Biography
Find out about the early police force and how Bobbies got their name.
The Basics
The modern police force was the brainchild of the Conservative politician Sir Robert Peel, who held the post of Home Secretary in the 1820s. Peel was responding to the perceived lack of effectiveness of the old system of private watchmen, and the sense that crime was rising in the cities.
Before the Bobby
Until the late 18th century, there was no professional police force in Britain. After dark, city streets were thought to be lawless places, where no sensible person risked going unarmed or alone. The dangers of the city at night were summed up by Dr Johnson, in his 1738 poem "London": "Prepare for death, if here at night you roam/And sign your will before you sup from home."
Robert Peel
The "Bobby" gets his nickname from the Tory politician, Sir Robert Peel, who was Home Secretary from 1822-27. Peel is seen as the founder of the British police service, a feat he achieved despite enormous difficulties, and against powerful opposition.
The First Bobbies
Within a year of its foundation in 1829, Robert Peel's new Metropolitan Police Force had recruited 3,000 men, organised in eight divisions. Soon the "bobby" or "peeler", in his blue swallow-tail coat and top hat, was a familiar sight throughout London. From 1833, similar police forces began to be set up across the country.
