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Old plan of Middlesbrough, 1846
© Courtesy of Middlesbrough Reference Library
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Policing the frontier: Middlesbrough c.1830s to 1860s |
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The early 1850s saw significant change as the improvement commissioners finally realised that more resources were required if order and decorum were to be brought to the streets of the town. Strong leadership was believed to be important. The appointments as head constable of William Hannan and, as his successor the experienced, Edward Saggerson were of paramount importance but the challenge of 
Middlesbrough police band
© Courtesy of Middlesbrough Reference Library |
creating an efficient police force was considerable and could only be solved through the creation of an efficient force of men, centred on a core of experienced, career policemen. Inevitably, it would take time before the aspirations of Hannan and Saggerson were realised.
Mid-century police work was not immediately attractive, except on a short-term, stop-gap basis. As an occupation, policing had little or no status. The hours were long, the pay indifferent (especially when compared with that ‘at the works’), the physical dangers considerable and the isolation from the community at large stark. The principal task of the new police was to embody and enforce a code of behaviour intended to bring order and decorum to public places. Unfortunately, for the officer on the beat that code of behaviour was seen as alien by the very working classes that he had to police and from which he was came.
Words: David Taylor
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