The Ministry of Defence Police (MDP) in the United Kingdom can trace its origins back to 1686, and has gone through a number of evolutions over the centuries to achieve its present-day form. Until late 1965, the Royal Navy, British Army and Royal Air Force were controlled by separate departments: the Board of Admiralty, the Army Board and the Air Ministry respectively, each had its own Cabinet Minister. In that year it was decided that the three services should be placed under the control of one Minister of State for Defence, and the present Ministry of Defence was formed.
The oldest centrally controlled military force in Britain is the Royal Navy; it was in 1686 that Samuel Pepys instigated a force of civilians to protect the Royal Naval dockyards. Although it wasn't until the early 19th century that Great Britain had an organised civilian police force, in 1834 the Royal Navy Dockyards were given their own uniformed police service. As Britain's armed forces became more centrally organised in the late 19th century, other service establishments were allocated a police presence. The First World War brought about the formation of separated Army and Naval civilian police forces, to be joined in the 1940s by the Air Force Constabulary during the Second World War.
Army precursors As far as is known, the Army used serving soldiers to guard their establishments in the early days and as (unlike naval dockyards) the employment of civilians by the Army was minimal, there was little call for a civilian police force, except for places such as the Royal Arsenal at Woolwich. Consequently, the first records of police on Army Department sites appear circa 1860 when a division of the Metropolitan Police was created to police the Royal Arsenal. This was a straightforward arrangement as Woolwich is in London.
Naval precursors 1686: Porters, rounders, warders and watchmen
Since medieval times there has always been an Army, until comparatively recent times, it consisted of separate bodies raised on a territorial basis; the formation of the Royal Air Force occurred only in the 20th century, after the development of manned human flight.
The Royal Navy, as a department of central government, has existed since 1600 and as early as 1686 records show that the Admiralty was aware of the need for an organisation to prevent crime within its dockyards. At that time, the Secretary for the Affairs of the Admiralty of England (Samuel Pepys), delivered to the special commissioners of the Navy an instruction which included the following:
To enquire after and make use of all means for preventing the embezzlement of any of our Stores, and to that end... to be frequent in visiting the Workmen at their departure out of our said Yards, keeping a Strict and Severe Eye upon the respective Porters of the same, and to the attendance given at the Gates... and lastly to be as frequent as he may, and the distance of Places will admit, in his nightly rounds in and about each of our said Yards, for discovering any unfaithfulness or neglect that may be found in the Watch, charged with the safety of our Stores during that Season.
As a result of Pepys' instructions a force of "Porters, Rounders, Warders and Watchmen" was formed to guard the Naval yards.
The roles performed by the first force of "Porters, Rounders, Warders and Watchmen" were as follows: Porters were responsible for identifying visitors and escorting them to the appropriate heads of departments; Rounders patrolled the Yard or, as their name implies, "did the rounds"; Warders were responsible for the keys and backed up the Porters at the gates; Watchmen, who were employed at night only, guarded or watched important buildings or areas. The latter were part-timers, being dockyard employees who remained in the Yard, on a roster basis—every fourth night after carrying out their normal work and received an extra shilling for the duty. The Rounders appear to have been the senior branch of the force as they kept an eye on the other three bodies and frequently reported their misdemeanours to the Commissioner in charge of the Dockyard.
Apart from this civilian forces, there existed also a military force of Marines, comprising one subaltern, a number of non-commissioned officers (NCOs) and 36 privates. Both the civil and military guards were closely linked and an indication of the economy practised in those days exists, in the form of the Daily Orders Book. The front cover of this book indicated that by reading it in a straightforward manner one would find the order applicable to the Military Guard, but by turning the book upside down and starting at the back the orders for the Civil Guard could be found. Both sets of orders were illuminating and often give examples of professional jealousy. The order book was in great demand by the commissioners during the period of the Napoleonic Wars, a typical order being that issued on 27 January 1793 which read:
A constant look out is to be kept at the gates to prevent admission of two strangers and if the discovery be made of two strangers about 6 feet high, one having a large purple scar upon the right side of his face, both of them speaking English, and appearing to be Englishmen—if within the Gates they are to be stopped and if without some trusty person sent to watch them, and in either case the Commissioner is to be immediately informed thereof.
In 1834 this force was disbanded and the first formal Dockyard Police was formed.
There were constant changes in the organisation during the 18th century, caused mainly by the requirement for the Marine Guard to serve overseas but in 1861 this guard was finally abolished... "except at Chatham, Portsmouth and such places as convicts were employed".
By comparison with the police arrangements then existing throughout the country, the dockyard system was well organised but its fatal weakness was that the Watchmen and Rounders were still being selected from dockyard workers who performed these tasks in addition to their normal duties and in 1822 the commissioner at Portsmouth reported that:
the night Rounders are men of the very best character selected from the Shipwrights of the Yard" and that "the Warders now at the Yard Gates are the best we have ever had, and by their strict attention to this part of their duty have become very obnoxious to the people in general.
1834: The Dockyard Police While the above events were taking place in the dockyards, Sir Robert Peel's recommendations culminated in the creation of the Metropolitan Police (the Peelers) in 1829, and although there was no hint of the Admiralty looking upon this method of protection with any favour, on 20 May 1834 they disbanded the Porters, Rounders, Warders and Watchmen and introduced police forces; consisting of Special Constables for the dockyards and a smaller number of other establishments.
In forming these police forces they had the benefit of the advice of a superintendent of the newly formed Metropolitan Police whose greatest service was that he ensured they were formed in accordance with "the new and advanced theories and ideals of police functions and duties which had been conceived and formulated by the Two Commissioners of the Metropolitan Police" and which "were quickly copied throughout the entire area of the Country and of the Empire". Members of the new Dockyard Police forces were sworn in under a form of oath. This gave them full police powers within the limits of the dockyards; at a later stage, powers were given to operate under certain specific circumstances as policemen, in connection with offences committed by employees and naval personnel, within a radius of five miles outside the dockyard.
The conditions of employment in the new Dockyard Police forces were very good when compared with those of the majority of people during the 19th century. They received good wages, had the incentive of rewards, and could even take their families on overseas service (although "family" only included one child). Constables were paid 19 shillings per week for a seven-day week and were allowed half pay—up to a maximum of 28 days—when on sick leave. This latter condition was one which did not apply to most employees in the country even one hundred years later. On the 28th day they were required to be fit for duty or, if unfit, were dismissed; if after dismissal they fully regained their health they were given preference for re-entry over all other applicants for employment with the force.
Reference to salaries paid to higher ranks is not made in the Dockyard Police Regulation Book but old dockyard standing orders show that in 1845 the Lieutenant Director was in receipt of £250 per annum plus fringe benefits—in the form of 15 pence per night subsistence allowance paid for duties which kept him out of the yard all night—together with expenses incurred in boat or carriage hire. A similar order, dated 6 December 1858 gives details of a pay rise for Serjeants who received £1.4s.6d. for a seven-day week. No mention is made of Inspectors.
As has already been stated, in addition to normal pay, certain rewards were payable and one such incentive was promulgated in 1859, being a payment of £2.10s.0d to policemen who detected persons embezzling government stores after such persons had been found guilty in a summary court; similar payments were made of up to £10, in cases where offenders were convicted on indictment. No doubt there were cases where unscrupulous policemen made false accusations for financial gain, and this incentive has long since disappeared. Despite the relatively good conditions of service things did not appear to have been going at all well with the Dockyard Police forces, and eventually the Admiralty asked for an independent review of their efficiency. This task was allotted to Superintendent Mallelieu of the Metropolitan Police. He set about this in a thorough manner and his final report made it quite clear that, in general, the Dockyard Police forces were ill-trained and, in some instances, not devoting all their energy towards police duties.
As a consequence of this report, and despite such recommendations as training the forces along the Metropolitan Police's lines, increasing pay, and introducing a system whereby men frequently transferred from one establishment to another to avoid undue familiarity with employees—many of whom were related to policemen of local origin. It was finally decided that the best answer was to disband the dockyard forces and introduce the Metropolitan Police into the Dockyards. So, after only 26 years, the dockyard police forces ceased to exist and the Admiralty establishments were, for the next 75 years, policed by the Metropolitan force. In fact, the Metropolitan Police already had experience of Dockyard work, having taken over the responsibility for the two yards at Deptford and Woolwich—which were both already within the metropolitan district in 1841 but until 1858 they had been reluctant to accept any commitment outside the Metropolitan Police district.
On this occasion, however, the Metropolitan Commissioner, Sir Richard Mayne (KCB), raised no objection, merely stating that the proposals could be carried out "by an adequate addition to his Force and such alteration to the Law as found necessary". This latter comment was necessary so that authority might be given for the Metropolitan Police to operate outside both their own metropolitan district and the naval establishments for which they were responsible.
One of Superintendent Mallelieu's major recommendations was that the various establishments should "be grouped together for police purposes". Much later the Admiralty Constabulary (1943) was so organised, as was the present day MoD Police during the 1970s, and therefore a direct link existed between Supt Mallelieu, Sir Richard Mayne, the Metropolitan Police and the MoD Police.
1860: The Metropolitan Police