SUNDAY SUPPLEMENT: Policing the streets in the early 19th Century was an almost privatised service, funded by the parish. DAVID MORGAN delves into the Minster archive and finds how this borough helped frame the formation of the Metropolitan Police

‘Ello, ‘ello, ‘ello…: Bow Street Runners were the precursor to an organised police force

In 1894, when Peter Shonfield died, aged 85, in the Elis David Almshouses, it was the end of an era.

Shonfield was quite the local character. Friends recalled his ground ash stick which he carried and which was the butt of many jokes. The local paper at the time reported that Shonfield was the last surviving Bow Street Runner.

“Death, in taking away Mr. Shonfield, has run the Runner to earth, and the ‘red waistcoats’ must now be remembered only as adornments of history.”

Shonfield was a Croydon resident, through and through. As a lad he was educated at Archbishop Tenison’s School in North End. After he left school, he was apprenticed to Mr Richard George, a local glover and leather breeches maker.

Shonfield must have impressed his master, because the apprentice’s career took off in a completely different direction. George’s other position in the town was the High Constable of Croydon and Shonfield was persuaded to join the ranks of law enforcement and became a Bow Street Runner.

The Runners were sometimes known as Robin Redbreasts because of their distinctive, bright waistcoats. They had been founded back in 1749 by magistrate Henry Fielding and were the law enforcement officers for Bow Street Magistrates Court in the City of Westminster.

With just six men at their inception, they were London’s first professional police force.

Fielding was also an author, best known for novels including The History of Tom Jones.

Magistrate and innovator: author Henry Fielding, founder of the Bow Street Runners

Fielding’s small force was paid for by a grant provided by the Prime Minster, the Duke of Newcastle. It proved to be very successful in bringing criminals to justice. Their methods, however, might be considered crude.

Accounts which survive from this time had some interesting entries to show how the money was spent;

“for pursuing a highwayman who robbed near Hackney, 17/6d”

“for two days horse hire to inquire into a robbery, 6/0d”

“for pursuing and apprehending Jonathan Wigmore, a highwayman £8/8/0d”

Fielding also paid out £10 to purchase pistols and short swords, or “hangers”, to arm “the pursuers of robbers”.

Fielding died in 1754. The running of the Magistrate’s Court and the Runners was taken over by his half-brother, John. John Fielding was blind and relied on his hearing to distinguish the voices of those in the dock. He became known as the Blind Beak of Bow Street.

By the time Shonfield joined the Runners in the Dickensian London of the mid-1820s, the approach to policing throughout the capital was changing. His governor, Richard George, appeared before a committee in Parliament in 1828 to help them get a better idea of policing and to help determine future policy. George’s answers revealed much about his role and the extent of criminality in Croydon.

Old Runner’s home: the Elis David Almshouses, where Shonfield spent his final years

George was paid a salary of 50 guineas a year – worth around £7,000 today – and had two constables and four “headboroughs”, or deputies, under him. There were also eight or nine privately employed watchmen in the parish.

George was pleased with recent successful efforts to reduce crime in Croydon. One of the reasons, he told the committee, was that his constables patrolled the London Road each night about halfway to London, meeting up with a patrol heading out from the city. These patrols proved effective in stopping gangs of burglars travelling down to Croydon.

George estimated that 11 men from these gangs had been apprehended and transported in the previous 12 months.

Despite the committee of MPs being pleased to hear that Croydon’s crime rate had dropped, some astute questioning drew an admittance from George that criminals who had previously been active in the town had been forced to move out in order to carry on with their illegal activities. Consequently, the number of crimes in Kent and Sussex had risen.

The committee asked George if he thought that the idea of a regular uniformed police all round London would work. George was in favour of the idea, although he was concerned about how the parishes might raise the money to pay for any new service. George told them that it was the poorer people who would object to such an imposition.

The Blind Beak of Bow Street: John Fielding

The following year, 1829, the Metropolitan Police Act was brought into force. The Bow Street Runners were absorbed into the new police force. The Police Act of 1839 finally made the Runners redundant. The Runners had been overtaken by the Peelers.

Shonfield, after serving 11 years with the Runners, soon found another job. The Croydon magistrates appointed him superintendent of the special police force employed on the Brighton Railway Works. Shonfield’s new appointment lasted six years, until the works were complete.

When Shonfield retired from law enforcement, he went back to the skills he learned during his apprenticeship and became a tailor. In the 1851 census, when he was aged 42,  he was living and working at 44 High Street.

It is not known when Shonfield entered the almshouses but the 1881 census lists him as living in number 6 Elis David Almshouses, Church Street, with his wife Mary. His occupation was described on the form as “tailor, inmate of almshouses”.

The Elis David Almshouses is Croydon’s oldest charity. It was founded in 1447 by Elias Davy (whose name seems to have “evolved” over the centuries, written down in various forms). David/Davy was a citizen of London and a member of the Mercer’s Company.

Old folks’ home: the modern Elis David Almshouses were opened in 1975

He believed in using his wealth to help others less fortunate, and purchased a piece of land called “Delles”, close to the Parish Church and built accommodation, initially for eight people.

After he died in 1455, Davy was buried in Croydon Parish Church. He is still remembered today, however his name is spelled, on the anniversary of his death with a special “Years’ Mynde” service. The medieval anniversary of a death was called the Mynde Day Service.

As the need for social housing grew in the 20th Century, Elis David Almshouses moved to a new site on Duppas Hill Terrace. The 80-resident block was opened by HRH Princess Alexandra in March 1975. The princess returned in October 2010 after a major refurbishment.

Shonfield must have been an interesting resident of the almshouses. You might imagine him regaling the others with tales of his adventures in the Runners.

“Did I ever tell you about the time we caught this fellow on the London Road? Laid in wait for him for over two hours, I did. Then along he comes on his horse. Great big man…”.

• David Morgan, pictured right, is a former Croydon headteacher, now the volunteer education officer at Croydon Minster, who offers tours or illustrated talks on the history around the Minster for local community groups

If you would like a group tour of Croydon Minster or want to book a school visit, then ring the Minster Office on 020 688 8104 or go to the website on www.croydonminster.org and use the contact page

Other recent articles by David Morgan:

• The Cause of Many Troubles: Handel Lucas’s lifelong struggles
• Minster memorial celebrates life of Victorian woman reformer
  
• Purley schoolboy who reached for the sky in Battle of Britain
• The church fire that consumed a thousand years of history

• For the full archive of David Morgan’s history research, click here

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