Strategic requirements 1860-1885
English police records reveal that for the period from 1860 to 1876 there was a dramatic increase in the cases of drunkenness (and subsequent imprisonment) which accounted for over 50 per cent of all offences in London. Within Manchester a similar pattern emerges and by 1876, out of the total 19,750 of all cases charged, drunkenness accounted for 9,612 persons or just fewer than 50 per cent.[1]
Of the total 19,750 persons arrested and charged by the Manchester police in 1876 around two thirds were drunk upon arrest – 65 per cent of male arrests and 61 per cent of female arrests.[2] Of note is the high incidence of female arrests in this period with 33 per cent or 6489 females out of the 19,750 total. No doubt as Harrison (1971) has argued the living conditions the low paid urban working-class endured, within a commercially driven industrial city, created the environment for the high levels of alcoholic consumption.[3] The numerous licensed premises encouraged drinking, contributing to the subsequent conflict with the police.
Davies (1985) highlights the two decades from 1860 as the apex of crime [and police enforcement] within the Victorian period.[4] After a significant criticism within the middle-class communities of ineffective policing, a more aggressive approach was made by the police under Chief Constable Captain Palin (1857-1881) to reduce incidents of what was then deemed immoral behaviour and would now be labelled anti-social.
Drunkenness, prostitution, vagrancy and gambling were visually offensive to the law abiding sections of society. The police clampdown on the working class in the 1840s was replaced with a targeted approach on those persons who stood out from the honest and socially tiered working classes. Numerous memorials were received by the WC from shopkeepers and residents in the poorer areas:
Of the total 19,750 persons arrested and charged by the Manchester police in 1876 around two thirds were drunk upon arrest – 65 per cent of male arrests and 61 per cent of female arrests.[2] Of note is the high incidence of female arrests in this period with 33 per cent or 6489 females out of the 19,750 total. No doubt as Harrison (1971) has argued the living conditions the low paid urban working-class endured, within a commercially driven industrial city, created the environment for the high levels of alcoholic consumption.[3] The numerous licensed premises encouraged drinking, contributing to the subsequent conflict with the police.
Davies (1985) highlights the two decades from 1860 as the apex of crime [and police enforcement] within the Victorian period.[4] After a significant criticism within the middle-class communities of ineffective policing, a more aggressive approach was made by the police under Chief Constable Captain Palin (1857-1881) to reduce incidents of what was then deemed immoral behaviour and would now be labelled anti-social.
Drunkenness, prostitution, vagrancy and gambling were visually offensive to the law abiding sections of society. The police clampdown on the working class in the 1840s was replaced with a targeted approach on those persons who stood out from the honest and socially tiered working classes. Numerous memorials were received by the WC from shopkeepers and residents in the poorer areas:
As recorded in the Manchester Watch Committee Minutes (dated)
31 January 1861 – Bridge St: the injury sustained by the establishment of houses of ill-fame and Beer Houses of a disreputable character.
15 August 1861 – Hanging Ditch: the nuisance and annoyance often experienced from two disreputable houses in that locality.
12 September 1861 - Deansgate: nuisances of disorderly proceedings at the Hen and Chickens Public House 312 Deansgate and the Cheshire Cheese Beer House 316 Deansgate.
9 January 1862 - St John St: Mr Dawson’s Beer House, caused by assemblage of loose and disreputable characters.
20 February 1862 - Victoria Bridge and Knott Mill: Gambling stalls and what steps were taken to suppress?
23 October 1862 - Cheetham: Prostitution is very much in the increase in Cheetham and actually countenanced by the police…..not a rare circumstance to find a police constable talking to females on the streets and servant girls at the doors of houses.
9 July 1863 - Chorlton Rd: Assembly of a large number of rough and ill-conducted rabble on vacant land on Sundays between 2.30p.m. and 9.00p.m. A most serious annoyance to inhabitants and renders it dangerous to body and limb.
Under Capt Palin’s watch between 1858 and 1864, including the years of the Cotton Famine - arrests and prosecutions increased to combat the rising tide of complaints and reports of crime and misdemeanours. Miscellaneous summons increased 31 per cent from 8,635 to 11,327 offences; drunkenness increased 99 per cent from 1,806 to 3,587 summary offences and street robberies 75 per cent from 94 to 165 crimes.[5]
[see Statistics / Table 3 ].
To put the problem of drink into perspective the Manchester-based United Kingdom Alliance who promoted temperance polices, highlighted that it was improbable that the police would be able to pursue the Beer House Acts when there was 2,500 of such premises and only 700 police constables.[6]
[See Fig 16 The Drink Map of Manchester / Strategies / Rationalisation 1898]
The increase in arrests and detentions placed a significant strain on the existing police estate and the Chief Constable highlighted the previous 1864 government Inspector’s Report (HMIC) which stated that it would be inefficient to spend any more money on the Swan Street or Livesey Street Police Stations and that new stations should be built.[7] The Chief Constable reported to the WC in December 1866 that although Swan Street PS had nine cells they were small and could take but three or four prisoners each and that there were often 40 to 50 prisoners there from Saturday to Monday morning.
The WC resolved to look for new premises and tasked Palin to report as to the efficiency of the force.[8]
[see Statistics Table 5 for evaluation details]. The model of Albert Street PS (1860) was to be followed with much larger and substantial stations with extensive cells and other accommodation often linked to the provision of premises for the Fire Brigade. Goulden Street PS (1872) for example was designed with 19 cells and sited far closer to Great Ancoats Street between New Cross and Angel Meadow.
Willert Street PS (1876) took four years to become operational and was located further out near Queens Road between Rochdale Road and Oldham Road to cover this part of the expanding city. Fairfield Street PS (1877) was replaced just along the road, albeit with compensation from the London and North Western Railway Company, which planned to expand. Swan Street PS opposite Angel Meadow proved so vital that even after Goulden Street PS was opened it remained operational until Newton Street PS, just off Great Ancoats Street, replaced it in 1879, after years of building delays.
Under the provisions of the Public Works Loans Act 1875 (38 & 39 Vic c.89) 4 per cent loans could be taken for building new public amenities and this was coupled to the 25 per cent (later 50 per cent) Treasury grant for running an efficient force. Finally, by 1878 Captain Palin was able to report a decline in offences from their peak in 1869. Arrests were down 19 per cent and total proceedings down 12 per cent. [9] The next two decades with the extension of the city limits would see even further reductions in crime.
Map 4 Strategic requirements 1860-1885.
[see Statistics / Table 3 ].
To put the problem of drink into perspective the Manchester-based United Kingdom Alliance who promoted temperance polices, highlighted that it was improbable that the police would be able to pursue the Beer House Acts when there was 2,500 of such premises and only 700 police constables.[6]
[See Fig 16 The Drink Map of Manchester / Strategies / Rationalisation 1898]
The increase in arrests and detentions placed a significant strain on the existing police estate and the Chief Constable highlighted the previous 1864 government Inspector’s Report (HMIC) which stated that it would be inefficient to spend any more money on the Swan Street or Livesey Street Police Stations and that new stations should be built.[7] The Chief Constable reported to the WC in December 1866 that although Swan Street PS had nine cells they were small and could take but three or four prisoners each and that there were often 40 to 50 prisoners there from Saturday to Monday morning.
The WC resolved to look for new premises and tasked Palin to report as to the efficiency of the force.[8]
[see Statistics Table 5 for evaluation details]. The model of Albert Street PS (1860) was to be followed with much larger and substantial stations with extensive cells and other accommodation often linked to the provision of premises for the Fire Brigade. Goulden Street PS (1872) for example was designed with 19 cells and sited far closer to Great Ancoats Street between New Cross and Angel Meadow.
Willert Street PS (1876) took four years to become operational and was located further out near Queens Road between Rochdale Road and Oldham Road to cover this part of the expanding city. Fairfield Street PS (1877) was replaced just along the road, albeit with compensation from the London and North Western Railway Company, which planned to expand. Swan Street PS opposite Angel Meadow proved so vital that even after Goulden Street PS was opened it remained operational until Newton Street PS, just off Great Ancoats Street, replaced it in 1879, after years of building delays.
Under the provisions of the Public Works Loans Act 1875 (38 & 39 Vic c.89) 4 per cent loans could be taken for building new public amenities and this was coupled to the 25 per cent (later 50 per cent) Treasury grant for running an efficient force. Finally, by 1878 Captain Palin was able to report a decline in offences from their peak in 1869. Arrests were down 19 per cent and total proceedings down 12 per cent. [9] The next two decades with the extension of the city limits would see even further reductions in crime.
Map 4 Strategic requirements 1860-1885.
[1] Manchester Police Statistical Returns 1884, Greater Manchester Police Museum and Archive, ‘Chief Constable Reports from 1874-1901’. Table 3 from the HMIC reveals total proceedings at 24,985 but this includes non-arrest cases.
[2] Not all drunk arrested persons where charged with drunkenness if more serious offences were preferred.
[3] W. McWilliams, ‘The Mission to the Police Courts, 1876-1936’, Howard Journal, 22 (1983) p.133.
[4] S.J. Davies, ‘Classes and Police in Manchester 1829-1890’ in A. J. Kidd and K. W. Roberts (eds.), City, Class and Culture: Studies of cultural production and social policy in Victorian Manchester, (Manchester University Press, 1985) pp.36-40.
[5] WCM 26 July 1865.
[6] WCM 5 July 1866.
[7] WCM 27 Dec 1866.
[8] ‘Efficiency of the Force’ report Chief Constable Palin WCM 16 May 1867.
[9] WCM 17 Oct 1878, as seen in TABLE 3 although these are HMIC figures.
[2] Not all drunk arrested persons where charged with drunkenness if more serious offences were preferred.
[3] W. McWilliams, ‘The Mission to the Police Courts, 1876-1936’, Howard Journal, 22 (1983) p.133.
[4] S.J. Davies, ‘Classes and Police in Manchester 1829-1890’ in A. J. Kidd and K. W. Roberts (eds.), City, Class and Culture: Studies of cultural production and social policy in Victorian Manchester, (Manchester University Press, 1985) pp.36-40.
[5] WCM 26 July 1865.
[6] WCM 5 July 1866.
[7] WCM 27 Dec 1866.
[8] ‘Efficiency of the Force’ report Chief Constable Palin WCM 16 May 1867.
[9] WCM 17 Oct 1878, as seen in TABLE 3 although these are HMIC figures.
