Charles Rowan Lieutenant - Colonel Sir Charles Rowan KCB ( " circa " 1782 – 8 May 1852 ) was an officer in the British Army , serving in the Peninsular War and Waterloo and the joint first Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis , head of the London Metropolitan Police . Early life and military career . Rowan was born in County Antrim , fifth of the ten sons of Robert Rowan , an impoverished landowner of Scottish descent . He went to school in Carrickfergus . In 1797 , he was commissioned an Ensign in the 52nd Regiment of Foot . He was promoted Paymaster in 1798 , Lieutenant in 1799 , Captain in 1803 , Brevet Major in 1809 , Major in 1811 , Brevet Lieutenant - Colonel in 1812 , and finally Lieutenant - Colonel - all his promotions above Captain were field promotions , not purchases . Rowan saw active service during the Napoleonic Wars , in Sicily in 1806 – 1808 , Sweden in 1808 , and then in the Peninsular War , fighting at the Battles of Corunna , Ciudad Rodrigo , Badajoz , Buçaco , Fuentes d ' Oñoro , the Coa and Salamanca , and serving as Brigade Major of the Light Brigade from 1809 and as Assistant Adjutant - General of the Light Division from 1811 . As regimental second - in - command , he commanded a wing of the 52nd Foot at the Battle of Waterloo , where he was wounded , and was made a Companion of the Bath ( CB ) for his services . He returned to England with his regiment in 1818 , and was stationed in the Midlands until 1821 , when he took it to Dublin as Commanding Officer . He retired from the army by sale of his commission on 26 April 1822 and may then have served as a magistrate in his native Ireland . Rowan ' s eldest brother was Lieutenant - Colonel John Rowan ( 1778 – 1855 ) , an officer in the Antrim Militia , an Irish regiment of the British Army that took a leading part in the campaign against the radical United Irishmen in June 1798 , one of the decisive chapters in Irish history . He was later High Sheriff of County Antrim ( 1814 ) and played a prominent role in northern Irish society . Other notable brothers were Field Marshal Sir William Rowan ( 1789 – 1879 ) , Britain ' s Commander - in - Chief , North America ( 1849 ) , and Major James Rowan ( born 1781 ) , who was appointed Chief Police Magistrate for the Town and Territory of Gibraltar in 1830 . Foundation of the Metropolitan Police . In June 1829 , Rowan was selected by Home Secretary Sir Robert Peel as founding senior Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police ( or Metropolitan Police Magistrate ) after the first man offered the job , Lieutenant - Colonel James Shaw , had turned it down . Peel was probably acting on advice from the Duke of Wellington and Sir George Murray , Wellington ' s Quartermaster - General in the Peninsula and now Secretary of State for War and the Colonies in his government , who had been impressed by Rowan ' s conduct at Waterloo . Rowan was to provide the military discipline and organisation that it was felt the new police force needed and the junior Commissioner , barrister Richard Mayne , was to provide the legal expertise . Over the next twenty years , the two men were to become firm friends , and their close co - operation was to provide a solid foundation for the new police force . Rowan and Mayne took up their new posts on 7 July 1829 . Later that month , they moved their offices into 4 Whitehall Place , and Rowan also took up residence in an apartment at the top of the building . On 29 August , they were sworn in as Justices of the Peace by Lord Chief Baron Sir William Alexander . The two Commissioners were almost entirely responsible for the organisation of the new force . In twelve weeks , they managed to recruit , train , organise , equip and deploy a force of nearly one thousand men . They drew up regulations and pay scales , designed and ordered uniforms and equipment , and found , purchased and furnished station houses . Rowan ' s military experience led to the division of London into six divisions , each divided into eight section s , each of which was divided into eight beat s . The beat system , with each constable almost overlapping the next , was based on the Shorncliffe System for light infantry , devised by Sir John Moore , Rowan ' s commander in the Peninsula ( and who had paid for his captaincy in 1803 ) . It is possible that it was Rowan ' s idea to outfit the police in more civilian - styled blue uniforms rather than the scarlet and gold that Peel had originally envisaged . Since there was heated debate over whether the police should even be uniformed at all ( due to fears of a European - style gendarmerie ) , this was undoubtedly a wise move . Rowan did , however , insist that his men were drill ed and laid down the highest standards of conduct , dismissing men for the slightest infringement even before the police had begun patrolling the streets of London . During the first two years of the force ' s existence , half of its original constables were dismissed , mainly for drunkenness , absenteeism , and frequenting pubs and fraternising with prostitutes while on duty . Officers were to ensure that they treated members of the public with respect and courtesy at all times . On the other hand , Rowan insisted that his senior officers treat their men with kindness and fairness and without undue harshness or authoritarianism . On 16 September 1829 , the two Commissioners personally swore in their new constables at the Foundling Hospital . The new force first took to the streets at 6 : 00 p . m . on 29 September . Police Commissioner . For 21 years , Rowan served as Commissioner . The early years were difficult , as the new force faced opposition from the Whigs , who had opposed its formation and formed a new government four years afterwards , and the London magistrates and parish vestries , many of whom were none too keen on losing their own parish constables and in some cases continued to employ the services of the Bow Street Runners . The trouble with the Whigs came to a head in 1834 , when the government demanded that Rowan and Mayne dismiss Inspector Squire Wovenden and his divisional commander , Superintendent Lazenby , after a prostitute falsely accused Wovenden of raping her in a cell and Lazenby refused to discipline him . The Commissioners felt obliged to dismiss the two officers for the good of the force , but refused to accept their guilt and wrote to the government in protest . This paid off when the consequent Parliamentary Select Committee on the Police reported on 13 August , backing the Metropolitan Police ( although Wovenden and Lazenby were never reinstated ) , removing the power of the magistrates over them , and abolishing most of the other constables in London ( including the Bow Street Runners , many of whom transferred to the police ) . In 1835 , Lord John Russell , the Home Secretary , even agreed to pay compensation to officers injured on duty . On 6 March 1848 , Rowan ' s achievements and those of his force were acknowledged when he was made a Knight Commander of the Bath ( KCB ) . In 1850 , aged nearly 68 and having been diagnosed with colon cancer , he retired . Two years later he died and was buried in the catacomb s beneath the chapel at Kentish Town Cemetery . Rowan was a bachelor and an evangelical Anglican . His principal hobbies were salmon fishing and shooting , often using as a base Floors Castle in Scotland , seat of his friend , James Innes - Ker , 6th Duke of Roxburghe .