The Policeman in Modern Fiction
| Published date | 01 January 1930 |
| Date | 01 January 1930 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/0032258X3000300114 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
The
Policeman in
Modern
Fiction
DETECT IVE fiction, which has made some aspects of
police work familiar to the reading public, is of compara-
tively recent origin. Among the characters of Dickens's
novels, for instance, there are very few policemen,and none of
importance, though there are over thirty lawyers.
'Mr.
Inspector' in Our Mutual Friend is a mere figurehead, as
featureless as his name. The Pickwick Papers and Oliver Twist
are, however, of some interest for the light they throw on the
system, or want of system, prior to the introduction and
organization of a regular police force.
In
the former we are
told that the constabulary of Ipswich consisted (in
1830)
of
, an elderly gentleman in top-boots who had been a peace-
officer, man and boy, for half a century at least.' This was
Grummer, who was ordered by Mr. Nupkins, the Magistrate,
to arrest Pickwick and Tupman, on suspicion of being desperate
characters about to take part in a duel, and to procure assistance
in order to overawe, and if necessary overcome, those mild,
middle-aged gentlemen. He accordingly had the help and
support of Dubbley and six
other'
specials,' each armed with a
short truncheon and brass crown. Grummer is a type of the
old parish constable, who was practically the servant of the
local Justice of the Peace. Special constables were appointed by
the latter for special duties, such as the arrest of a dangerous
criminal who was likely to be too much for the parish constable.
Again, in Oliver Twist, after the attempted burglary by Bill Sikes
of Mrs. Maylie's house at Chertsey, Bow Street runners were
called in as well as the local
constable-a
reminiscence of the
system under which the Chief Magistrate at Bow Street had
under his control a body of constables, who were the first body
of professional detectives. There is a less archaic flavour
about the jest, made after Mr. Brownlow's pocket had been
139
To continue reading
Request your trial