History of the Metropolitan Police Service by the end of the 19th century. During the 1860s, the flintlock pistols that had been purchased in 1829 were decommissioned from service, being superseded by 622 Beaumont–Adams revolvers firing the .450 cartridge which were loaned from the army stores at the Tower of London following the Clerkenwell bombing. In 1883, a ballot was carried out to gather information on officers' views on whether they wished to be armed, and 4,430 out of 6,325 officers serving on outer divisions requested to be issued with revolvers. The now obsolete Adams revolver was returned to stores for emergencies, and the Bulldog 'Metropolitan
History of the Metropolitan Police Service being armed with an early version of the Beretta automatic pistol. The original headquarters of the newly formed Metropolitan Police was near Government, at 4 Whitehall Place, with a back entrance on Great Scotland Yard. Scotland Yard soon became established as a name for the force itself. Once formed, the force became the third official non-paramilitary city police force in the world, after the City of Glasgow Police and the Paris Police. The original standard wage for a Constable was one guinea (£1.05) a week. Recruitment criteria required applicants to be under the age of 35, in good health, and