Sir Thomas de Veil (21 November 1684 – 7 October 1746), also known as deVeil, was Bow Street's first magistrate;[1] he was known for having enforced the Gin Act 1736,[2] and, with Sir John Gonson, Henry Fielding, and John Fielding, was responsible for creating the first professional police and justice system in England.

[1][7] He fought at Cadiz and Vigo in 1702 and at Almanza in 1707,[1] and caught the attention of Colonel Martin Bladen, with whom he remained friends for the rest of his life, and the Earl of Galway, who would then bestow upon him a troop of dragoons.

[8] By the time the war ended in 1713, Thomas de Veil had attained the rank of lieutenant colonel in the Red Regiment of Westminster.

[9] Returning to England, he borrowed a great deal of money to restore his fortunes, which in turn led to a considerable debt.

He retired to the countryside and lived upon the half pay provided by the army until he had dispensed of his debts, upon which he returned to London in search of a second source of income,[10] and became a political lobbyist with an office in Whitehall:[11] his work at this time consisted of "soliciting at the war-office, the treasury, and other public boards, drawing petitions, cases, and representations, memorials, and such kind of papers, for which he kept an office in Scotland-yard".

[1] From 1729, when he was first appointed Court Justice, until his death, he was the most active magistrate in London,[15] and would provide the public access to his services on a regular basis.

[16] He broke up many criminal gangs, the most famous (and the one from which he gained the most recognition) being that led by William Wreathock, a Hatton Garden attorney, in 1735.

[4][20][21] In September 1744, after the City's deputy marshal, Mr Jones, requested assistance from Middlesex peace officers, he attempted to promote co-operation between the fragmented police forces in the capital.

[23] Another failed attempt in 1735 led Julian Brown, a member of the Wreathock gang who was tasked with killing de Veil, to become a key witness against his former master instead.

He married his first wife, Mrs Anne Hancock (1685–1720)[1] from the Thomond family,[26] on 27 January 1704 at St-Martin-in-the-Fields, Westminster,[1] and they had a son and a daughter, both dead by 1746.

[28] Louis was a linguist and translated tracts by Maimonides from Hebrew into Latin; in 1671 he was appointed Professor of Oriental Languages at Heidelberg University.

In some cases a "trading justice" was a magistrate who would rely solely upon the fines for their income, while in others it referred to someone who took bribes, and/or who would encourage litigation to earn more money.