The Establishment of the Police Force
Wellington and Peel, as sentries, in the Grenadier Guards, stand side by side at attention in the roadway of a London street. They hold bayoneted rifles, and wear bearskins, red tunics and white trousers. Wellington turns his head slightly to the right, Peel looks to the left, where there is a new building represented by a prison wall topped by spikes. In this is an iron-studded door, the arch decorated by shackles and skull and cross-bones. It is placarded: 'This Watch-house was erected 1829 by A. W. the Cabinet Maker and R. P. the Orange Peel Merchant. On the opposite side of the road is a Georgian town house, with 'Police Office' on the door, and a placard: 'To be disposed of by Private Contract'. May 1829
The British Museum note continues- By Peel's Act for improving the Police in and near the Metropolis, 10 Geo. IV, c. 44, the parochial establishments of night watchmen and parish watch-house were to be superseded by a unified establishment of metropolitan police constables under the Home Office, Peel's "New Police". The Bill was introduced 15 Apr.; it became law in two months. This was attacked (outside Parliament) as an autocratic, militarist, and inquisitorial innovation, comparable with the gendarmerie of continental countries, an Irish body of Popish spies, &c.
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