How were the police viewed in Victorian England?

The first professional police force in the UK, funded by local taxation, was set up in Glasgow in 1800. At the time, the City of Glasgow police undertook more duties than modern police, including fire fighting. It served Glasgow right through until 1975. read more

The first professional policemen, in England, known as 'Peelers' or 'Bobbies', were set up in London in 1829 by Robert Peel, the then Home Secretary, after 'The Metropolitan Police Act' of 1829. It was the start of a campaign to improve public law. read more

Victorian policeman, c.1900 © The last years of the century were the years of England's most famous detective - Sherlock Holmes - who was first put before the reading public in 1887 in A Study in Scarlet. read more

It criminalised the police union, replacing it with the Police Federation of England and Wales. The act also guaranteed a pension for police; previously it had been discretionary. The fragmented nature of the police was resistant to change, and there were still over 200 separate police forces before World War II. read more