ABSTRACT
Commentators in the weekly had referred approvingly to Berkshire’s approach to the policing of vagrancy in the 1870s, as seen in the selections excerpted from the Justice of the Peace in 1880. The Chief Constable of Berkshire at this time was Colonel Adam Blandy, who had taken up the post in 1863. Blandy had a particular concern about vagrants moving through the county. And so in 1878 recommended the re-introduction of a ticket system, whereby the public were requested not to give money or food to beggars in order to force vagrants and beggars to apply to the local Poor Law Unions for relief. As Chief Constable, Blandy made a report to every Quarter Sessions, and selected elements of these from 1891 to 1896. The chapter shows the views and approach taken by Blandy in Berkshire contrast sharply with the measured and pragmatic tone taken by the Metropolitan Police Officers.
