The spectacle of security: lock-picking competitions and the security industry in mid-Victorian Britain

Despite decades of research on the history of crime, policing and punishment, historical work on security remains in its infancy. To this neglected field, this article contributes a detailed analysis of a series of celebrated lock-picking competitions involving rival, brand-name locksmiths in mid-nineteenth-century Britain. These contests provided a spectacular forum for marketing new security commodities, which promised to serve as a uniquely credible means of demonstrating the utility of these technically advanced products. In practice, the competitions were less effective in improving security product design, or in reinforcing consumer confidence in security devices, than many firms and observers had hoped. Nonetheless, the competitions captured the imagination of a mid-Victorian public increasingly preoccupied by the transformative potential of technology, and by the emerging landscape of international economic competition. In particular, this article argues that lock-picking contests played a significant role in the commodification of security and the emergence of the security industry in the 1850s and 1860s. It thus subjects to critical scrutiny these important aspects of modern social development, which have left a lasting and troubling imprint on the contemporary world.