'This book will stand for some considerable time as the starting point for anyone interested in the emergence of professional, bureaucratic policing in the burghs and cities of Scotland. [It]... is a well-researched and well-argued book, filling a significant gap in our knowledge of both police development and municipal administration in Scotland and points to the need for further research in a variety of directions.'Clive EmsleyThe Journal of Scottish Historical Studies, 28:2, May, 2009
'Barrie has produced an engaging and informative account of the development of Scottish policing that not only stands as a significant contribution to the history of criminal justice in its own terms, but has implications that ought to be heeded by authors concerned with other aspects of Britain's police in the eras of improvement and reform.' Dr Francis DodsworthThe British Journal of Criminology April 2009.
'By exploiting varied and rich seams of records, this study provides a distinctive framework, which no future study of either Scottish policing or urban governance in this period will be able to ignore. Furthermore this exposition of applied Enlightenment philosophy adds considerably to our understanding of Scottish urban governance and why it was so distinctive.'Malcolm NobleUrban History, Volume 36, Special Issue 02, August 2009
'A fascinating and important book... At its broadest level this study goes beyond being a simple history of the police to be a history of the transformation of Scottish towns and cities in the first part of the nineteenth century. This is an enormously valuable contribution to the neglected field of Scottish criminal justice history, as well as totory of police more generally and the history of local government in Scotland.'Lindsay Farmer, Edinburgh Law Review, Volume 14, pp.153-4.
'[Barrie] deserves out hearty congratulations...[for writing]...an entirely compelling and persuasive [contribution]...to our understanding and knowledge of the origins and development of policing in Scotland during the crucial period of transition between pre-industrial society and 1865.' Bob Knox, International review of Scottish Studies, Volume 34, 2009, pp.173-5.
'This is a very useful and readable work which is a must for historians considering the period and for those considering development of the criminal justice system as well as for social scientists. Moreover, for non academics, there are interesting analogies which draw many parallels with the challenges facing contemporary society.' Maurice Golden, Scottish Legal Action Group, 376, 2009, pp.50-1.
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, social, intellectual and political factors that shaped police reform, development and policy in Scottish burghs during the 'Age of Improvement'. The key issues addressed include:
The workings of traditional forms of law enforcement and why these were increasingly deemed to be unsuitable by the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries;
Why, and in what ways, the pattern, nature and origins of police development in urban Scotland differed from elsewhere in Britain;
In what ways the Scottish police model compared and contrasted with other British models;
The impact of police reform on urban governance and the struggle between social groups for control of the local state;
The concerns and priorities behind police policy.
In addressing these questions, Police in the Age of Improvement moves beyond many of the 'problem-response' interpretations which have preoccupied many police historians, and locates reform within the wider contexts of urban improvement, municipal administration and Scottish Enlightenment thought. It will be essential reading for anyone interested in the history of policing, urban management and social change in the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
Contents 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 Bibliography Index
Crime and Justice 1750-1950
Barry Godfrey and Paul Lawrence
Comparative Histories of Crime
Edited by Barry Godfrey, Clive Emsley, Graeme Dunstall
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, social, intellectual and political factors that shaped police reform, development and policy in Scottish burghs during the 'Age of Improvement'. The key issues addressed include:
