Called 'the man with iron hands', Froest was incredibly strong, and could tear a pack of cards in half and snap a sixpence 'like a biscuit'.

As one of the country's top detectives, he had important responsibilities, including the return of the disgraced financier Jabez Balfour from Argentina in 1895, in what was essentially a kidnapping.

The Times obituary described him as having 'all the appearance of a prosperous and ingenuous country gentleman, but he was a man of shrewdness and resource ... highly esteemed for his professional ability'.

[2] On 18 February 1896 Detective Inspector Froest boarded the S.S. Harlech Castle at Madeira, and arrested 26 officers and 399 other ranks who were prisoners after having taken part in the Jameson Raid.

[4] Despite receiving a seven-year prison sentence, Johnson refused to disclose the whereabouts of the Duchess's jewels, and only £4,000 worth were ever recovered.