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Recruiting new policemen

The following extract is from the letter sent in 1834 by the Metropolitan Police to potential recruits, setting out the requirements of the Commissioners.

If ... who has applied for a situation as a constable in the Police will attend at Westminster on Tuesday next at eleven o'clock in the forenoon precisely he will be examined as to his fitness for such an employment. He need not attend and will not be appointed if he cannot read or write; if he is above 35 years of age; if he is under 5 feet 7 inches without his shoes, nor unless he is free from every bodily complaint, is of a strong constitution and generally intelligent, as he will have to pass the strict examination of the surgeons.

N.B. The applicant will not be examined without producing this notice and two letters of recommendation to the Commissioners of Police, from respectable housekeepers, and from his last employer.