Rationalisation
A report was commissioned by the Manchester Watch Committee in July 1898 to consider the rationalisation of the police estate and the station inspectors namely their pay and conditions and their supervision duties.[1] Subsequently Chief Constable Robert Peacock produced a report with the number of prisoners taken by each per month. He recommended that certain stations could be closed and a new station be built nearby.
This section will deal with the reasons behind these recommendations and whether they would assist the rising professionalism of the force. The numbers of prisoners recorded is reproduced below:
TABLE 04 Number of prisoners held at Manchester police stations between 1 June 1897 and 31 May 1898.
This section will deal with the reasons behind these recommendations and whether they would assist the rising professionalism of the force. The numbers of prisoners recorded is reproduced below:
TABLE 04 Number of prisoners held at Manchester police stations between 1 June 1897 and 31 May 1898.
The calculation of the number of prisoners per station was not regularly reported in the Chief Constable’s annual reports. Its inclusion by the WC in the minutes is therefore significant. The prisoner rate per station reveals far more than just the total number of persons arrested for crimes or misdemeanours.
[See STATISTICS TABLE 6: Manchester Crime and Census Statistics 1881 – 1901]
[See STATISTICS TABLE 6: Manchester Crime and Census Statistics 1881 – 1901]
Table 4 above reveals that the four busiest divisional stations with over 100 prisoners a month in order were:
1. Goulden Street PS, Ancoats, serving the northern estate and the slums of Angel Meadow.
2. Cavendish Street PS, Chorlton on Medlock, serving Hulme and the slums south of the River Medlock.
3. Albert Street PS, City Centre, serving the west of Deansgate and the slums east side of the River Irwell.
4. Fairfield Street PS, Ardwick, serving from Ancoats to the slums in Little Ireland.
These were followed by the stations at:
5. Park Place PS, Hulme.
6. Newton Street PS, City.
7. Derby Street PS, Strangeways.
8. Cannel Street PS, Ancoats.
These figures indicate that these eight busiest police stations situated approximately half to one mile radius from the Town Hall, took in 82 per cent of all the Manchester Police prisoners.[2]
In 1842 Engels made specific observations of these ‘unmixed working- people’s quarters stretching like a girdle averaging a mile and half in breadth, around the commercial district’. This was the ‘grimy misery that lurked’ behind the ‘unbroken series of retail shops’ which the upper and middle bourgeoisie passed by in their omnibuses on their journeys to and from the suburbs.[3]
The middle-class suburbs had spread further from the centre by the end of the century, and this indicated in these prisoner records as the police stations with the least at fewer than ten prisoners a month, such as Clarendon Road PS Crumpsall and Monmouth Street PS Rusholme, are those serving these more prosperous suburbs. However the police estate in Ardwick on the eastern side of the city was more complicated.
The 1898 purchase of Fairfield Street PS (Ardwick C Division HQ) by the London & North Western Railway required the new Chief Constable Robert Peacock to reconsider the C Division’s police stations. In table 4 the last group of seven outer stations across the B-D Divisions all record less than 20 prisoners per month. Four of these sub-stations are on the C Division; Lowe Street PS, Brook Street PS, Ashton Old Road PS and Belle Vue Street PS. Peacock proposed to close these four sub-stations and to build a large divisional station at Mill Street, Beswick.
It would take until October 1903 to open Mill Street Police, Fire and Ambulance Station, finally permitting the sale of Fairfield Street PS to the L&NWR.[4] The proposal to build Whitworth Street PS within the proposed London Road Fire Station complex was not made until 1900 and this station would not be operational until September 1906.[5]
Peacock’s proposal appears tactically sound, as one central station would free up five existing charge offices and cells along with the corresponding man-power. The proposal received the approval of the Home Secretary. [see Strategy - Rationalisation 1898]. However such centralisation would require good transport facilities for the constables as divisional boundaries were up to 1.5 miles away from Mill Street. Escorting the arrested to a police station remained a concern.
It had already being discovered operationally as early as 1864 by HMIC and finally accepted by the WC in 1872 that Livesey Street PS was too far, at half a mile along the Oldham Road from Gt. Ancoats Street to be utilised operationally by arresting officers outside its immediate influence.[6] The result was that, Livesey Street’s replacement, Goulden Street PS was built on the city side of the extensive Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway sidings.
Although police constables could comfortably walk to and patrol their beats within the HMIC benchmark two to three hours, it was a different matter altogether to return with a violent prisoner in tow. Prison vans were only utilised by the Manchester Police for the escort of prisoners between court and gaol. No reference has been found of constables utilising the omnibus or tram system within orders and although one could envisage a wily constable utilising public transport to get to his beat on time, this method would not be available to arresting officers.
The 1908 Manchester Police Force Instruction book settled the rationalisation argument in favour of operational efficiency.[7] Mill Street PS is on the instruction book’s list of stations but so still are Cannel Street PS, Belle Vue Street PS and Lowe Street PS. Only the nearest two police stations at Brook Street and Ashton Old Road are closed in 1903.[8]
Whitworth Street PS which opened in 1906 on the south-east edge of the city A Division became the new C Division HQ.
Of note is that with a further extension to the city in 1904 to include the south Manchester districts of; Chorlton-cum-Hardy, Didsbury, Withington, Moss Side and Burnage, came a minor adjustment to the existing divisional boundaries. Lowe Street PS along with Newton Health PS to the north off Oldham Road joined the B Division.
It had already being discovered operationally as early as 1864 by HMIC and finally accepted by the WC in 1872 that Livesey Street PS was too far, at half a mile along the Oldham Road from Gt. Ancoats Street to be utilised operationally by arresting officers outside its immediate influence.[6] The result was that, Livesey Street’s replacement, Goulden Street PS was built on the city side of the extensive Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway sidings.
Although police constables could comfortably walk to and patrol their beats within the HMIC benchmark two to three hours, it was a different matter altogether to return with a violent prisoner in tow. Prison vans were only utilised by the Manchester Police for the escort of prisoners between court and gaol. No reference has been found of constables utilising the omnibus or tram system within orders and although one could envisage a wily constable utilising public transport to get to his beat on time, this method would not be available to arresting officers.
The 1908 Manchester Police Force Instruction book settled the rationalisation argument in favour of operational efficiency.[7] Mill Street PS is on the instruction book’s list of stations but so still are Cannel Street PS, Belle Vue Street PS and Lowe Street PS. Only the nearest two police stations at Brook Street and Ashton Old Road are closed in 1903.[8]
Whitworth Street PS which opened in 1906 on the south-east edge of the city A Division became the new C Division HQ.
Of note is that with a further extension to the city in 1904 to include the south Manchester districts of; Chorlton-cum-Hardy, Didsbury, Withington, Moss Side and Burnage, came a minor adjustment to the existing divisional boundaries. Lowe Street PS along with Newton Health PS to the north off Oldham Road joined the B Division.
Table 7 Rise in Rateable Values for the City of Manchester 1839-1901
In conclusion this force rationalisation was the first time the establishment and police estate was contracted since the birth of Manchester’s modern force in 1839. Table 7 details the rise in rateable values across the townships from 1839 to 1901 and was commissioned by the Lock-Up Sub Committee of the WC in 1902.[9] It shows clearly that the total rateable assessment of the city increases every decade from £669,000 in 1839 to £3,394,000 by 1901. The last decade from 1891 saw a substantial rise from £2,798,000, so on face value it appears the decreasing cost of the police force as a percentage of the corporations budget was not the issue at that time.
The language of the WC minutes and the reports of the sub committees and chief constable indicate a rational approach to the falling crime rates and perceived more peaceful times as stated by the anonymous letter writer to the Manchester Guardian in 1898. [See Police Stations –/ 1860-1885 / Newton Street PS It appears that there is a genuine belief that the police force can be contracted whilst still providing the security from crime and disorder the city needed. The Home Secretaries condition when he authorises the reduction in establishment contrary to the HMIC’s proportional increase stipulates the provision for an increase ‘should the police force be found to be inadequate’.[10]
However the relative calm of the new Edwardian period would be short lived before the events of the First World War unfolded.
In conclusion this force rationalisation was the first time the establishment and police estate was contracted since the birth of Manchester’s modern force in 1839. Table 7 details the rise in rateable values across the townships from 1839 to 1901 and was commissioned by the Lock-Up Sub Committee of the WC in 1902.[9] It shows clearly that the total rateable assessment of the city increases every decade from £669,000 in 1839 to £3,394,000 by 1901. The last decade from 1891 saw a substantial rise from £2,798,000, so on face value it appears the decreasing cost of the police force as a percentage of the corporations budget was not the issue at that time.
The language of the WC minutes and the reports of the sub committees and chief constable indicate a rational approach to the falling crime rates and perceived more peaceful times as stated by the anonymous letter writer to the Manchester Guardian in 1898. [See Police Stations –/ 1860-1885 / Newton Street PS It appears that there is a genuine belief that the police force can be contracted whilst still providing the security from crime and disorder the city needed. The Home Secretaries condition when he authorises the reduction in establishment contrary to the HMIC’s proportional increase stipulates the provision for an increase ‘should the police force be found to be inadequate’.[10]
However the relative calm of the new Edwardian period would be short lived before the events of the First World War unfolded.
[1] Manchester Watch Committee Minutes, 4 July 1898.
[2] Eight of the 18 police stations in all (excepting Bridgewater Street and the Town Hall not listed) Monthly average for the force being 996 prisoners and those stations listed accounting for 812 prisoners. 86 % if Willert Street PS is included. WCM 7 July 1898.
[3] F. Engels, The Conditions of the Working Class in England, (London: Lawrence Wishart, 1984) pp.77-78.
[4] WCM 1 Oct 1903 and WCM 21 Oct 1903 See Mill St PS in Police Estate 1898.
[5] WCM 1 March 1900. R. Bonner, Manchester Fire Brigade, (Manchester: Archive Publications, 1988) p.56. as listed on ‘London Road Fire Station: Manchester’ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_Road_Fire_Station,_Manchester 22.01.2013.
[6] WCM 27 Dec 1866 & 16 May 1872.
[7] R. Peacock, Manchester City Police Force Instruction Book, Vol. 2.
[8] Brook Street is sold in 1903 on the opening of Mill Street. WCM 22 October 1903 and Ashton Old Road is let to the Guardians of the Openshaw Poor Relief Union after initial interest in 1900: WCM 1 March 1900.
[9] WCM 27 Feb 1902
[10] WCM 2 June 1899
[2] Eight of the 18 police stations in all (excepting Bridgewater Street and the Town Hall not listed) Monthly average for the force being 996 prisoners and those stations listed accounting for 812 prisoners. 86 % if Willert Street PS is included. WCM 7 July 1898.
[3] F. Engels, The Conditions of the Working Class in England, (London: Lawrence Wishart, 1984) pp.77-78.
[4] WCM 1 Oct 1903 and WCM 21 Oct 1903 See Mill St PS in Police Estate 1898.
[5] WCM 1 March 1900. R. Bonner, Manchester Fire Brigade, (Manchester: Archive Publications, 1988) p.56. as listed on ‘London Road Fire Station: Manchester’ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_Road_Fire_Station,_Manchester 22.01.2013.
[6] WCM 27 Dec 1866 & 16 May 1872.
[7] R. Peacock, Manchester City Police Force Instruction Book, Vol. 2.
[8] Brook Street is sold in 1903 on the opening of Mill Street. WCM 22 October 1903 and Ashton Old Road is let to the Guardians of the Openshaw Poor Relief Union after initial interest in 1900: WCM 1 March 1900.
[9] WCM 27 Feb 1902
[10] WCM 2 June 1899
