Esoteric London

Museum Street, London, WC2. Photo © Roger Dean 2012

Old and New London: A Narrative of Its History, Its People, and Its Places, Volume III, Westminster and the Western Suburbs – Edward Walford, 1878:

Bow Street Police Office, celebrated in the annals of crime, was established in 1749. It was formerly occupied by the novelist Fielding, who is said to have written “Tom Jones” within its walls. The office itself, as it now appears, is a mean and common house, and requires and, indeed, admits of no detailed description. Not so its officials, who belong to history. The old Bow Street officers were called by fast men “Robin Redbreasts,” on account of their wearing red vests; and though they were a set of brave and resolute men, they were too limited in numbers to be generally effective.