Blind Justice

February 26, 2009 8:08 PM

Blind Justice..... Sir John Fielding, 1721-1780, brother of novelist/playwrite Henry Fielding (Tom Jones), was a blind magistrate at the Bow Street court (known as the "Blind Beak of Bow Street"), home of London's first professional police force, the Bow Street Runners.

Wonderfully fictionalized in a series of books by Bruce Alexander (a.k.a. Bruce Cook).

posted by ecorrocio (6 comments total)

Channel 4 did some sort of series about this, and produced a rather good flash game as a tie in.
posted by Richard Daly at 8:21 PM on February 26

I was just going to mention the books. They're good reads.
posted by ltracey at 8:32 PM on February 26

For those wondering, it's pronounced like the "bow" in "bow and arrow" or "bow tie."
posted by gubo at 9:06 PM on February 26

Long before Wikipedia existed, I read some historical fiction that mentioned Bow Street Runners briefly, but couldn't find out anything about them. I'd forgotten about them until I saw this post, thanks for the reminder. That Wikipedia article is pretty good.
posted by harriet vane at 11:04 PM on February 26

That Wikipedia article is pretty good.

It also seems wrong. My understanding is the "runners" didn't patrol but were called upon to investigate a crime after the fact, and only by those who were paying a retainer.
posted by stbalbach at 4:50 AM on February 27

The game is both entertaining and instructive. Fun.
posted by adamvasco at 5:24 AM on February 27