Inside Justice
The legacy of the Leith Police force remains 100 years on, says Tom Wood
Ahundred years ago last week, one of the most famous police forces in the world – the Leith Burgh Police – was dismissed for the last time.
Immor talised by a tongue t wister used as a test of sobriet y, the old Burgh force paraded for the last time on 2 November, 1920, prior to amalgamation with Edinburgh Cit y Police.
It was a forced marriage, not just for the police but also for the fiercely independent Burgh itself. After a long struggle, Leith had bowed to the inevitable. Once the most prosperous por t on the east coast, in the 16th centur y, it had even been mooted as the nation’s capital. But gradually Edinburgh, prosperous following the development of the New Town, gained control. The cit y’s wealthy merchants were not about to share the profits from the new docks they had helped bankroll.
Interestingly, the legislative mechanism for Edinburgh’s takeover was the innocuoussounding Edinburgh B oundaries Extension and Tramways Act. (Yes, there have been controversial tram schemes in Edinburgh before.)
Old photographs show the last parade, a smar t body of lean men marching past their old HQ in Queen Charlotte Street. A glum crowd looks on, perhaps sensing it was symbolic of something deeper.
Leith Burgh Police was a tiny force, just 117 strong with 50 more in the closed docks. But they were a formidable outfit – they had to be. In the early years of the 20th centur y, Leith docks was crammed with ships and sailors, and the thieves and prostitutes who inevitably followed in their wake.
A condition of ser vice in the Burgh force was to be a strong swimmer and lifesaver. Since the shore next to the docks was crowded with pubs, brothels and sailors’ lodging houses, you can understand why.
I was reading about this rich histor y recently in an excellent book, The Histor y of Leith Burgh Police, by t wo old colleagues and it struck a chord. I began my police career in the Leith Division of Edinburgh Cit y Police as a boy cadet. It was nearly 50 years after the old Burgh Police had disappeared and yet there was still a sense that Leith was unique and an intangible connection with the old por t and its people, proud Leithers.
The old Burgh Forces had many shor tcomings but their great strength was their bond with the communities they ser ved.
As we stand at the beginning of a postCovid, globalised world, there will be many new challenges for policing. Even with a fair wind, it will take years for our economy to recover. While old crime t ypes will stubbornly remain, the new menace of cyber crime will grow. As a conduit for sexual predators, scams and fraudsters, there’s nothing to beat the internet. New demands will require hard choices to be made.
Specialist policing skills will be required to tackle these new sophisticated crime t ypes, but this cannot be at the expense of communit y policing.
The old Leith Burgh Police’s legacy is more than a tongue t wister; it’s a reminder of the impor tance of local policing.
The Histor y of Leith Burgh Police is a fascinating read. You can get a copy from gwallace367@btinternet.com. A third of the £12 cover price will be donated to Cancer Research.
Tom Wood is a writer, former Deputy Chief Constable and former Leith Police cadet