The Victorians called him "Bobby" in honor of Sir Robert Peel, the Home Secretary who created the Metropolitan Police in 1829. Generations that followed regarded the force he served in as "the finest police in the world." Even if 21st-century observers have some reservations about his efforts, the policeman with the blue helmet remains an iconic figure of Britain and a symbol of the relatively peaceful nature of our social evolution. In the book "The Great British Bobby," Clive Emsley traces the development of Britain's law and order forces from the early constables and watchmen to the police service of today. He examines in detail key milestones in police history, such as the establishment of the Bow Street Runners in the 1740s, the Police Acts of 1839, the introduction of women police officers during the First World War, and the 1999 Macpherson Report on the death of Stephen Lawrence.

Embedded within his narrative are case studies of real Bobbies, drawn from police archives, revealing the everyday life of the policeman over two and a half centuries: the boredom of patrolling on foot in all weathers, the threats to life and limb from policing difficult areas, and the diverse historic challenges of industrial unrest, urban growth, the advent of the car, and the ethnic diversification of society. From Robert Grubb, patrolling the tough streets of Georgian London, to Norwell Roberts, the first black officer appointed to the Metropolitan Police, "The Great British Bobby" presents a series of mostly honest policemen who performed their testing roles as best they could. Clive Emsley, with his distinguished historical and criminological expertise, is ideally placed to tell—frankly yet affectionately—the fascinating story of Britain's police. "The Great British Bobby" is nothing less than a social history of the last 250 years of Britain, examined through the prism of one of its most remarkable and distinctive institutions.