The Act 39 & 40 Geo 3 c 87, sometimes called the Thames Police Act 1800, the Thames River Police Act 1800, the Marine Police Act or the Depredations on the Thames Act 1800, was an Act of the

Parliament of Great Britain The Parliament of Great Britain was formed in May 1707 following the ratification of the Acts of Union by both the Parliament of England and the Parliament of Scotland. The Acts ratified the treaty of Union which created a new unified Kingdo ...

, granted royal assent on 28 July 1800. As alluded to in its long title, it amended the

Thefts upon the Thames Act 1762 The Thefts upon the Thames Act 1762 was an Act of the Parliament of Great Britain, granted royal assent on 2 June 1762. It aimed to discourage theft of cargo and tackle from ships on the River Thames and came to be nicknamed the 'Bumboat Act' for ...

. Established two years earlier, the

Marine Police Force The Thames River Police was formed in 1800 to tackle theft and looting from ships anchored in the Pool of London and in the lower reaches and docks of the Thames. It replaced the Marine Police, a police force established in 1798 by magistrate P ...

was initially run and funded by the

West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greater A ...

merchants whose cargoes in the

Pool of London The Pool of London is a stretch of the River Thames from London Bridge to below Limehouse. Part of the Tideway of the Thames, the Pool was navigable by tall-masted vessels bringing coastal and later overseas goods—the wharves there were the ...

it was principally intended to protect. The Act converted it to a publicly-run and publicly-funded body, increased its establishment to 88 men and set out regulations for how they were now to operate under the

Home Secretary The secretary of state for the Home Department, otherwise known as the home secretary, is a senior minister of the Crown in the Government of the United Kingdom. The home secretary leads the Home Office, and is responsible for all national ...

's direct supervision, thus laying the groundwork for the Force's absorption into the

Metropolitan Police The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS), formerly and still commonly known as the Metropolitan Police (and informally as the Met Police, the Met, Scotland Yard, or the Yard), is the territorial police force responsible for law enforcement and ...

in 1839. The Act was amended and renewed by the Depredations on the Thames Act 1807 (47 Geo. 3 Sess. 1 c 37), the Depredations on the Thames Act 1814 (54 Geo. 3 c 187), the Police Magistrates Metropolitan Act 1822 (1 Geo. 4 c 66), the Police Magistrates, Metropolis Act 1833 (1833 (3 & 4 Will. 4) c 19) and finally the Justices of the Peace in Metropolis Act 1837 (7 Will. 4 & 1 Vict. c 37).{{Cite web, url=https://books.google.com/books?id=n5ZFAAAAcAAJ&dq=%22justices+of+the+peace%22&pg=PA548, title=''The Statutes of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland'', Volume 14, p 548, year=1838 The Marine Police were finally absorbed into the Metropolitan Police via the

Metropolitan Police Act 1839 The Metropolitan Police Act 1839 (2 & 3 Vict c 47) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The Act enlarged the district of, and gave greatly increased powers to the Metropolitan Police established by the Metropolitan Police Act 1829. I ...

References

Great Britain Acts of Parliament 1800 category:History of the Metropolitan Police category:History of the River Thames History of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets category:History of the City of London Port of London