Police Watchman Dugald CAMPBELL (-)

03 Jan 1812
Edinburgh City Police

Watchman Campbell died after he was attacked by a mob as he intervened to stop a robbery during the Hogmany Riots.

As the year 1811 drew to a close, the Edinburgh crowds gathered in the High Street near to the Tron Church to welcome in the New Year. The usual Hogmanay celebrations were renowned for being ‘rowdy’ but by the morning of Wednesday 1st January 1812 two men, including a police officer lay fatally injured and another police officer gravely wounded.

In a remarkable parallel with the 2011 riots in England, street gangs & criminals had apparently organised themselves for the express purpose of ‘giving the police a good licking’ and robbing as many of the revellers as they could, although many more were undoubtedly drawn in by the unfolding events. One of the ringleaders was later reported as saying he only got involved so he could ‘have a new hat’.

As the festive crowds celebrated, the ‘gang of ferocious banditti’ began to make their presence felt, demanding money from those they met, often knocking them to the ground and beating them savagely with sticks & relieving them of their watches and cash, whether they resisted or not. They attacked any police officers they encountered and chased them from the area after breaking their rattles so they could not summon assistance. At one point the fleeing officers did manage to regroup sufficiently to make a counter attack, causing the rioters to retreat for a time. Contemporary sources seem to be impressed that ‘although the rioters threw stones, the police did not’.

Police Watchman Dugald Campbell was one of the officers on duty that night. He had a reputation for being ‘particularly hard upon the boys’ and there is no doubt the gang members knew him, they even had their own nickname for him, ‘Arch Royal’. Around midnight Watchman Campbell was met near the Cross well by witnesses fleeing the violence. They told him not to go down the street as he would be attacked, to which Campbell replied ‘Damn the fear!’ and strode off towards the trouble.

Intervening to try and stop a robbery, he was immediately attacked by the mob. Realising who the officer was, they cornered him at Stamp Office Close where he was beaten to the ground with sticks and kicked senseless. Members of the public who tried to help Watchman Campbell were beaten back and later told how they heard the gang shouting Campbell’s name & nickname. Leaving Campbell for dead, the rioters continued their rampage, causing significant damage wherever they went. Witnesses carried Campbell to the Police Station but he was gravely injured.

A clerk, coincidently also by the name of Campbell, suffered a similar fate. He was one of a number of those seriously injured on the night and died of his injuries a few days later. Watchman Campbell succumbed to his injuries on the 3rd January and rewards were posted for information leading to the arrest of those responsible.

Police Watchman Robert Bryce, was also seriously injured during the riot and was permanently disabled due to his injuries. He received an allowance of 8/- per week until his death in 1814.

The authorities expended a great deal of effort hunting down those involved in the riots. As a result of subsequent trials there were convictions ranging from mobbing and rioting to assault and robbery amongst other offences. Many of the culprits were transported, imprisoned, enlisted or sent to the navy.

Police Watchman Dugald Campbell’s murder is the earliest confirmed instance of a police officer losing his life on duty in Scotland. Three men were executed for their part in the riots, although only one was convicted of his murder. They were hanged at a gibbet erected opposite Stamp Office Close where ‘articulate sighs from ten thousand bosoms, testified the public feelings at the fate of the victims and the regret that such an example had become necessary in Edinburgh’.

In 1805 the Edinburgh Police Act had been passed, allowing a uniformed dedicated police force to be created to patrol the streets of Edinburgh, one of the first such forces in the UK. By 1811 the nascent force, although having an obvious and positive impact was already under pressure from politicians to provide more value for money. The French wars were, however, a considerable drain on the city’s finances and after the retreat from Corunna in January of that year, there was no political will to spend the necessary money to reorganise the force, even though a new bill had been drafted for the purpose.

The citizens of the nation’s capital were left in such a state of shock by the Hogmanay Riots they demanded immediate action. Unemployment and mistakes by the police were cited as contributing to the problem (as with the 2011 riots) and the new Police Act was pushed through, receiving the Royal Assent on June 12th 1812. By this time the City of Edinburgh had the elements of a modern police force. They had a unified command structure under a Superintendant, three Inspectors, six Court Constables, 14 sergeants and at least 88 Watchmen. They were a full time civil police force organised to `guard watch and patrol` in uniform so as to prevent crime, detect offenders and maintain public order, which are still the core principles of modern policing.

 

Dugald Campbell was survived by his wife and three children. His name is engraved on the Scottish Police Memorial at the Scottish Police College, Tulliallan Castle, Fife, along with the names of all police officers known to have lost their lives in the following 200 years. They will never be forgotten.

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