Changes in Policing and Protest in Britain c.1750 to the Present

Policing Before 1829: The Parish System

Before the 19th century, there was no professional police force in Britain. Law enforcement relied on:

• Parish constables: Unpaid, often elderly men serving a compulsory annual rota. Ineffective and frequently bribed.
• Watchmen: Paid watchmen in some towns — often satirised as incompetent ("Charleys").
• Thief-takers: Private entrepreneurs who caught criminals for reward money (Jonathan Wild was the most notorious — himself a criminal mastermind).
• The army: Called out to suppress riots and serious disorder. The Riot Act (1714) allowed magistrates to order crowds to disperse; those who stayed after an hour could be arrested.

The Peterloo Massacre (1819)

On 16 August 1819, around 60,000 people gathered at St Peter's Fields, Manchester, to demand parliamentary reform (voting rights). Local magistrates panicked and sent the cavalry charging into the crowd. Fifteen people were killed; hundreds injured. The government responded by passing the Six Acts (restricting meetings and press freedom).

Significance: Peterloo demonstrated the danger of using the military for crowd control; it also strengthened the case for a professional civil police force.

The Metropolitan Police (1829)

Sir Robert Peel established the Metropolitan Police in London in 1829. Key features:

• Full-time, paid, uniformed officers ("Bobbies" or "Peelers")
• Organised on military lines with ranks (Inspector, Sergeant, Constable)
• Peel's Nine Principles of Policing: prevention as primary aim; police are the public and the public are the police; minimum force; no bias; accountability.
• Initially distrusted by working-class communities who saw them as tools of the ruling class
• By 1856, all boroughs required to have a police force (County and Borough Police Act)

Chartism (1838–1857)

The Chartist movement demanded six political reforms (the "People's Charter"): universal male suffrage, secret ballot, payment of MPs, equal constituencies, annual parliaments, no property qualification for MPs.

Methods: Mass petitions (1839, 1842, 1848); meetings; some incitement to violence. The 1839 Newport Rising (Wales) — around 3,000 Chartists marched on Newport Jail to free political prisoners; soldiers opened fire; 22 killed. Leaders transported to Australia.

Response: Police and army used to suppress; leaders imprisoned or transported. The movement declined after the 1848 petition was rejected; many demands were eventually met in later decades.

Suffragette Protest and Policing (1903–1914)

The Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU), founded by Emmeline Pankhurst in 1903, used increasingly militant tactics when peaceful campaigning failed to achieve women's suffrage.

Escalation: Heckling MPs; window smashing; arson (post boxes, churches, cricket pavilions); hunger strikes in prison. Emily Wilding Davison died after stepping in front of the King's horse at Epsom Derby (1913).

State response: The Cat and Mouse Act (1913) — released hunger-striking prisoners to recover, then re-arrested them. Police used force at demonstrations; "Black Friday" (18 November 1910) — police violence against suffragettes in Parliament Square. WWII delayed granting of women's suffrage until 1918 (partial) and 1928 (full).

Trade Union and Industrial Protest

• Tolpuddle Martyrs (1834): Six Dorset farm labourers transported to Australia for forming a trade union. Public outcry; pardoned 1836.
• General Strike (1926): 9-day TUC strike in support of miners; government used army, volunteers and BBC to maintain services; police used to protect strike-breaking vehicles.
• Miners' Strike (1984–85): Year-long dispute over pit closures; violent confrontations at Orgreave Coking Plant ("Battle of Orgreave"). Policing under Margaret Thatcher was later condemned as excessive.

Late 20th and 21st Century: Policing Changes

• Special Branch and counter-terrorism: Metropolitan Police Special Branch (19th century origin); anti-terrorist squads from the 1970s (IRA era).
• Stephen Lawrence murder (1993): Black teenager murdered; Metropolitan Police investigation criticised as inadequate. The Macpherson Report (1999) found the police were "institutionally racist." Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000 required public bodies to promote race equality.
• DNA evidence: From 1984; transformed criminal detection. National DNA database created 1995.
• De Menezes shooting (2005): Innocent Brazilian man shot dead by police on London Underground after being wrongly identified as a terrorist. Raised questions about shoot-to-kill policy.
• Protest: Civil rights and anti-war demonstrations (1960s–); Poll Tax riots (1990); anti-Iraq War (2003) — largest protest in British history (1–2 million people); Black Lives Matter (2020).

Key Themes for WJEC

Continuity: Tension between police power and civil liberties runs through all periods. Change: From unpaid parish constables to professional forces; from brute force to intelligence-led policing. Turning points: Metropolitan Police 1829; Macpherson Report 1999.