Thread by @cocteautriplets

By courtesy of one of the new books, I can elaborate a little more on the history of The Leith Poleith.

https://twitter.com/cocteautriplets/status/1368181220937437187

In 1771, Parliament passed the "Act for Cleansing and Lighting the Streets of the Town of South Leith, the Territory of St. Anthony's and Yardheads thereunto adjoining, and for supplying the several parts thereof with fresh water"

The description of the act itself is a reminder that at this time, the municipal police were concerned with lighting, cleansing and water supply; not watch keeping or law enforcement.

The act saw the election of 30 Police Commissioners to enact its provisions; the electors were the 2 magistrates of Leith (appointed by Edinburgh), the masters and 6 assistants of the 4 Leith trade incorporations (the Cordiners, Carters, Tailors and Weavers)...

... and all heritors (the feudal landholders of a Scottish parish), liferenters (landholders for life) and proprietors of lands and tenement within the burgh. Basically, the people (men) with claim to land and/or property.

Added to the Commissioners were the Lord Provost, the Magistrates and Town Clerk of Leith, the Masters of the Trade Incorporations, The Baillie (an civic officer) of St. Anthony's Preceptory, and 2 others elected by the feudal heritors of Yardheads and St. Anthony's.

So the Police Commissioners were basically a committee of the local worthies who were charged with keeping the streets clean and supplying water. At this time, Leith had no piped water, sewers, pavements or metalled roads (causeys) of any kind so they had their hands full

Such was the difficulty in resolving these issues in Leith, that for the next 20 years the Commissioners were fully occupied with water, cleansing and lighting. It was not until 1791 that attention turned to "watching and warding", i.e. something more akin to modern policing.

The Commissioners had always employed a part time "Police Officer", but his job was to keep order at the wells and to try and keep people to the schedule of the carters who carried away the filth of the town.

In 1791, this was made a full time position, and Leith's first professional polisman was hired; at £25 a year. 10 years later, in 1801 the officer, one John Ross, was finally provided with a uniform. "A blue coat, red neck with buttons thereon and a red vest with a pair of boots"

In 1802, lawlessness in Leith was such that one of the Baillies proposed to the Police Commissioners that a part-time force of sixty men, in three watches, be hired for the purposes of law enforcement. At this point, Edinburgh stepped in and said "naw", and that it would sort it

Edinburgh then did nothing, as James Scott Marshall puts it. "Edinburgh's policy of masterly inactivity once more frustrated [Leith's] desire for improvement."

A new Leith Police Act, in 1806, made provision for the recruitment of watchmen for "Guarding, Patrolling and Watching the streets". But again, nothing was done, for want of money. Leith had 20,000 inhabitants, but Edinburgh absolutely and tightly controlled its purse strings.

Finally in 1814, the size of the Leith Police force was tripled; to 3. Two watchmen were employed to assist the "intendant" (the man in the blue and red coat). The appointments were made by the Paving Committee as they had responsibility for safety on the streets.

In 1815, the force doubled in size, to 6, with 3 more watchmen being recruited. Finally in 1816, a special "Watching Committee" was formed, rather than leave the Police under the direction of the Paving Committee

But the new force was not well thought of, and there were complaints asking for it to be better organised. The watchmen were also unhappy, as the day shift worked 6AM-9PM (!) and were unable to take on labouring work on the side as a result like the nightshift could.

The force grew no further until the Municipal and Police Act of 1827, when the whole force of 6 was disbanded and then re-hired under a new system under a Superintendent; one James Stuart on £120 a year.

The new force totalled 20, 1 Sergeant Major, 3 Sergeants, 3 "Daymen", 3 "Night Patrol" and 10 Watchmen. Superitendent Stuart had the force raised to 27 with 1 more Dayman, 2 Night Patrol and 4 more Watchmen.

The senior ranks were paid a guaranteed basic rate, which was supplemented by the court fees of each offender they brought in; half to the Sergeant Major, and the other half split between the Sergeants.

The act also got round to the business of providing Leith with its first modern courthouse and police station, the land of "Dr. Colquhoun's Chapel" being aquired and a 99 year lease being taken on it. Dr C. was the minister of St. John's Chapel of Ease on Constitution St.

So this is how Leith's first court house and police station came to be built on the corner of Constitution Street and [Queen] Charlotte St., where they are to this day - although the courthouse is unused. (Maps, 1804 and 1849 Town Plans, NLS)

The 1827 act finally settled the boundary of the Leith Police, which had been rather vaguely defined up until this point due to the fragmentary municipal boundaries and land superiority of the separate parishes of N. and S. Leith. I've sketched it here on the 1832 boundary (NLS)

When the 1832 Great Reform Act extended the boundary of Leith to the red line, the reach of the Leith Police extended too. A deal was also struck with the Edinburgh Sheriff to charge him for the lodging of prisoners sent from Edinburgh to languish in Leith.

At this point, the need for separate Commissioners of Police was redundant, as Leith was finally an independent burgh, and the responsibility for oversight of the Police passed to the new Town Council, who made their home in the police station and court on Constitution Street.

And here is a picture of the newly completed court house / police station / Town Hall, an 1828 sketch by Thomas Hosmer Shepherd. It shows St. John's, before the Tudor tower and parish school buildings were added to the front and the fire station building to the side