This book focuses on the lives of ordinary English constables in the city police forces of Manchester, Birmingham, and Liverpool from 1900 to 1939. What this book is not is a history of police headquarters, criminal investigation departments, and specialized units, or an exploration of government criminal justice policies and legislation except insofar as any of these affected the ranks. Excellent studies have been published on policing as an institution, yet in most of them the constables walking their beats have remained anonymous. Laws were passed and policemen were meant to enforce them; disturbances erupted and policemen were meant to restore order. Constables appear as a category but rarely as individuals. Considering that constables spent much of their time alone, carrying out their duties according to their own priorities, this omission leaves a gap in any analysis of policing. In recent years, this oversight has begun to be remedied.