Edgar Veal
Edgar Veal - PC H.145, Metropolitan Police (Warrant No. 22,102)
Born in 1808, Edgar was the third child to a French Protestant couple who had fled their native country some years before. Edgar was born in Emery Down, a small village in the New Forest, where his family lived and worked on a small holding as charcoal burners. His mother had strived to make a better life for Edgar and managed to secure her son a position in service with a well respected family in a large house. He was in his teens but started at the bottom and started to work up and made it to be a footman. His heart was never really in the work and he showed no great talent for the role but kept at it as it's what his mother wanted.
Edgar would travel often with the family when they attended their London home. He loved the city and imagined the adventure that his own position failed to give him. Not long after his mother died, he was at the London home, when the Master discovered a minor theft attributed to one of the servants. It was there he met a police constable who dealt with the matter promptly and with an air of authority that made Edgar feel that this was the life for him.
With nothing now holding him back, in late 1845 he gave his notice and joined the Metropolitan Police.
He was stationed at Lemen Street, Whitechapel (H Division), an area that was soon to give him the “adventure” he desired.