Charles Rowan

Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Charles Rowan KCB
Portrait by William Salter (National Portrait Gallery)
Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis
In office 7 July 1829 – 1850 Serving withRichard Mayne
Monarchs	George IV William IV Victoria
Prime Minister	The Duke of Wellington The Earl Grey The Viscount Melbourne Robert Peel Lord John Russell
Home Secretary	Robert Peel The Viscount Melbourne Baron Duncannon The Duke of Wellington Henry Goulburn Lord John Russell The Marquess of Normanby Sir James Grahamand others
Preceded by	Office created
Succeeded by	Richard Mayne andWilliam Hay
Personal details
Born	c.1782 County Antrim
Died	(1852-05-08)8 May 1852 London, United Kingdom
Resting place	Kensal Green Cemetery,London, United Kingdom

Lieutenant-ColonelSir Charles RowanKCB(circa1782 – 8 May 1852) was an officer in theBritish Army,serving in thePeninsular WarandWaterlooand the joint firstCommissioner of Police of the Metropolis,head of the LondonMetropolitan Police.

Family

Rowan was the fifth of the ten sons of Robert Rowan, an impoverished landowner of Scottish descent.His eldest brother was Lieutenant-ColonelJohn Rowan,whilst other brothers wereField Marshal Sir William Rowan(1789–1879), Britain'sCommander-in-Chief, North America(1849), and Major James Rowan (born 1781), who was appointed Chief Police Magistrate for the Town and Territory of Gibraltar in 1830.

Life

Early life

Born inCounty Antrim,Charles went to school inCarrickfergus.In 1797, he was commissioned anensignin the52nd Regiment of Foot,in which his elder brother Robert (1780–1863) was also a captain, as recorded on the latter's tomb monument at St Nicholas Church in Carrickfergus.He was promotedPaymasterin 1798,lieutenantin 1799,captainin 1803,brevetmajorin 1809, major in 1811,Brevetlieutenant-colonelin 1812,and finally lieutenant-colonel – all his promotions above captain were field promotions, not purchases.

TheWaterloo Medalawarded to Rowan on display at theSoldiers of Oxfordshire Museumin Woodstock.

Rowan saw active service during theNapoleonic Wars,inSicilyin 1806–1808, Sweden in 1808, and then in thePeninsular War,fighting at the Battles ofCorunna,Ciudad Rodrigo,Badajoz,Buçaco,Fuentes d'Oñoro,the CôaandSalamanca,and serving asbrigade majorof theLight Brigadefrom 1809 and asassistant adjutant-generalof theLight Divisionfrom 1811. As regimentalsecond-in-command,he commanded a wing of the 52nd Foot at theBattle of Waterloo,where he was wounded, and was made aCompanion of the Bath(CB) for his services. He returned to England with his regiment in 1818, and was stationed in theMidlandsuntil 1821, when he took it toDublinascommanding officer.He retired from the army by sale of his commission on 26 April 1822 and may then have served as amagistratein his native Ireland.

1829

In June 1829, Rowan was selected byHome SecretarySirRobert Peelas founding senior Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police after the first man offered the post, Lieutenant-ColonelJames Shaw Kennedy,had turned it down. Peel was probably acting on advice from theDuke of WellingtonandSir George Murray,Wellington'sQuartermaster-Generalin the Peninsula and nowSecretary of State for War and the Coloniesin his government, who had been impressed by Rowan's conduct at Waterloo. Rowan was to provide the military discipline and organisation that it was felt the newpoliceforce needed and the junior Commissioner,barristerRichard Mayne,was to provide the legal expertise. Over the next twenty years, the two men were to become firm friends, and their close co-operation was to provide a solid foundation for the new police force.

Rowan and Mayne took up their new posts on 7 July 1829. Later that month, they moved their offices into 4Whitehall Place,and Rowan also took up residence in an apartment at the top of the building. On 29 August, they were sworn in asjustices of the peacebyLord Chief BaronSirWilliam Alexander.

The two Commissioners were almost entirely responsible for the organisation of the new force. In twelve weeks, they managed to recruit, train, organise, equip and deploy a force of nearly one thousand men. They drew up regulations and pay scales, designed and ordered uniforms and equipment, and found, purchased and furnishedstation houses.Rowan's military experience led to the division of London into sixdivisions,each divided into eightsections,each of which was divided into eightbeats.The beat system, with eachconstablealmost overlapping the next, was based on theShorncliffe Systemforlight infantry,devised by SirJohn Moore,Rowan's commander in the Peninsula (and who had paid for his captaincy in 1803). It is possible that it was Rowan's idea to outfit the police in more civilian-styled blue uniforms rather than the scarlet and gold that Peel had originally envisaged. Since there was heated debate over whether the police should even be uniformed at all (due to fears of a European-stylegendarmerie), this was undoubtedly a wise move. Rowan did, however, insist that his men weredrilledand laid down the highest standards of conduct, dismissing men for the slightest infringement even before the police had begun patrolling the streets of London. During the first two years of the force's existence, half of its original constables were dismissed, mainly for drunkenness, absenteeism, and frequentingpubsand fraternising withprostituteswhile on duty. Officers were to ensure that they treated members of the public with respect and courtesy at all times. On the other hand, Rowan insisted that his senior officers treat their men with kindness and fairness and without undue harshness or authoritarianism. On 16 September 1829, the two Commissioners personally swore in their new constables at theFoundling Hospital.The new force first took to the streets at 6:00 p.m. on 29 September.

As Commissioner

For 21 years, Rowan served as Commissioner. The early years were difficult, as the new force faced opposition from theWhigs,who had opposed its formation and formed a new government four years afterwards, and the London magistrates andparishvestries,many of whom were none too keen on losing their own parish constables and in some cases continued to employ the services of theBow Street Runners.

The trouble with the Whigs came to a head in 1834, when the government demanded that Rowan and Mayne dismissInspectorSquire Wovendenand his divisional commander,SuperintendentLazenby, after a prostitute falsely accused Wovenden of raping her in a cell and Lazenby refused to discipline him. The Commissioners felt obliged to dismiss the two officers for the good of the force, but refused to accept their guilt and wrote to the government in protest. This paid off when the consequent Parliamentary Select Committee on the Police reported on 13 August, backing the Metropolitan Police (although Wovenden and Lazenby were never reinstated), removing the power of the magistrates over them, and abolishing most of the other constables in London (including the Bow Street Runners, many of whom transferred to the police). In 1835,Lord John Russell,the Home Secretary, even agreed to pay compensation to officers injured on duty.

On 6 March 1848, Rowan's achievements and those of his force were acknowledged when he was made aKnight Commander of the Bath(KCB). In 1850, aged nearly 68 and having been diagnosed withcolon cancer,he retired. He died at his residence in Norfolk Street (now known as Dunraven Street),Park Lane,London on 8 May 1852, and his remains were deposited in Catacomb B beneath the Anglican Chapel ofKensal Green Cemeterysix days later.

Rowan was a bachelor and anevangelicalAnglican.His principal hobbies weresalmonfishing and shooting, often using as a baseFloors Castlein Scotland, seat of his friend,James Innes-Ker, 6th Duke of Roxburghe.

References

• "Rowan, Sir Charles".Oxford Dictionary of National Biography(online ed.). Oxford University Press.doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/24192.(Subscription orUK public library membershiprequired.)
• Martin Fido & Keith Skinner,The Official Encyclopedia of Scotland Yard(Virgin Books, London:1999)