ABSTRACT
This chapter examines a missing piece of this history, the abortive attempt of Lord Melbourne and Grey's whig-led coalition to bring to fruition a surprisingly bold and comprehensive national policing scheme in 1832, and publishes a cabinet paper relating to it. It focuses on discussion within the national governing class, but it would be a mistake to think that the matter of reforming provincial policing was exclusively their concern: the provincial ruling class—the local aristocracy and gentry, and the J.P.s drawn from their ranks—was also seriously considering the issue. The Grey government drafted a bill in 1832 for a national police system—apparently the first government police measure designed to apply to the whole country. It predates the well-known initiative of Lord John Russell and Edwin Chadwick, and the royal commission it launched, by four years, and the first county police act by seven years. The demise of the Grey administration's national police scheme can be readily traced.
