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 During the 1860s, the flintlock pistols that had been purchased in 1829 were decommissioned from service, being superseded by 622 Beaumont–Adams revolvers firing the .450 cartridge which were loaned from the army stores at the Tower of London following the Clerkenwell bombing.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
Metropolitan Police District 1 April 1994, with several exchanges of territory. In 1998 the Government 'Green Paper' on the Greater London Authority proposed to create a police authority for the Metropolitan Police, who had previously been under the control of the Home Secretary. Initially, the government proposed to retain the areas outside the local government boundary, with a representative appointed to the Metropolitan Police Authority from the councils outside the Greater London Authority boundary. However the government changed its mind and in the Greater London Authority Act 1999 the boundaries of the Metropolitan Police District were redefined to match Greater London. The excised