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Updated - 28 Jun 2008
SIR ROBERT "BOBBY" PEEL (1788 - 1850)
Here is a little history of Sir Robert Peel, and of the Police Force that he founded.
Robert Peel was born on the 5th February 1788 at Chamber Hall, Bury, the first son and third child of Robert Peel Senior (a wealthy cotton spinner and print works owner) and Ellen Peel who lived at Chamber Hall, Bury. The family lived here until 1798 when Peel’s father bought Drayton Manor in Staffordshire.
Robert Peel was well educated at Harrow School and Christ Church, Oxford University. He became an MP in 1809 for the Irish seat of Cashel City, Co. Tipperary, a borough with only twenty-four voters.
Sir Robert Peel maintained order in Ireland by forming the Royal Irish Constabulary in 1812, and it had proved to be a great success.
Peel became a Cabinet minister in 1822 when he was 34 years old as Home Secretary for Lord Liverpool's Tory government, he reformed the gaols and reduced the amount of offences that carried the death penalty.
George Canning replaced Lord Liverpool as Prime Minister in 1827, and Peel resigned from the government, although he returned a year later though as Home Secretary when the Duke of Wellington became Tory leader.
In 1829, Robert Peel's Metropolitan Police Act was passed, this provided permanently appointed and paid Police Constables (The Peelers). The first thousand of Peel’s police, dressed in blue Tailcoats and top hats, began to patrol the streets of London in the September of 1829.
In 1834, Robert Peel became British Prime Minister in a minority Tory Government that was defeated four month's later in the General Election. He returned as Prime Minister in 1841 as leader of a majority Conservative Government and established the modern Conservative Party. Peel worked to reform and later abolish the Corn Laws which kept food prices high. After seeing the hardships of the potato famine in Ireland he became an advocate of free trade. He resigned as Prime Minister a year later however when he was defeated on a Coercion Bill for Ireland. He remained a minister, urging measures to aid the economic recovery of Ireland.
Sir Robert came to an unfortunate end, as he was thrown from his horse while riding on Constitution Hill in London on 29th June 1850, and died three days later, on 2nd July 1850, aged 62.
The whole nation mourned his death, especially the people of Bury, Lancashire where a statue was erected, and also Peel Tower which was built at the top of Holcombe Hill above Ramsbottom, which overlooks the whole of Manchester.
Robert Peel Senior (25th April 1750 - 3rd March 1830)
Born in 1750 at Peelfold, near Blackburn, his father (who was also called Robert) was the owner of a calico-printing firm, Haworth, Peel & Yates in Blackburn, although before this he was a yeoman farmer, but having an enterprising mind, and a large family to support, he experimented with the manufacture and printing of calico in the mid 1700's. After he developed a successful method of roller printing, he gave up farming and went full time into the manufacturing.
Peel
had a good London education before joining the company and being made a
partner at the age of 23. Very soon he had taken control of the business and
began to make full use of the new technology that was transforming the
textile industry.
Peel
had interests at Woodhill, to the north of Bury and after marrying the
daughter of one of his partners, the couple settled at Chamber Hall in the
town. It was there that Robert Junior was born, one of 11 children.
Peel
was a shrewd businessman and, aware that his introduction of machinery was
sure to cause problems among traditional Lancashire textile workers, he
built a new factory in Tamworth and manned it partly with pauper children
from London workhouses.
Financially,
the venture was a complete success and in the last decade of the 18th
century, Peel was recognised as one of Britain's leading industrialists,
commanding a workforce of 15,000.
In
1790, he was elected MP for Tamworth and 10 years later he was knighted.
But
it was only then, after making his fortune largely on the backs of those
pauper children that he seems to have discovered his conscience. Could it be
that the words of John Wesley had finally got through to him? The Methodist
preacher had breakfasted with Peel in 1787, and wrote afterwards: "A
few years ago, he began with five hundred pounds and is now supposed to have
gained fifty thousand pounds. Oh, what a miracle if he lose not his own
soul!"
Whatever
the reason for his change of heart, Peel argued in Parliament that the state
needed to protect the interests of its most vulnerable citizens, and in 1802
he was largely responsible for the Health and Safety of Apprentices Act,
which limited the working hours of pauper cotton-mill apprentices to 12 a
day.
However, this act was largely ineffective and Peel - aided by reformers like Robert Owen - continued to fight for change until the passing of the 1819 Factory Act, which outlawed the employment in cotton mills of anyone under the age of nine and restricted the hours of older children.
THE PEELERS (BOBBIES)
The 'Peelers' were issued with a wooden truncheon carried in a long pocket in the tail of their coat, a pair of handcuffs and a wooden rattle to raise the alarm. By the 1880s this rattle had been replaced by a whistle.
The Rural Constabulary Act of 1839, came as a direct result of the Royal Commission on Constabulary Forces of the same year, caused some boroughs to panic and to reorganise their own police forces to avoid the high expense of being involved with county forces. The Act did not meet the Report's demands for a national police force, with the Metropolitan Police as the controlling power. The Act permitted JPs to appoint Chief Constables for the direction of the police in their areas and allowed for one policeman per 1,000 population. Response was poor. By 1853 only 22 counties of 52 had police forces. Yorkshire was the poorest served. One division of the East Riding had only 9 policemen. By about 1855 there were only 12,000 policemen in England and Wales. Bury, Lancashire which was the birthplace of Sir Robert, was the only major town which elected not to have its own separate police force. The town remained part of the Lancashire Constabulary until 1974.
Early Victorian police worked seven days a week, with only five days unpaid holiday a year for which they received the grand sum of £1 per week. To allay the public’s suspicion of being spied upon, officers were required to wear their uniforms both on and off duty.
In
Britain, police call boxes first began appearing in the 1880s. These were
direct line telephones placed on a post which could often be accessed by a
key or breaking a glass. They were usually blue, and as well as a telephone
they contained essential equipment such as an incident book and a first aid
kit. This
was in the day when most police officers walked a beat or rode a bicycle
rather than used a police car. An electric light on top of the box would
flash to alert a beat officer that he was requested to contact the station.
Members of the public could also use the phone (which was on the exterior)
to contact
a police station in an emergency.
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1950's Bobby on Traffic Duty 1950's Police Call Box
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