Cambridgeshire

Police

History

Notes

Policing Peterborough

| Overview | Liberty Quarter Sessions | Before 1857 | Liberty Police | City Police | Combined Police | History written 1979 | Improvement Commissioners | Chief Officers | Premises | What's Missing? | Notes and Queries |

Before 1857

(This is part of the history published by the Peterborough Combined Police in 1957 celebrating 100 years of policing and for the opening of the new Headquarters at Bridge Street)

Before the institution of municipal and county councils, the Justices in Quarter Sessions were responsible for the administration of their areas, but in 1790 a body called the Peterborough Improvement Commissioners was formed to be responsible to administer the City.

There is little record of the means of policing which was in force at that time, but there were undoubtedly a number of Parish Constables. In 1831 in particular, there was a scare in the neighbourhood and twelve men were sworn in by the Justices. They were employed by the Improvement Commissioners to act as nightly watchmen in the City and suburbs against incendiaries.

Another person with what appeared to be at least quasi-police responsibilities at this time was the Beadle. He is described as a most important person whose main duty apparently was to see the tramps out of the town. What was more, he was paid by results and presented the Justices at Quarter Sessions with a bill showing the number of vagrants he had shown out of the City --- e.g. "a man and woman sent out Stamford Road," etc. The Magistrates then made him an allowance according to his services. He had no powers of arrest and had to resort to "fidgeting" the unwanted out of the area. He was appointed by the Feoffees, who were the Freemen of the City and, no doubt for reasons of economy, he appears to have been chosen with special reference to his age and infirmity. Nonetheless, he was provided with a rather resplendent uniform consisting of a long robe, knee breeches and a cocked hat, in addition to the mace.

Previous to this in 1781, the citizens had formed an association for the prosecution of all persons guilty of felony, with particular mention of horse stealing and there is record of a similar if not the same organisation holding its annual meeting at "The Bull" in Westgate in 1816. The yearly subscription to this association was then 3s. 6d. and the association was prepared to advertise losses and give rewards for information. Later, in 1832, there was formed the "Hundred of Norman Cross and Liberty of Peterborough Association for the Protection of Property." The annual subscription to this organisation was 5s.

Everyone knows that the first real police in the country were Sir Robert Peel's "Peelers" or "Bobbies," the names given to the men appointed to act as police for London, following the passing of the Metropolitan Police Act of 1829.

The formation of this force in London drove many of the criminals away from the Metropolis to carry on their trade in the provinces and because of this and the general lawlessness throughout the country at the time, the Municipal Corporations Act of 1835 and then the County Police Act of 1839, made it possible for municipal boroughs and county justices to appoint a paid police for their own areas.

The Justices of the County of Northamptonshire took advantage of this and established their own force for the county, but the Liberty Justices, like a good many more, did not --- probably because the need in this particular area was not so dire as elsewhere. In any case, it was not until the County and Borough Police Act of 1856 made it compulsory for Justices to appoint a police force to cover their jurisdiction that any action was taken in the Liberty of Peterborough and it was as a result of this that the Liberty of Peterborough Constabulary came into being the following year.

This page was last modified: 11 October 2025, 09:27

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