A painted truncheon from the Bow Street Police Force.
Originally a group of only six men, employed by Henry Fielding in 1750, the Bow Street Runners were the first properly organised and paid police force. Although a tiny force, they operated in plain clothes, and became greatly feared by London's criminal element. They were succeded in 1828 by Robert Peel's 'Peelers', the beginnings of the Metropolitan Police Force.