The history of England has several centuries. This is a fairly conservative country. Here they honor their traditions, keep them for centuries and rarely cheat on them. This happened with the name of the English police, Scotland Yard, which appeared in the early 19th century and has remained unchanged since then.
Some facts from the history of England
Translated from English, "Scotland Yard" means "Scottish courtyard." To understand where this name came from, you need to delve into the history of centuries, in the Middle Ages.
The King of England, Edgar I the Peaceful, gave the Scottish ruler Kenneth II a piece of land in central London, next to the Palace of Westminster, provided that he built his residence here, which would be considered the territory of Scotland. This was done so that this ruler, annually visiting the residence, showed respect to the English crown.
This continued until 1603, when Queen Elizabeth I died. Her place was taken by the Scottish ruler Jacob VI, who became king of England and Scotland. The residence in which the kings stayed when they came to England, lost its original purpose. The building began to be used for the needs of the British government and was divided into two parts, "Big Scotland Yard" and "Middle Scotland Yard."
1829 - the foundation year of Scotland Yard
In the 19th century, crime in London was quite high. In 1829, the first police service was created by the Minister of the Interior of England, Robert Peale. It was located in the former residence of the Scottish kings, which is why it became known as Scotland Yard.
The first years of police work were very difficult, as there were no specially trained officers. Each resident of the city could search for criminals. In the event that the guilt of the caught was proven, the person who grabbed it or reported the offender received a monetary reward. As a result, many declared someone a criminal for profit, out of revenge, or even out of a thirst for adventure.
One of Scotland Yard's first professionals, Inspector Charles Frederick Field, was a friend of the writer Charles Dickens. In the novel Cold House, Dickens created the image of detective Bucket, the prototype of which was his friend Field, and the word detective was firmly entrenched and soon became an international term.
In 1887, the British police occupied more than 10 buildings located close to each other, so it was decided to allocate a special room for it on Victoria Embankment. The building was named New Scotland Yard. By 1890, the number of police officers had already increased to 13, 000.
