The Home Secretary, Robert Peel, had pushed the Metropolitan Police Act through Parliament that summer, replacing a patchwork of parish watchmen and constables. The force of about 1,000 men wore blue tailcoats and top hats to look unlike the army's red-coated soldiers, and they carried only wooden truncheons. Londoners at first viewed them with suspicion. Their nicknames, "Bobbies" and "Peelers", came from Peel's name. Their headquarters at Scotland Yard gave its name to the force's detectives.
Before 1829 London was policed by a mix of unpaid parish constables, night watchmen known as "Charleys" and the small Bow Street Runners. Crime and disorder were growing with the city, but many Britons distrusted the idea of a police force, associating it with the spies and gendarmes of Continental monarchies. Peel, who had set up a police force in Ireland, argued that a civilian, uniformed force could prevent crime rather than merely respond to it.
Two commissioners, Colonel Charles Rowan, a soldier, and Richard Mayne, a lawyer, organized the new force from an office at 4 Whitehall Place, whose back entrance opened onto Great Scotland Yard. They set out principles that emphasised preventing crime, winning public approval and using force only as a last resort. The recruits were required to be literate, under 35 and at least five feet seven inches tall.
The first patrols went out on the evening of September 29, 1829. Discipline was strict: many early recruits were dismissed for drunkenness. The model spread across Britain and influenced police forces around the world.
Key people: Robert Peel, Charles Rowan, Richard Mayne