Acknowledgements
This book came about because I always liked Chief Inspector Parker better
than Lord Peter Wimsey. A mystery fan, I was intrigued by fictional Scotland
Yard detectives and wanted to know more. So when I had to write a doctoral
dissertation, I gravitated to Robert Peel and the origins of the Metropolitan
Police. All the work in that project is distilled here. Thus all the gratitude I
owe to the people who helped with that is still owed. I would especially like
to thank Daniel Baugh for his continued support and encouragement, above
and beyond what most doctoral supervisors give. Since completing the dis-
sertation, I have received generous fmancial support from the taxpayers of
the state of New York, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and
William Jewell College.
My debts to many libraries and archives and all their staff are enormous.
I would especially like to thank all the local history librarians and archivists
all over London. I know their warm welcome was due, in part, to the fact
that I was not a genealogist but this project could not have. happened
without their never-failing assistance. I would especially like to thank
Alison Kenney, Westminster City Archives; Elise Fisher, Curry Library,
William Jewell College; the British Studies Center at the University
of Colorado; and the Watson and Spencer Libraries at the University of
Kansas.
My colleagues have also been a source of great encouragement and
advice. Isaac Kramnick, Steve Kaplan, Victor Bailey, Ruth Paley, John
Beattie, Simon Devereaux, Ken Chatlos, and Thresa Pugh Rupp have either
read parts of the manuscript or listened to me whine about it with
great patience and offered much wisdom. Without the help of Norris
Pope at Stanford University Press, I probably would have given up on
finding a publisher. I also thank Timothy Farmiloe and his staff at
Macmillan for their interest and help. My students at William Jewell
College have endured more than their fair share of hearing about my writing
with good humour and patience. I owe special thanks to my work-study
assistants - Julia Vargas, Michelle Thrvey, and Kathryn Best. I thank
the editors of The Historian for allowing material that appeared in my article,
'St. Marylebone: Local Police Reform in London, 1755-1829,' 51 (1989) to
be used here.
My friends and family have lived with this book for as long as I have
and with better grace. Kit Bardwell, Michael Harrison, Jean Hawkins,
Lowell Jacobsen, Tim Whetten, the William Jewell research support
group, and the Cross-Currents Choir for Social Justice helped keep me
ix