Bow Street Runners
Encyclopedia
The Bow Street Runners have been called London
's first professional police force. The force was founded in 1749 by the author Henry Fielding
and originally numbered just six. Bow Street runners was the public's nickname for these officers, "although the officers never referred to themselves as runners, considering the term to be derogatory". The Bow Street group was disbanded in 1839.
s' (men who would solve petty crime for a fee), they represented a formalisation and regularisation of existing policing methods. What made them different from the thief-takers was their formal attachment to the Bow Street magistrate
s' office, and that they were paid by the magistrate with funds from central government. They worked out of Fielding's office and court at No. 4 Bow Street
, and did not patrol but served writ
s and arrest
ed offenders on the authority of the magistrates, travelling nationwide to apprehend criminals. In charge was Saunders Welch, an energetic former grocer elected High Constable of Holborn, who selected his men from former constables, discharged at the end of their year in office, who were prepared to receive legal training and carry on the work.
When Henry Fielding retired as 'court' or Chief Magistrate in 1754 he was succeeded by his brother John Fielding
, who had previously been his assistant for four years. Known as the "Blind Beak of Bow Street", John Fielding refined the patrol into the first truly effective police
force for the capital, later adding officers mounted on horseback.
Although the force was only funded intermittently in the years that followed, it did serve as the guiding principle for the way policing was to develop over the next eighty years: Bow Street was a manifestation of the move towards increasing professionalisation and state control of street life, beginning in London.
Contrary to several popular sources, the Bow Street Runners were not nicknamed "Robin Redbreasts", this epithet being reserved for the Bow Street Horse Patrol. The Horse Patrol, organised in 1805 by Sir John Fielding's successor at Bow Street, Richard Ford, wore a distinctive scarlet waistcoat
under their blue greatcoats.
The Bow Street Runners feature in an episode of the popular "Carry On
" comedy series—"Carry On Dick
". In this episode they are made out to be a set of bungling idiots who are frequently outsmarted by the legendary highwayman
Dick Turpin
, played by Sid James
. The Bow Street Runners are also mentioned briefly and with apparent regard in Charles Dickens
' "Oliver Twist
".
Andrew Pepper's "The Last Days of Newgate" (2006) describes a fictitious Bow Street Runner, Pyke, who tries to prove his innocence in a murder trial.
Bruce Alexander penned eleven "Sir John Fielding" historical mystery novels. The series, beginning with "Blind Justice
" (1994), features a fictionalised "Blind Beak Of Bow Street", ingeniously solving murders, assisted by the Bow Street Runners.
Novelist James McGee
has written a series about a Runner named Matthew Hawkwood.
Novelist Jayne Ann Krentz
(writing as Amanda Quick) has the hero of her historical novel I Thee Wed (1999, second book in the Vanza series) use them as bodyguards for his fiancee.
City of Vice
, a 2008 drama series from Channel Four Television, depicted the early days of the Runners. Ian McDiarmid
played Henry Fielding
.
There is also a BBC Radio play "The Last of the Bow Street Runners", part of the "London Particulars" stories.
In the Further Adventures of Doctor Syn
from the Doctor Syn
-Series by Russell Thorndike
one of the episodes introduces a Bow Street Runner who comes to Dymchurch
-under-the-Wall to capture the Scarecrow, the notorious leader of a gang of smugglers.
The movie "The Tale of Sweeney Todd" (1998) portrays a young American, Ben Carlyle, who comes to London in search of a diamond merchant who has defaulted on a payment of $50,000 worth of diamonds. Carlyle stops in at the Bow Street Runners' headquarters in search of the man.
The play "Sweeney Todd: His Life Times and Execution" devised by Finger in the Pie (2009) features a fictionalized Sir John Fielding portrayed as a symbol of the enlightenment whose zealous belief in social reform is ultimately undermined by his idealism. (see http://www.fingerinthepie.com/sweeney)
Many historical romance novels i.e. the Bow Street Runners series by novelist Lisa Kleypas
which includes Someone To Watch Over Me (1999), Lady Sophia's Lover (2002) and Worth Any Price (2003), features the Bow Street Runners/Magistrates as the heroes in them.
A novel entitled Richmond : Scenes in the life of a Bow Street runner, author unknown, was originally published in 1827 in London, and republished by Dover Publications in 1976. It follows the adventures of the titular narrator Richmond, first his early wandering life, then cases he investigates when he later joins the Runners.
The books The Diamond of Drury Lane
by Julia Golding
and Sovay
by Celia Rees
feature the Bow Street Runners in the story.
Bow Street Runners appear in some of the Aubrey–Maturin series
novels by Patrick O'Brian
. In the novel The Commodore (novel)
, Parker, a Bow Street Runner, is employed by Maturin and Sir Joseph Blaine to investigate the Duke of Habachtstal.
The song "Be Back Soon," from the Lionel Bart
musical Oliver!
references the Bow Street Runners.
Sean Russell
and Ian Dennis
, under their common pen-name “T. F. Banks”, wrote a two-volume "Memoirs of a Bow Street Runner".
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
's first professional police force. The force was founded in 1749 by the author Henry Fielding
Henry Fielding
Henry Fielding was an English novelist and dramatist known for his rich earthy humour and satirical prowess, and as the author of the novel Tom Jones....
and originally numbered just six. Bow Street runners was the public's nickname for these officers, "although the officers never referred to themselves as runners, considering the term to be derogatory". The Bow Street group was disbanded in 1839.
History
Similar to the unofficial 'thief-takerThief-taker
In English legal history, a thief-taker was a private individual hired to capture criminals. The widespread establishment of professional police in England did not occur until the 19th century...
s' (men who would solve petty crime for a fee), they represented a formalisation and regularisation of existing policing methods. What made them different from the thief-takers was their formal attachment to the Bow Street magistrate
Magistrate
A magistrate is an officer of the state; in modern usage the term usually refers to a judge or prosecutor. This was not always the case; in ancient Rome, a magistratus was one of the highest government officers and possessed both judicial and executive powers. Today, in common law systems, a...
s' office, and that they were paid by the magistrate with funds from central government. They worked out of Fielding's office and court at No. 4 Bow Street
Bow Street
Bow Street is a thoroughfare in Covent Garden, Westminster, London. It features as one of the streets on the standard London Monopoly board....
, and did not patrol but served writ
Writ
In common law, a writ is a formal written order issued by a body with administrative or judicial jurisdiction; in modern usage, this body is generally a court...
s and arrest
Arrest
An arrest is the act of depriving a person of his or her liberty usually in relation to the purported investigation and prevention of crime and presenting into the criminal justice system or harm to oneself or others...
ed offenders on the authority of the magistrates, travelling nationwide to apprehend criminals. In charge was Saunders Welch, an energetic former grocer elected High Constable of Holborn, who selected his men from former constables, discharged at the end of their year in office, who were prepared to receive legal training and carry on the work.
When Henry Fielding retired as 'court' or Chief Magistrate in 1754 he was succeeded by his brother John Fielding
John Fielding
This article is about the London magistrate. For the soldier, see John Williams .Sir John Fielding was a notable English magistrate and social reformer of the 18th century. He was also the younger half-brother of novelist, playwright and chief magistrate Henry Fielding...
, who had previously been his assistant for four years. Known as the "Blind Beak of Bow Street", John Fielding refined the patrol into the first truly effective police
Police
The police is a personification of the state designated to put in practice the enforced law, protect property and reduce civil disorder in civilian matters. Their powers include the legitimized use of force...
force for the capital, later adding officers mounted on horseback.
Although the force was only funded intermittently in the years that followed, it did serve as the guiding principle for the way policing was to develop over the next eighty years: Bow Street was a manifestation of the move towards increasing professionalisation and state control of street life, beginning in London.
Contrary to several popular sources, the Bow Street Runners were not nicknamed "Robin Redbreasts", this epithet being reserved for the Bow Street Horse Patrol. The Horse Patrol, organised in 1805 by Sir John Fielding's successor at Bow Street, Richard Ford, wore a distinctive scarlet waistcoat
Waistcoat
A waistcoat or vest is a sleeveless upper-body garment worn over a dress shirt and necktie and below a coat as a part of most men's formal wear, and as the third piece of the three-piece male business suit.-Characteristics and use:...
under their blue greatcoats.
Fiction
A fictional Bow Street Runner named Edmund 'Beau' Blackstone is the protagonist of the "Blackstone" series of historical thrillers by Richard Falkirk (Derek Lambert), set in 1820s London and comprising Blackstone, Blackstone's Fancy, Beau Blackstone, Blackstone and the Scourge of Europe, Blackstone Underground and Blackstone on Broadway (see http://www.crimethrutime.com/library/pages/print/f_print.htm)The Bow Street Runners feature in an episode of the popular "Carry On
Carry On films
The Carry On films are a series of low-budget British comedy films, directed by Gerald Thomas and produced by Peter Rogers. They are an energetic mix of parody, farce, slapstick and double entendres....
" comedy series—"Carry On Dick
Carry On Dick
Carry On Dick was the 26th Carry On film. It was released in 1974 and marked the end of an era for the series. It featured the last appearances of Sid James and Hattie Jacques although both would make a further appearance in the Carry On Laughing TV series...
". In this episode they are made out to be a set of bungling idiots who are frequently outsmarted by the legendary highwayman
Highwayman
A highwayman was a thief and brigand who preyed on travellers. This type of outlaw, usually, travelled and robbed by horse, as compared to a footpad who traveled and robbed on foot. Mounted robbers were widely considered to be socially superior to footpads...
Dick Turpin
Dick Turpin
Richard "Dick" Turpin was an English highwayman whose exploits were romanticised following his execution in York for horse theft. Turpin may have followed his father's profession as a butcher early in life, but by the early 1730s he had joined a gang of deer thieves, and later became a poacher,...
, played by Sid James
Sid James
Sid James was an English-based South African actor and comedian. He made his name as Tony Hancock's co-star in Hancock's Half Hour and also starred in the popular Carry On films. He was known for his trademark "dirty laugh" and lascivious persona...
. The Bow Street Runners are also mentioned briefly and with apparent regard in Charles Dickens
Charles Dickens
Charles John Huffam Dickens was an English novelist, generally considered the greatest of the Victorian period. Dickens enjoyed a wider popularity and fame than had any previous author during his lifetime, and he remains popular, having been responsible for some of English literature's most iconic...
' "Oliver Twist
Oliver Twist
Oliver Twist; or, The Parish Boy's Progress is the second novel by English author Charles Dickens, published by Richard Bentley in 1838. The story is about an orphan Oliver Twist, who endures a miserable existence in a workhouse and then is placed with an undertaker. He escapes and travels to...
".
Andrew Pepper's "The Last Days of Newgate" (2006) describes a fictitious Bow Street Runner, Pyke, who tries to prove his innocence in a murder trial.
Bruce Alexander penned eleven "Sir John Fielding" historical mystery novels. The series, beginning with "Blind Justice
Blind Justice (novel)
Blind Justice is the first historical mystery novel about Sir John Fielding by Bruce Alexander.-Plot summary:Young Jeremy Proctor, recently orphaned, is taken in as ward by blind Sir John Fielding, Magistrate of the Bow Street court and organizer of London's first police force...
" (1994), features a fictionalised "Blind Beak Of Bow Street", ingeniously solving murders, assisted by the Bow Street Runners.
Novelist James McGee
James McGee (author)
James McGee is an English novelist known for his historical novels about a fictional Bow Street Runner Matthew Hawkwood. The books are set in Regency London....
has written a series about a Runner named Matthew Hawkwood.
Novelist Jayne Ann Krentz
Jayne Ann Krentz
Jayne Ann Krentz, née Jayne Castle is an American writer of romance novels. Krentz is the author of a string of New York Times bestsellers under seven different pseudonyms. Now, she only uses three names. As Jayne Ann Krentz she writes contemporary romantic-suspense. She uses Amanda Quick for her...
(writing as Amanda Quick) has the hero of her historical novel I Thee Wed (1999, second book in the Vanza series) use them as bodyguards for his fiancee.
City of Vice
City of Vice
City of Vice is a British historical crime drama television series set in Georgian London and was first screened on 14 January 2008 on Channel 4. It is produced by Touchpaper Television part of the RDF Media Group. The series mixes fiction with fact following the fortunes of the famous novelist...
, a 2008 drama series from Channel Four Television, depicted the early days of the Runners. Ian McDiarmid
Ian McDiarmid
Ian McDiarmid is a Scottish theatre actor and director, who has also made sporadic appearances on film and television.McDiarmid has had a successful career in theatre; he has been cast in many plays, while occasionally directing others and although he has appeared mostly in theatrical productions,...
played Henry Fielding
Henry Fielding
Henry Fielding was an English novelist and dramatist known for his rich earthy humour and satirical prowess, and as the author of the novel Tom Jones....
.
There is also a BBC Radio play "The Last of the Bow Street Runners", part of the "London Particulars" stories.
In the Further Adventures of Doctor Syn
Further Adventures of Doctor Syn
The Further Adventures of Doctor Syn is the fourth in the series of Doctor Syn novels by Russell Thorndike. It is a highly episodic series of adventures as Syn, in his guise as the Scarecrow outwits the king's agents and keeps his band of Dymchurch smugglers out of prison...
from the Doctor Syn
Doctor Syn
The Reverend Doctor Christopher Syn is the smuggler hero of a series of novels by Russell Thorndike. The first book, Doctor Syn: A Tale of the Romney Marsh was published in 1915. The story idea came from smuggling in the 18th century Romney Marsh, where brandy and tobacco were brought in at night...
-Series by Russell Thorndike
Russell Thorndike
Arthur Russell Thorndike was a British actor and novelist, best known for the Doctor Syn of Romney Marsh novels...
one of the episodes introduces a Bow Street Runner who comes to Dymchurch
Dymchurch
Dymchurch is a village and civil parish in the Shepway District of Kent, England. The village is located on the coast five miles south-west of Hythe, and on the Romney Marsh. It is typical of this part of the coast, having been a village which became larger during the 1930s...
-under-the-Wall to capture the Scarecrow, the notorious leader of a gang of smugglers.
The movie "The Tale of Sweeney Todd" (1998) portrays a young American, Ben Carlyle, who comes to London in search of a diamond merchant who has defaulted on a payment of $50,000 worth of diamonds. Carlyle stops in at the Bow Street Runners' headquarters in search of the man.
The play "Sweeney Todd: His Life Times and Execution" devised by Finger in the Pie (2009) features a fictionalized Sir John Fielding portrayed as a symbol of the enlightenment whose zealous belief in social reform is ultimately undermined by his idealism. (see http://www.fingerinthepie.com/sweeney)
Many historical romance novels i.e. the Bow Street Runners series by novelist Lisa Kleypas
Lisa Kleypas
Lisa Kleypas is a best-selling American author of historical and contemporary romance novels. In 1985, she was named Miss Massachusetts and competed in the Miss America pageant in Atlantic City.-Biography:...
which includes Someone To Watch Over Me (1999), Lady Sophia's Lover (2002) and Worth Any Price (2003), features the Bow Street Runners/Magistrates as the heroes in them.
A novel entitled Richmond : Scenes in the life of a Bow Street runner, author unknown, was originally published in 1827 in London, and republished by Dover Publications in 1976. It follows the adventures of the titular narrator Richmond, first his early wandering life, then cases he investigates when he later joins the Runners.
The books The Diamond of Drury Lane
The Diamond of Drury Lane
The Diamond of Drury Lane is a children's historical novel by Julia Golding which won the Nestle Children's Book Prize Gold Award in 2006. The book is set on 1 January 1790.-Plot:...
by Julia Golding
Julia Golding
Julia Golding is a British novelist.Julia Golding grew up on the edge of Epping Forest. She originally read English at the University of Cambridge. She then joined the Foreign Office and worked in Poland...
and Sovay
Sovay
Sovay is a traditional English folk song about a young woman who dresses and arms herself as a highwayman in order to test her suitor. In disguise she robs her suitor of nearly all his possessions, but even under threat of death he refuses to give up the gold ring given by Sovay, thus proving...
by Celia Rees
Celia Rees
Celia Rees is an English author of children's literature, including some horror and fantasy books.She was born in 1949in Solihull, West Midlands but now lives in Leamington Spa with her husband and teenage daughter. Rees attended University of Warwick and earned a degree in History of Politics...
feature the Bow Street Runners in the story.
Bow Street Runners appear in some of the Aubrey–Maturin series
Aubrey–Maturin series
The Aubrey–Maturin series is a sequence of nautical historical novels—20 completed and one unfinished—by Patrick O'Brian, set during the Napoleonic Wars and centering on the friendship between Captain Jack Aubrey of the Royal Navy and his ship's surgeon Stephen Maturin, who is also a physician,...
novels by Patrick O'Brian
Patrick O'Brian
Patrick O'Brian, CBE , born Richard Patrick Russ, was an English novelist and translator, best known for his Aubrey–Maturin series of novels set in the Royal Navy during the Napoleonic Wars and centred on the friendship of English Naval Captain Jack Aubrey and the Irish–Catalan physician Stephen...
. In the novel The Commodore (novel)
The Commodore (novel)
The Commodore is an historical novel set during the Napoleonic Wars, written by British author Patrick O'Brian and published by HarperCollins in 1995. It is the seventeenth volume in the Aubrey-Maturin series. The novel features the adventures of naval commander Jack Aubrey, and his friend, ship's...
, Parker, a Bow Street Runner, is employed by Maturin and Sir Joseph Blaine to investigate the Duke of Habachtstal.
The song "Be Back Soon," from the Lionel Bart
Lionel Bart
Lionel Bart was a writer and composer of British pop music and musicals, best known for creating the book, music and lyrics for Oliver!-Early life:...
musical Oliver!
Oliver!
Oliver! is a British musical, with script, music and lyrics by Lionel Bart. The musical is based upon the novel Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens....
references the Bow Street Runners.
Sean Russell
Sean Russell (author)
Sean Russell is a Canadian author of fantasy & historical naval literature. Also writes under his full name Sean Thomas Russell.- Life :...
and Ian Dennis
Ian Dennis
Ian Dennis is a commentator for BBC Radio 5 Live and the station's Chief Football Reporter.Dennis grew up in West Yorkshire where he attended Ilkley Grammar School. He began working in radio with an unpaid Saturday job at BBC Radio York...
, under their common pen-name “T. F. Banks”, wrote a two-volume "Memoirs of a Bow Street Runner".
External links
- Bow Street Runners in the Literary Encyclopedia
- The Metropolitan Police Service Historical Archives
- Game About the Bow Street Runners
See also
- Battle of Bow StreetBattle of Bow StreetThe Battle of Bow Street is the name given to a riot which took place in Bow Street, London during March 1919. The riot involved an estimated 2000 Australian, American and Canadian servicemen fighting against 50 Metropolitan Police officers....
- Bow StreetBow StreetBow Street is a thoroughfare in Covent Garden, Westminster, London. It features as one of the streets on the standard London Monopoly board....
- Bow Street Magistrates' CourtBow Street Magistrates' CourtBow Street Magistrates' Court was the most famous magistrates' court in England for much of its existence, and was located in various buildings on Bow Street in central London close to Covent Garden throughout its history.-History:...
- Blackstone novels