Development of the Police Force and Emergence of Detective Literature in 19th Century England
In the heart of the 19th century, a significant shift occurred in the world of crime-solving, as detectives began to make their mark. This transformation, however, was not an overnight phenomenon, but a gradual process that saw the influence of both real-life figures and fictional characters.
The character credited as the first fictional detective is Inspector Bucket, created by Charles Dickens in his novel Bleak House (1852-1853). This detective, modelled perhaps after the mannerisms and appearance of a real detective-inspector, Charles Field, paved the way for a new breed of crime-solvers.
In the early days, detectives learned how to behave from these very fictional characters. Dickens's Inspector Bucket and Wilkie Collins's Sergeant Cuff were among those who set the standards for detective conduct.
Yet, it was not just the upper classes who began to appreciate the necessity of detectives. The working class, initially ambivalent, gradually came to agree with their usefulness, at least some of the time. However, there were those who felt these detectives were only there to protect the middle classes.
A more middle-class heroine, the female detective in Andrew Forrester's Revelations of a Female Detective, emerged a couple of years later, advocating for the necessity of detectives. This was a significant step, as it challenged the stereotypes and opened up the field to a wider demographic.
The establishment of the police in London in 1829 was due to a series of worrying current events, including the return of unemployed soldiers and civic unrest. Before this, crime prevention was the responsibility of around 2,000 men employed by various parishes, local divisions, or magistrates' courts.
The first 'new police' appeared on the streets of London on September 29, 1829, dressed in blue to reassure the population that they were a civil force. The police force was initially focused solely on crime prevention until 1842, when they took an embarrassingly long 10 days to find a murderer, leading to the creation of an eight-man 'Detective Department'.
Scotland Yard, a turning near Whitehall, became the address of police headquarters and was later shorthand for the Detective Department, renamed the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) in 1878.
The first female professional detective in fiction, Ruth Trail, appeared in the story "Ruth the Betrayer" in 1862-1863. Unlike her male counterparts, Ruth was not part of the regular police force but was attached to a secret intelligence office.
The idea of police forces is relatively new, originating in the late 1800s. During this period, penny-dreadfuls like Ernest Keen's The Boy Detective began to teach readers how to detect vicariously, explaining detective techniques such as finding clues, avoiding footprints, and checking for bloodstains.
Charles Dickens was enthralled by the new police department and wrote several articles praising it. However, it was in his novel Bleak House that he truly immortalised the detective, creating Mr. Bucket, who is still considered the first fictional detective.
In The Moonstone, considered the first detective novel, published in 1868, the detective's role was further solidified, marking a significant milestone in the evolution of crime-solving. Before the establishment of the police, governments relied on the army to control riots and uprisings, but with the advent of detectives, a new era of crime prevention began.
This article was originally published by the British Library under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International license.
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