1st Edition

Police in the Age of Improvement

By David Barrie Copyright 2008
322 Pages
by Routledge

322 Pages
by Willan

The study of police history in Scotland has largely been neglected. Little is known about the Scottish police's origins, development and character despite growing interest in the machinery of law enforcement in other parts of the United Kingdom. This book seeks to remedy this deficiency. Based on extensive archival research, its central aim is to provide an in-depth analysis of the economic,... Read more
1. Introduction  Introduction.  The Scottish experience.  A curious neglect.  Research focus and its historiographical context.  The 'police' concept in Scotland in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries  2. Policing before the police: law enforcement in the late eighteenth century  Introduction.  Constables, town officers and magistrates.  Urban challenges and policing initiatives.  Watching and warding.  Prosecution and the local courts.  Godly discipline.  Conclusion  3. Politics, pressures and policing initiatives: Glasgow in the Age of Enlightenment, 1779-1800  Introduction.  Early initiatives and proposals, 1779-88.  The politics of reform, 1789-92.  The fall and rise of policing in Glasgow, 1793-1800.  The influence and legacy of Patrick Colquhoun.  Ideas and Enlightenment.  Conclusion  4. Urban challenges and new expectations: police origins and the pattern of adoption, 1800-32  Introduction. Urban growth and the pattern of adoption, 1800-32.  Crime, disorder and professionalisation.  Urban improvement.  Expanding the municipal machine.  Conclusion  5. Conflict and consensus: framing the model of urban management, 1800-32  Introduction.  Conflict and conciliation.  An uneasy consensus? Urban democracy in civil society.  Conclusion  6. Pioneers in police? The police model and its historical significance, 1800-33  Introduction.  Structure, organisation and significance.  Links with the past Post-war tensions, reform and improvement.  Conclusion  7. National legislation and the state of burgh policing at mid century, 1833-62  Introduction.  National burgh statutes, 1833-62.  County developments, 1839-57.  Scottish burgh policing at mid century.  Conclusion  8. Policing the Scottish city, 1800-48  Introduction.  Vagrancy and the urban poor.  Pastimes, behaviour and morality.  Crowd control, industrial militancy and political policing, 1821-48.  Conclusion  9. Towards incorporation: changing attitudes towards urban administration and challenges to elected police commissions, 1833-64  Introduction.  Changing attitudes and pressures for reform.  Hotbeds of radicalism? The social composition and political outlook of Police.  Commissions.  Opposition, apathy and exclusion.  Conclusion  10. Conclusion.  Appendix I: Social status classifications of police commissioners' occupational profiles.  Appendix II: Selection of amended police constitutions, 1800-33

Biography

David Barrie is a Lecturer in History at the University of Western Australia. His research interests include eighteenth and nineteenth century criminal justice history, urban history, and the history of masculinity.