| Description | 1.) Patrick Colquhoun (14 March 1745 – 25 April 1820) was a Scottish merchant, statistician, magistrate, and founder of the first regular preventive police force in England, the Thames River Police. He also worked in the linen-trade, was Provost of Glasgow, and founded the Glasgow Chamber of Commerce and Manufacturing. On 22 July 1775, married his cousin Janet, the daughter of James Colquhoun, the Provost of Dumbarton. He was appointed as Resident Minister and Consul general to Britain by the Hanseatic cities Hamburg in 1804, and Bremen and Lübeck shortly after. His son James Colquhoun was his successor as Consul of the Hanseatic cities in London. Patrick Colquhoun in Wikipedia in the John Pickett series, Patrick Colquhoun is a magistrate at Bow Street. According to Sheri Cobb South in the Author's Note in Family Plot: According to Debrett's Correct Form, the name is pronounce "ca-HOON>" I chose it because Patrick Colquhoun was a real person who served as a magistrate in London from 1792 to 1818. I confess to fudging my history a bit; my sources place him at the Queen Square Office in Westminster, but I can find no evidence that he ever served in that capacity at the Bow Street Office. Certain aspects of his life, however, dovetail so nicely with that of John Pickett that I hope the reader will forgive me for taking a bit of artistic license." Ms. Cobb names three daughters of the Colquhoun's: Isabella, Mary, and Fanny. All are grown at the time that John Pickett joins the Bow Street Runners. |
