Scotland Yard: A Brief History

by Kathleen Y'Barbo

As a writer of historical novels, I find myself drifting recently toward heroes who are lawmen. From Old West sheriffs to turn-of-the-century Pinkerton agents, my guys put men behind bars and protect their women with skillful shooting and the adept mind of a crime fighter.

Then came my novel Sadie's Secret, which releases in February 2014. When faced with an 1890s lady Pinkerton who needed a suitable match from the other side of the Atlantic, I decided a proper Englishman with Scotland Yard credentials would fit the bill. Thus began a search for the identity of a certain London detective, and with it came the most fascinating peek into the history of Scotland Yard.

4 Whitehall Place

Scotland Yard is a more recent name for an institution that was created by Sir Robert Peel, Home Secretary in 1829. An interesting aside is that not only did Sir Robert give rise to this new London police force, but he also gave them the nickname that endures to this day: bobbies. The first plainclothes detectives were utilized in the 1840s, reportedly making the public uncomfortable that there were now police"spies" in their midst.

Sir Robert Peel

Commonly known as The Met, the Metropolitan Police force grew so large that by the 1880s the organization's offices expanded beyond its location at 4 Whitehall Place, a private residence with a courtyard that opened onto a courtyard called The Great Scotland Yard. Beginning in 1887, new headquarters were built at Victoria Embankment overlooking the Thames. During the construction of the new building, workers unearthed the dismembered torso of a woman. Known as the Whitehall mystery, the case was never solved.

Over the years, Scotland Yard detectives have investigated many high profile cases, including the murders of the elusive Jack the Ripper, a case that was finally closed unsolved in 1892. The force endures today, its ranks having swelled to an impressive 30,000 officers. Its history lives on in fictional tales such as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes series, and in film and television. However, behind the fiction is a group of dedicated men and women who will no doubt create their own legends someday.

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Bestselling author Kathleen Y’Barbo is a multiple Carol Award and RITA nominee of fifty novels with almost two million copies of her books in print in the US and abroad. A tenth-generation Texan and family law paralegal, she is nominated for a Career Achievement Award as well a Reader’s Choice Award by Romantic Times magazine. Her newest release, Millie’s Treasure, was awarded 4 ½ stars and is an August 2013 Romantic Times Top Pick. Find out more about Kathleen and her books or follow her on social media at www.kathleenybarbo.com.

Barataria and the Louisiana Bayou

by Kathleen Y'Barbo

"Never approach, harass, or feed alligators. Remember they are wild animals and can move very quickly." This warning begins the Important Facts section of the National Historic Park and Preserve website for Louisiana's Barataria Preserve. Two hundred years ago, the same could be said for another group of residents of this southernmost stretch of Louisiana marshland and waterways, Jean Lafitte and his band of cohorts.

Were they pirates, these men who made their homes in the narrow channels and marshes where the Mississippi River emptied into the Gulf of Mexico? History says yes, although Lafitte often argued he and the others known as the Baratarians were merely sailing men with Letters of Marque from the Venezuelan government entitling them to call themselves privateers.

This license to hunt vessels from certain countries at odds with Venezuela meant nothing in the bayou, and yet it did provide at least some measure of excuse for these men to ply the brown waters of the Gulf. In league with such men as the Bowie brothers, one of whom--James--would die a hero at the Alamo, the Baratarians found success in providing citizens of New Orleans and points north with goods that otherwise might not be available. Where these goods originated, and whether their import was legal, were questions that were neither asked nor answered.

Any questions on how these Baratarians managed their exploits is easily answered with one view of the land where they carried on their activities. Where exactly is this place that hid pirates and Englishmen alike during the days leading up to the Battle of new Orleans in 1814?

Follow the Mississippi River past Baton Rouge and New Orleans, and the muddy water widens and rolls southward. Just before it empties into the Gulf of Mexico, it wraps around land that disappears with the tide only to reappear again when the water drains away. Before the advent of helicopters and speedboats, the only access many of the dwellers of the outer reaches of Barataria had was through ships sailing into the deeper channels and, failing that, the flat-bottomed boats called pirogues that could ply the narrowest and shallowest of streams. Even today, two hundred years after the Baratarians fled, or managed to hide deeper in the marshes as some legends go, there are places in these southernmost parishes that rarely see an outside visitor.


The Barataria Preserve offers a glimpse into these untouched places where alligators outnumber residents and pirates once roamed. Or were they merely businessmen in the employ of a foreign government? That depends on who you ask. What is true, however, is that a trip to the Barataria Region of Louisiana will leave the visitor with a greater appreciation of what life must have been like for these hardy settles two hundred years ago. If you believe the rumors, you may even stumble across some of Jean Lafitte's bounty. After all, stories abound of treasure left behind by the Baratarians in their haste to flee. Stories including my new novel Millie's Treasure, that is.

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Bestselling author Kathleen Y’Barbo is a Carol Award and RITA nominee of forty-nine novels with over one million copies of her books in print in the US and abroad and nominations including a Career Achievement Award, Reader’s Choice Awards, Romantic Times Book of the Year, and several Romantic Times Top Picks. A proud military wife and tenth-generation Texan, she now cheers on her beloved Aggies from north of the Red River. Find out more at www.kathleenybarbo.com.