‘The Metropolitan Police Gazette and Criminal Recorder’. 1829. Catalogue Ref: HO 61/9
Transcript
The Metropolitan Police Gazette and Criminal Recorder (Price Threepence). [Three pennies]
On Saturday, the 19th of June inst. Will be Published (to be continued Weekly,) No.1, of the ‘Metropolitan Police Gazette, and Criminal Recorder.”
This Publication which will be of the size of a Weekly Newspaper and of a form suitable for Binding, will contain (expressly written for the Gazette) Reports of the proceedings at all the Twelve Police Offices in the Metropolis during the Week- Interesting Trial at Assizes, [courts] Sessions, Courts of Law, &c.- Records (most useful to every Police Officer) of all Serious Offences and Criminals, with descriptions of their persons and the amount of rewards offered for their apprehension,- Hue and Cry.*- Police Anecdotes [accounts]- False and Cowardly attacks made on the New Police exposed, and their authors DISPATCH’D- Gangs of Miscreants [trouble makers], Prigs [thieves] Fences, Flash Houses* and Gaming Houses.- Swell Mob*- Ascot and Hampton.- Feats at Windsor and Ben Lewis’s Gang- The Spa-fields affair considered a Radical Murder.- Caution to persons attending Theatres- Criticism, &c.- The whole forming an entertaining and useful Miscellany.[collection of articles.]
No Police Constable connected with the Force will hesitate to become a Subscriber to a Work so useful, so cheap, and so devoted to his interest and the interests of the Public generally; and which at all times will fearlessly, zealously, and impartially vindicate the Commissioners and Officers from the hebdomadal* and systematic attacks of a certain Sunday Paper, which has (like the Boy in the Fable) cried “Wolf” “Wolf” so long, that at last the cries are almost unheeded. Some dirty work of a certain junta* in the Kilburn case of ADAMS V. SOPER and others exposed.
To be sold by all respectable Booksellers and Newsmen. Advertisements respecting Property Lost, Stolen, &c. and of Servants Wanted and wanting Places will be inserted.
J.W.PEEL, Printer, 9, New Cnt, Lambeth.
Glossary for starred* words, other word meanings given in brackets.
- Hebdomadal- weekly
- A flash house- a house frequented by thieves, vagabonds, and sex workers. Also, a place where stolen goods were received.
- Swell mob- thieves and swindlers who are fashionably well dressed.
- ‘Hue and Cry’- a historical common law dating back to medieval times whereby bystanders in the community were summoned to assist in the persuit and capture of criminals.
- Junta- a military or political group that rules a country after taking power by force.
- How many police officers are there in London?
- What type of content will the ‘Police Gazette and Criminal Recorder’ include?
- What is the purpose of setting up a newspaper for the police?
- How might this publication help make the police force more efficient?
- The source states that the police force have been subject to the “hebdomadal and systematic attacks of a certain Sunday Paper”, [line 20.] What does this suggest about public opinion regarding the police?
- What can this source tell us about the crimes that were being committed in London in the 1820s-1830s?