ABSTRACT
When a new police force was created a hierarchy had to be appointed, but after the formative period, no man joined at any level higher than that of third class constable. By the 1880s a rigid pattern of promotion through the grades of constable to the hierarchy’s final accolade to the respectable working man, the position of sergeant, had been established. Some forces had as many as seven grades of constable in order to provide the most finely regulated system of reward and check. (1) Very few recruits reached as high as the position of inspector; this was the rank reserved for the bankrupt businessman, the failed farmer, the dismissed agent. In fact, most pensioners were still first-class constables on retirement. By the mid-1860s the government inspectors were urging the opening of ranks; but little changed over the next twenty years. In the English police forces, officers — most inspectors, all superintendents — were appointed, not made.
