In 1829 the Metropolitan Police Act created a centralised police force in London, formally ending the tenure of the parochial watchman – a recognisable figure in the capital for centuries – and replacing him with the ‘Bobbies’ in blue still visible today. This seemingly sudden change, however, masks the intensity of public debate, both for and against the replacement of the watch, which preceded the Act of 1829.

This talk will explore how Blake’s textual and visual depictions of Los as ‘Albions Watchman’ can be read as an intervention in the debates which raged in the years preceding 1829. Blake’s linking of Los with a recognisable – and increasingly controversial – London type, allows us to draw productive links between his works and the city spaces in which they were formed, ultimately showing that Blake – rather than retreating from his contemporary world into the realm of imagination – utilised his creativity in an attempt to reimagine or reframe the metropolis in which he lived.

Jake Elliott is a third year, techne-funded PhD student at the University of Roehampton. His research explores how Blake’s depictions of London interact with other contemporary understandings of the metropolis, with a particular emphasis on visual cultures. He has recently returned from a UKRI funded fellowship at the Huntington Library in California, where he consulted rare material related to these research interests.