Booth-guards

Categories / City Administration/Police, Prisons
BOOTH-GUARDS, lowest ranks of city police looking after " decency" and cleanliness of streets entrusted to them at the end of the 18th - mid 19th centuries. They were subordinated to the non-commissioned officer of the block. They were placed in booths (hence the name) painted in black and white stripes. The booth was supplied with warm wooden premises used as a place of rest for booth-guards and as a place for keeping the detained citizens. In the 18th century, booths were installed at crossroads; from the beginning of the 19th century the distance between them was 150 steps. Usually three booth-guards were on duty in the booth: the first one keeping watch, the second one, assisting him (both were armed with halberds), and the third one at rest. The duty lasted for 24 hours. At night booth-guards did "the night watch" (making rounds), watching over the street lamps. In the 1860s, a badge was added to the uniform of booth-guards. By the end of the 19th century, booth-guards were replaced with city guards. At the beginning of the 20th century the English embankment still had the memorial booth of a city guard which was once visited by Emperor Nicholas I.

Reference: Высоцкий И. П. Санкт-Петербургская столичная полиция и градоначальство, 1703-1903: Крат. ист. очерк. СПб., 1903. С. 119-121; Северцев (Полилов) Г. Т. С.-Петербург в начале XIX века // Ист. вестн. 1903. Т. 92, май. С. 625-626.

Y. N. Kruzhnov. Angliiskaya Embankment/Saint Petersburg, city
Высоцкий И. П. Санкт-Петербургская столичная полиция и градоначальство, 1703-1903: Крат. ист. очерк. СПб., 1903
Северцев (Полилов) Г. Т. С.-Петербург в начале XIX века // Ист. вестн., 1903 City Guards