Manchester’s New Corporation
This site charts the development of the police station between 1838-1901 and in doing so it in part details the changing townscape of Victorian Manchester. The industrial revolution wrought huge economic and physical changes to a town which developed into one of the foremost modern cities in industrial Britain.
However, the prosperity that reached the middle and skilled labouring classes was not enjoyed by many, including casual labourers and the many immigrants from Ireland and Europe, housed in the poorest districts of inner Manchester such as Angel Meadow, Ancoats, Little Ireland, and West Deansgate [see highlighted areas in Police Stations /Start 1838-9/ MAP]. Engels’s descriptions of their plight are one of the most graphic descriptions of this social divide.[1]
However, the prosperity that reached the middle and skilled labouring classes was not enjoyed by many, including casual labourers and the many immigrants from Ireland and Europe, housed in the poorest districts of inner Manchester such as Angel Meadow, Ancoats, Little Ireland, and West Deansgate [see highlighted areas in Police Stations /Start 1838-9/ MAP]. Engels’s descriptions of their plight are one of the most graphic descriptions of this social divide.[1]
The transition of power and authority that followed the establishment of the municipal borough in 1838 was in the teeth of significant national and local social unrest. The Plug Riots and Chartist movements in the 1840s caused considerable problems for the new Corporation's authority.[2] Further the new municipal borough was the catalyst to three years of internal political turmoil where the new middle-class Liberals fought the Tory old guard and Police Commissioners for the control of the town and its policing.[3]
Following on from the 1832 Reform Act, the Municipal Corporations Act 1835 enabled many towns to incorporate and in so doing they were then obliged to establish a police force under the authority of their new Council. In Manchester the previous system of pressed constables, beadles and watchmen was operationally less efficient with two distinct night and day systems, namely the old 'Watch and Ward'.[4] The level of inefficiency is debatable but the history of the new Manchester Police reveals a challenged but gradual evolution of a professional force and one which could not have been achieved under the old system operated by the Police Commissioners.
The Manchester’s Watch Committee [WC] came into being on the 4 February 1839. Its primary function as directed by the Municipal Corporations Act 1835 was to oversee the running of their new police force via the Chief Constable, and to report back to the General Council.
The WC's objective dated 25 April 1839 was:
Following on from the 1832 Reform Act, the Municipal Corporations Act 1835 enabled many towns to incorporate and in so doing they were then obliged to establish a police force under the authority of their new Council. In Manchester the previous system of pressed constables, beadles and watchmen was operationally less efficient with two distinct night and day systems, namely the old 'Watch and Ward'.[4] The level of inefficiency is debatable but the history of the new Manchester Police reveals a challenged but gradual evolution of a professional force and one which could not have been achieved under the old system operated by the Police Commissioners.
The Manchester’s Watch Committee [WC] came into being on the 4 February 1839. Its primary function as directed by the Municipal Corporations Act 1835 was to oversee the running of their new police force via the Chief Constable, and to report back to the General Council.
The WC's objective dated 25 April 1839 was:
‘The preservation of the property, peace and good order of the Borough’ whilst ‘imposing as little additional burden on the ratepayer as possible’ but 'to stop short of that efficiency would be a more waste of money’[5]
The issue of what would be a waste of money was foremost in the minds of many of the newly elected councillors as well as the old police commissioners and ratepayers. The initial budget was some £19,659 and this was limited by the Municipal Corporation Act to no more than the average expenditure of the last seven years.[6]
Out of this budget the minutes reveal that £1025 (5.21 per cent) was spent on the 'rent of Lock-ups' or their building estate. The old Ward system levied 5d (2p) in the £1. The WC argued that 6d in the £1 would raise the new budget but this was disputed by the former Police Commissioners who claimed 8d in the £1 would be required. No justification was recorded for their claim but the rate defaulters and any overspends would have increased the budget required. In fact this level of rates would not be reached until well into the last quarter of century peaking at 8.6d (3p) in the £1 in 1892.[7]
One of the issues facing the new Borough was the differing rate assessments of the surrounding townships of Ardwick, Cheetham, Hulme and Chorlton on Medlock. Their rate assessments varied from £300 for Ardwick to just short of £1000 for Chorlton which were part of the new borough.[8] These newly incorporated townships were considerably wealthier than inner-city Manchester so it is not hard to see why there was ratepayer resentment with the imposition of higher rates to cover the poorer areas.
One indicator of this issue was the statement by the WC in 1839 that they would provide:
Out of this budget the minutes reveal that £1025 (5.21 per cent) was spent on the 'rent of Lock-ups' or their building estate. The old Ward system levied 5d (2p) in the £1. The WC argued that 6d in the £1 would raise the new budget but this was disputed by the former Police Commissioners who claimed 8d in the £1 would be required. No justification was recorded for their claim but the rate defaulters and any overspends would have increased the budget required. In fact this level of rates would not be reached until well into the last quarter of century peaking at 8.6d (3p) in the £1 in 1892.[7]
One of the issues facing the new Borough was the differing rate assessments of the surrounding townships of Ardwick, Cheetham, Hulme and Chorlton on Medlock. Their rate assessments varied from £300 for Ardwick to just short of £1000 for Chorlton which were part of the new borough.[8] These newly incorporated townships were considerably wealthier than inner-city Manchester so it is not hard to see why there was ratepayer resentment with the imposition of higher rates to cover the poorer areas.
One indicator of this issue was the statement by the WC in 1839 that they would provide:
‘Equal protection to every part of the Borough. All the constables under one concentrated management, securing regularity of action and unity of purpose. This will prevent, to a considerable extent, the inconvenience of having, in cases of emergency, recourse to the Special Constables and will greatly lead to the comfort and security of the Inhabitants of the Borough.[9]
Here was the perpetual problem of the police budget. It was one that strikes at the heart of the founding principles of Sir Robert Peel's new police. He stated simply that the efficiency of the force would not be measured by the visible presence of the police but the absence or reduction of crime. But how many officers and police buildings would be enough to ensure their operational needs and to gain and then maintain law and order? An important element in policing the new police was the buildings from which the police operated. One of the least studied aspects of the new police is the development of the new police station.
Fig 1 Sir Robert Peel (1788 - 1850) Peel was largely responsible for the Metropolitan Police Act (1829) which established the modern police force.
[1] Engels, The Conditions of the Working Class in England, (London. Lawrence & Wishart, 1892) pp.56-8.
[2] Alan. Kidd, Manchester, a history, (Lancaster: Carnegie Publishing, 2006)(2nd.ed.) Ch.4.
[3] E. C. Widwinter, Victorian Social Reform (London: Longmans 1968) pp.14-18.
[4] D. Broady & D. Tetlow, Law and Order in Manchester (Gloucestershire: Tempus Publishing, 2005). Intro.
[5] Borough of Manchester Watch Committee Minutes, 25 April 1839.
[6] Ibid.
[7] WCM 1 Dec 1892.
[8] WCM 25 April 1839.
[9] Ibid.
[2] Alan. Kidd, Manchester, a history, (Lancaster: Carnegie Publishing, 2006)(2nd.ed.) Ch.4.
[3] E. C. Widwinter, Victorian Social Reform (London: Longmans 1968) pp.14-18.
[4] D. Broady & D. Tetlow, Law and Order in Manchester (Gloucestershire: Tempus Publishing, 2005). Intro.
[5] Borough of Manchester Watch Committee Minutes, 25 April 1839.
[6] Ibid.
[7] WCM 1 Dec 1892.
[8] WCM 25 April 1839.
[9] Ibid.
