or belonged to one of the exempted occupations (Arnold-Baker). As manors decayed during the 17th and 18th centuries the parish vestry took over appointing the constable, but the head constable would be appointed by the quarter sessions and was paid £5 per quarter. In 1381 Justices of the Peace were established to whom he then reported, but for certain duties he was responsible to the Head or Chief Constable of the county division known as a hundred or wapentake. He was also known as a Petty Constable, and in some places was synonymous with the Headborough or Tithingman. The maintenance of law and order can be divided into two epochs in Britain with Sir Robert Peel’s 1829 Act of Parliament for improving the police as the defining moment for the creation of the modern police force.Īnciently the parish constable was the man who preserved the peace and was appointed annually and regulated by the manorial court.

Hue and cry from constable