The area had its own justices of the peace (JPs),[3] appointed by the Constable of the Tower (as lord lieutenant), who administered both judicial and civil functions, mainly through their quarter sessions.

[5] The Metropolitan Board of Works was established in 1855 in order to lead on the provision of infrastructure in the capital, and this is likely to have led to a reduced responsibilities for the Tower Hamlets JPs.

The area also provided the Tower Hamlets Militia, which could be deployed in the field in the event of invasion or rebellion.

[7] Some believe the relationship goes back to the time of the Conqueror,[8] but others suggest it came later in the medieval period when the Hamlets had a higher population.

[4] It is thought that duty had its origin in the rights and obligations of the Manor of Stepney which once covered most or all of the Hamlets area,[9][8] with the Constable of the Tower also having responsibility for the upkeep of the local part of the Thames and Lea.

[8] Tower Hamlets units are recorded as being present at the Tilbury muster in August 1588, when Elizabeth I reviewed the English troops available to face the expected Spanish invasion.

[10] This wasn't always a militant radicalism though, as evidenced when the war-weary poor of Stepney, seeking compromise with the King, partially demolished a parliamentarian strongpoint in the Lines of Communication, a ring of parliamentary fortifications around London.

That night, with the Constable away, Skippon led a force of 500 men of the London Trained Bands under the cover of darkness, to the narrow streets of St Katharines district, by the riverside, just east of the Tower.

Skippon and his men approached the Iron Gate, a small now lost feature (its site, on the east bank of the moat, is under the Tower Bridge Approach Road), outside the moat which protected a postern which opened out from the Develin Tower.

Skippon believed he could seize the fortress in a coup de main by persuading the Hamleteers to let his force into the Tower, hold it and thereby transform the strategic and political situation in the capital.

Skippon called on the Sergeant on the Iron Gate to let his men through so that the Tower would fall into Parliament's hands.

Before the outbreak of the first English Civil War, parliament had managed to use political pressure to get the King to install a Constable, Sir John Conyers, sympathetic to their cause.

In the early years of the English Civil War both Parliament and the King relied on local Militias such as that of the Tower Hamlets.

The troops wore buff sleeveless jackets to mark them out as a Trained Band, soldiers with higher status and value than ordinary Militia.

A significant number of units were raised, a noteworthy example being the East Metropolitan RVC (11th Tower Hamlets) which was entirely made up of Jewish Volunteers.

The Cardwell Reforms of 1871 saw the volunteer element of the armed forces re-organised and given more supervision and support from central government.

The infantry units retained their local identity but became reserve forces attached to a regular regiment, The Rifle Brigade (The Prince Consort's Own).

The unit retained its Tower Hamlets identity, if not its name, and saw action on the home front and in continental Europe.

[4] The Metropolitan Police Act 1829 enumerated the "parishes, townships, precincts and places" of the Tower Division for inclusion within the Metropolitan Police District,[19] while the Militia (Tower Hamlets) Act 1796 specified how many men each component should supply to the division's militia.