Scotland Yard

The former New Scotland Yard, Norman Shaw Buildings, Victoria Embankment

Scotland Yard is the traditional name of the headquarters of the London Metropolitan Police. The name derives from a small, enclosed field in the Whitehall district of London, which was adjacent to the force's original headquarters. The name has remained through subsequent moves, first in 1890 to "New" Scotland Yard, an ornate brick building in the Italian Revival style designed by Norman Shaw on the Victoria Embankment, and then in 1967 to the present New Scotland Yard on Victoria Street in Westminster. Because the original Detective Division of the Metropolitan Police had its offices in the rear of Whitehall Place in the first of these buildings, the name has been especially associated with the department's detective branch, known since 1878 as the Criminal Investigation Department or CID.

History

Scotland Yard was founded as the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police by Sir Robert Peel. It opened on 29 September 1829, housing the two commissioners and their administrative staffs. It was not (and has never been) a police station in the usual sense, since each division of the police operates its own local stations, but has housed certain centralized units, such as the CID and theSpecial Branch, which operate with a degree of independence in their specialized areas.

Metropolitan Police District and Divisions

It is not widely understood, but the one area that the Metropolitan Police District has always excluded is the City of London, which has its own entirely separate police force. The original district was also divided further into seventeen divisions, each represented by a letter of the alphabet, as follows: A - Westminster; B - Chelsea; C - Mayfair and Soho; D - Marylebone; E - Holborn; F - Kensington; G - Kings Cross; H - Stepney; K - West Ham; L - Lambeth; M - Southwark; N - Islington; P - Peckham; R - Greenwich; S - Hampstead; T - Hammersmith and V - Wandsworth. Three new divisions were added in 1865: W - Clapham; X - Willesden and Y - Holloway, and lastly J Division (Bethnal Green) was created in 1886, for a total of twenty-one divisions.

Norable Figures Associated with Scotland Yard

• Inspector Charles Frederick Field
• Chief Constable Frederick Porter Wensley
• Chief Inspector Lilian Wyles

See Also

Peel's Principles

References

• The Official Encyclopedia of Scotland Yard, by Martin Fido and Keith Skinner (London: Virgin Books, 1999)