J. M. Beattie
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199695164
- eISBN:
- 9780191738746
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199695164.003.0004
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Early Modern History
This chapter begins with an analysis of the financial support provided by the government for the policing work of the runners. The accounts of the office show the runners earning enough to provide ...
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This chapter begins with an analysis of the financial support provided by the government for the policing work of the runners. The accounts of the office show the runners earning enough to provide the foundation of an income that was supplemented by other sources, including private clients, an income that enabled many of them to enjoy long careers at Bow Street. Stability of tenure and long experience improved their detective skills, the subject of the second part of the chapter, which examines the way they went about their business, their collection of criminal information and use of informers. Finally, the chapter examines the dangers of the job, and the courage they not infrequently showed in making arrests and bringing accused offenders to Bow Street to be examined.Less
This chapter begins with an analysis of the financial support provided by the government for the policing work of the runners. The accounts of the office show the runners earning enough to provide the foundation of an income that was supplemented by other sources, including private clients, an income that enabled many of them to enjoy long careers at Bow Street. Stability of tenure and long experience improved their detective skills, the subject of the second part of the chapter, which examines the way they went about their business, their collection of criminal information and use of informers. Finally, the chapter examines the dangers of the job, and the courage they not infrequently showed in making arrests and bringing accused offenders to Bow Street to be examined.
J. M. Beattie
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199695164
- eISBN:
- 9780191738746
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199695164.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Early Modern History
This is the first intensive study of the Bow Street runners, a group of men established by Henry Fielding, in the middle of the eighteenth century with the financial support of the government to ...
More
This is the first intensive study of the Bow Street runners, a group of men established by Henry Fielding, in the middle of the eighteenth century with the financial support of the government to confront violent offenders on the streets and highways around London. They were developed over the following decades by his half‐brother, John Fielding, into what became a well-known and stable group of officers who acquired skill and expertise in investigating crime, tracking and arresting offenders, and in presenting evidence at the Old Bailey, the main criminal court in London. They were, I argue, detectives in all but name. At the same time, Fielding created a magistrates’ court that for the first time was open to the public at stated times every day. A second, intimately related theme in the book concerns attitudes and ideas about the policing of London more broadly, particularly from the 1780s, when the detective and prosecutorial work of the runners came to be increasingly opposed by arguments in favour of the prevention of crime by surveillance and other means. The last three chapters of the book continue to follow the runners’ work, but at the same time they are concerned with discussions of the larger structure of policing in London – in parliament, in the Home Office, and in the press. These discussions were to intensify after 1815, in the face of a sharp increase in criminal prosecutions. They led – in a far from straightforward way – to a fundamental reconstitution of the basis of policing in the capital by Robert Peel’s Metropolitan Police act of 1829. The runners were not immediately affected by the creation of the New Police, but indirectly it led to their disbandment a decade later.Less
This is the first intensive study of the Bow Street runners, a group of men established by Henry Fielding, in the middle of the eighteenth century with the financial support of the government to confront violent offenders on the streets and highways around London. They were developed over the following decades by his half‐brother, John Fielding, into what became a well-known and stable group of officers who acquired skill and expertise in investigating crime, tracking and arresting offenders, and in presenting evidence at the Old Bailey, the main criminal court in London. They were, I argue, detectives in all but name. At the same time, Fielding created a magistrates’ court that for the first time was open to the public at stated times every day. A second, intimately related theme in the book concerns attitudes and ideas about the policing of London more broadly, particularly from the 1780s, when the detective and prosecutorial work of the runners came to be increasingly opposed by arguments in favour of the prevention of crime by surveillance and other means. The last three chapters of the book continue to follow the runners’ work, but at the same time they are concerned with discussions of the larger structure of policing in London – in parliament, in the Home Office, and in the press. These discussions were to intensify after 1815, in the face of a sharp increase in criminal prosecutions. They led – in a far from straightforward way – to a fundamental reconstitution of the basis of policing in the capital by Robert Peel’s Metropolitan Police act of 1829. The runners were not immediately affected by the creation of the New Police, but indirectly it led to their disbandment a decade later.
J. M. Beattie
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199695164
- eISBN:
- 9780191738746
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199695164.003.0002
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Early Modern History
Examines the crime wave after the conclusion of a war in 1748, particularly the extent of violent offences on the streets of the capital and on the highways on the outskirts. The chapter goes on to ...
More
Examines the crime wave after the conclusion of a war in 1748, particularly the extent of violent offences on the streets of the capital and on the highways on the outskirts. The chapter goes on to discuss Henry Fielding’s magisterial practice at his house in Bow Street and his ideas about the causes of crime and the need for a more effective response – principally more active prosecution. It explains the national government’s previous efforts to contain violence by paying large rewards for the conviction of felons, the failure of which led to the government’s agreement to supply Fielding with money to support the group of men he was assembling at his magisterial office to detect, prosecute, and give evidence against violent offenders.Less
Examines the crime wave after the conclusion of a war in 1748, particularly the extent of violent offences on the streets of the capital and on the highways on the outskirts. The chapter goes on to discuss Henry Fielding’s magisterial practice at his house in Bow Street and his ideas about the causes of crime and the need for a more effective response – principally more active prosecution. It explains the national government’s previous efforts to contain violence by paying large rewards for the conviction of felons, the failure of which led to the government’s agreement to supply Fielding with money to support the group of men he was assembling at his magisterial office to detect, prosecute, and give evidence against violent offenders.
Donna T. Andrew and Randall McGowen
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520220621
- eISBN:
- 9780520923706
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520220621.003.0005
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Modern History
This chapter provides the biographies of the central characters: Daniel and Robert Perreau and Mrs. Rudd. It notes that during and immediately after their trials, the Perreaus and their witnesses ...
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This chapter provides the biographies of the central characters: Daniel and Robert Perreau and Mrs. Rudd. It notes that during and immediately after their trials, the Perreaus and their witnesses told of the fair promises that Mrs. Rudd had employed to secure their confidence. It reports that Mrs. Rudd offered such a tempting prospect of advancement that the Perreaus could be pardoned for naively acting as her agents. It further reports that they were dazzled when Mrs. Rudd spoke of how her relations and their connections were at work to set the brothers up as bankers, buy them a country estate, make Daniel a member of Parliament and a baronet. It observes that before the disclosures at Bow Street, the Perreaus stood at the center of one kind of London story; that of rapid economic success followed by increasing social and even political influence.Less
This chapter provides the biographies of the central characters: Daniel and Robert Perreau and Mrs. Rudd. It notes that during and immediately after their trials, the Perreaus and their witnesses told of the fair promises that Mrs. Rudd had employed to secure their confidence. It reports that Mrs. Rudd offered such a tempting prospect of advancement that the Perreaus could be pardoned for naively acting as her agents. It further reports that they were dazzled when Mrs. Rudd spoke of how her relations and their connections were at work to set the brothers up as bankers, buy them a country estate, make Daniel a member of Parliament and a baronet. It observes that before the disclosures at Bow Street, the Perreaus stood at the center of one kind of London story; that of rapid economic success followed by increasing social and even political influence.
