Chronicles of Bow Street Police-Office : With an Account of the Magistrates, ‘Runners', and Police; and a Selection of the Most Interesting Cases

Percy Fitzgerald (1834–1925) was a prolific author, critic, painter and sculptor.

He was born in Ireland and attended Stonyhurst College in Lancashire, and then Trinity College Dublin.

When he moved to London, he became a contributor to Charles Dickens' periodical Household Words.

This two-volume work, published in 1888, gives a stirring account of the work of London's eighteenth-century law enforcers, the Bow Street Runners.

Drawing on records of criminal cases, it tells how magistrates Henry Fielding and his blind half-brother Sir John Fielding helped to set up the Runners.

Their actions dramatically reduced violent crime in the city and paved the way for the modern police force.

Volume 1 covers the formation of the Runners and introduces the key players in the successes that followed.

It also describes a number of fascinating incidents that are variously tragic, amusing or shocking.