Scotland Yard

Technically, ScotlandYard is a place, but it soon came to refer to the people in it -- i.e. the MetropolitanPolice.

History

PoliceHistoryQuarterlyReviewArticle

• a lengthy article copied directly from The Victorian Dictionary. This is such a valuable overview that I've copied it directly, in Lee Jackson's HTML version.

The Place

"Scotland Yard (Great), connecting Northumberland-avenue and Whitehall, is very different from the queer little settlement much frequented by coalheavers, which was described in the 'Sketches by Boz.' Its principal importance lies in the fact of its containing several of the head-quarters' staff of the MetropolitanPolice. These are the CriminalInvestigationDepartment and the Executive Branch, which are always open, and the Public Carriage (Licensing) Branch, which is open to the public from 10 to 3.30. The offices for the property left in public carriages are (a) for the puiblic, 21, Whitehall-pl, S.W., and (b) for drivers and conductors, Middle Scotland-yd. Office hours, 10 to 5."

• Dickens's Dictionary of London, 1888 (see LondonGuidesAndMaps).

Links

• MetropolitanPolice
• The Victorian Dictionary has a number of useful articles.

-- ChrisLehrich^? - 19 Jan 2005