Thomas de Veil

Sir Thomas de Veil, JP, was a pioneer in the art of detecting crime.

An unpaid magistrate based - like Pullen - in the City of Westminster, from 1739 onwards he investigated the crimes brought before him for trial at his house in Bow Street, which he established as a magistrate's court.

He belonged to the same Masonic lodge (Jerusalem Lodge) as the artist William Hogarth, who mocks him in the engraving 'Night', set in the street outside the Vine Tavern, where they met. De Veil is depicted still wearing the collar and jewel that distinguish him as Master of the Lodge. As we see in the detail below, the drunk JP, shamefully soaked by the contents of a discarded chamber-pot, is helped home by the Lodge's Grand Tyler, Andrew Montgomery.

Hogarth is thought to be poking fun at Veil, who he had publicly argued with on more than one occasion. De Veil was notoriously strict on drunkards and was involved in the legislation banning the trade in gin, at the time as great a matter for public concern as heroin or crack today.