Jerome Caminada
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Jerome Caminada (1844–1914) was a legendary Manchester police officer during the nineteenth century, sometimes referred to as the "father of the Manchester CID" and "The Garibaldi of detectives".
[edit] Life
Caminada was born in Deansgate, Manchester in 1844 to an Irish mother and an Italian father. At that time, Deansgate wasn't the prosperous heart of the city it is now, and mostly consisted of poor quality housing for mill workers, pubs and brothels. The area was the heart of Victorian Manchester's crime world.
He began working as an engineer in the city, but in February 1868, he joined the Manchester City Police force at the age of 24, and by 1872 had been promoted to Sergeant and transferred to the newly formed Detectives Division, based in the Town Hall. Over his thirty year career, he continued to achieve a high success rate and earned the respect of colleagues, judges and criminals alike: he was often known as Detective Jerome to the local criminals, who struggled with pronouncing his last name.
In 1888, Caminada's national reputation for policing (over the course of his career, he was responsible for the imprisonment of a reported one thousand, one hundred and twenty-five criminals and the closure of around three hundred pubs) earned him the honour of being promoted to Inspector. His reputation also extended to the criminal fraternity, and threats on his life were commonplace: Caminada often used to carry a pistol, and had cause to use it on more than one occasion.
His policing style was eccentric by modern standards, often involving dressing in disguise to gather evidence on suspects. He also maintained a large network of informers, who he would often meet in St Mary's Church - "The Hidden Gem". His methods were effective, however, and he was soon made the city's first Detective Superintendent.
He retired in 1899, becoming a private detective, an estate agent and briefly becoming involved in local politics. He also spent time writing his memoirs. They were first published in 1901 as Twenty-Five Years of Detective Life, although they were republished in 1994 as Caminada - Crime Buster (ISBN 1-874358-13-3).
Caminada died in 1914 at his home in Moss Side at the age of 70, following injuries he received as a result of a bus accident in North Wales in 1913. This had led to some confusion as to the actual date of his death. He is buried in Manchester's Southern Cemetery.
