ABSTRACT
The obstacles to long distance detection illustrated by the 1756 Gloucestershire forgery case were precisely those that Sir John Fielding addressed in his General Preventative Plan of 1772. The originator of this system of criminal information management was not John Fielding himself, but his half-brother and immediate predecessor as principal magistrate for Westminster, Henry Fielding the novelist. Eighteenth-century England witnessed an extraordinary transformation in the capacity to disseminate information. Fielding promoted his 1772 and 1773 proposals with enormous zeal—he was nothing if not an inspired self-publicist. His enthusiasm was reciprocated by county benches and corporation authorities throughout provincial England. It is impossible to provide a definitive list of their responses, but it is clear that Fielding did not greatly exaggerate when he claimed his proposals had received 'their unanimous approbation'. Fielding's 1775 proposals implied remodelling the customary roles of the officials concerned. The most important task of the county high constables was to collect the county rate.
