Interesting Fact - Day 2.
History - The Mounted Police London.
In the heart of one of the world's busiest cities, Londoners are apt to come upon a remarkable sight in the swirling traffic - the easy gait of a horse and rider patrolling as part of their duties in the Metropolitan Police Mounted Branch.
Then again, police officers and their horses from this branch are also very highly visible when engaged in controlling crowds at sporting events or public ceremonies. They are fulfilling a tradition of service which goes back to the eighteenth century - to the very roots of police work in London.
Their history began in 1760 when Sir John Fielding, the Bow Street magistrate, developed a plan for mounted patrols to deal with the plague of highwaymen infesting the metropolitan area's turnpikes. The plan was so successful that the original Horse Patrol of 8 men was strengthened to more than 50 in 1805. The Bow Street Horse Patrol could then provide protection on all main roads within 20 miles of Charing Cross. Their scarlet waistcoats, blue greatcoats and trousers and black leather hats and stocks, were the first uniform issued to any police force in the world.
Over the years just when the functions of a Mounted Police Officer seem to be redundant another use seems to pop up. With the coming of the railways, the need for Mounted Bow Street officers to protect travelers against the depredations of the Highwayman on the roads ceased. Around this time rural unrest and poverty was leading to more and more livestock thefts in outer areas and the men and their horses were given this task. These patrols were looked on as so dangerous that the Mounted Officer commonly carried a revolver and sword.
So it was when urbanisation negated the need for country and livestock patrols the Mounted Police were just the thing to carry messages around the Metropolitan Police District. Later, when the telegraph came into use for the Police, the messenger function shrank. Then, increased public unrest dictated the expansion of the Mounted Branch to its present day functions.
The modern day organisation of today's Mounted Branch began in 1919 when Lt Col Laurie, the ex-Commanding officer of the Royal Scots Grey Regiment, took up the appointment of Assistant Commissioner in the Metropolitan Police.
One of his responsibilities was to reorganise the Mounted Branch. It was at his instigation that the old Remount Depot at Adam and Eve Mews in Kensington was closed and a new Training Establishment was built at Imber Court in Thames Ditton. It was here that the new Mounted Branch was to emerge, trained in riding and horse management with new crowd control tactics that still largely hold to this day.
Police officers from all over the world have been trained here along with the regular intake of eager recruits. It was here in 1971 that WPCs Margaret Goodacre and Ann McPherson were to make history as the first women police officers to join the Mounted Branch.
Imber Court today has facilities for the training of both horses and officers. It also houses a small museum documenting the development of Mounted Police and is the administrative centre for the Mounted Branch.
