3058178 The police office Bow Street, 1825 (watercolour) by English School, (19th century); Private Collection; (add.info.: Original police office in Bow Street, Covent Garden with Johnson\'s Oyster Warehouse to the left beside the entrance to the court room. Thomas De Veil, a justice of the peace, opened an office here in 1740 and London\'s first professional police force was founded in 1749 by the magistrate and author Henry Fielding. Nicknamed Bow Street runners, it was disbanded in 1839. ); English, out of copyright.