History of the Metropolitan Police Service been headed by a Commissioner, rather than a Chief Constable which is the highest rank in police forces outside London. The first Commissioners to hold the post were Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Charles Rowan and Sir Richard Mayne. When Sir Charles Rowan died, leaving Sir Richard Mayne as the surviving Commissioner, Captain William Hay was drafted in to jointly run the force with Mayne. However, because the two Commissioners did not agree on methods of running the force, since 1855 it was decided that only one Commissioner would run the force. Metropolitan Police patrols took to the streets on 29 September 1829,
History of the Metropolitan Police Service of 1905, concerning a double murder in Deptford, committed by Alfred and Albert Stratton, in which, for the first time, fingerprint evidence secured the conviction. Another important investigation of this period was that into the murderer Hawley Harvey Crippen in 1910. Along with law enforcement within the Metropolitan Police District, the Metropolitan Police also had responsibility for the policing of the Royal Dockyards and other royal naval bases between 1860 until 1934, including Portsmouth, Chatham, Devonport, Royal Naval Air Station Pembroke and the Royal Woolwich Arsenal. They also policed Rosyth Dockyard from 1914 until 1926. Before the 1970s, police forces