1829
Sir Robert Peel, the Home Secretary who created the force, painted by Henry William Pickersgill.Image: Henry William Pickersgill · Public domainworld · Europe
London’s Metropolitan Police begin work
On 29 September 1829 the new Metropolitan Police opened its headquarters at 4 Whitehall Place, in Westminster, and began work. Its public office at the back of the building faced a yard called Great Scotland Yard, which gave the force its famous nickname. The force, created by the Home Secretary Robert Peel under an act of Parliament passed that year, had two commissioners, Charles Rowan and Richard Mayne, with eight superintendents, 20 inspectors, 88 sergeants and 895 constables. Londoners soon called its officers ‘bobbies’ or ‘peelers’ after him, and it became a model for police forces around the world.
Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica: Scotland Yard ↗
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