Ignatius Paul Pollaky (po'laki; 1828 – 25 February 1918) also known as "Paddington" Pollaky, born in Hungary, became one of the first and best-known professional private detectives in Britain. He also worked with London's

Metropolitan Police The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS), formerly and still commonly known as the Metropolitan Police (and informally as the Met Police, the Met, Scotland Yard, or the Yard), is the territorial police force responsible for law enforcement and ...

, specialising in intelligence on

aliens Alien primarily refers to: * Alien (law), a person in a country who is not a national of that country ** Enemy alien, the above in times of war * Extraterrestrial life, life which does not originate from Earth ** Specifically, intelligent extrate ...

living in Britain and advocating alien registration, which was eventually introduced by the

Aliens Act 1905 The Aliens Act 1905 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.Moving Here The Act introduced immigration controls and registration for the first time, and gave the Home Secretary overall responsibility for ma ...

Biography

Pollaky was born in Pressburg,

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...

(''Pozsony'', now

Bratislava Bratislava (, also ; ; german: Preßburg/Pressburg ; hu, Pozsony) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Slovakia. Officially, the population of the city is about 475,000; however, it is estimated to be more than 660,000 — approxim ...

Slovakia Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the s ...

). He was exiled and came to live in Britain in 1850. In 1856 he married Julia Devonald. However she died in 1859. Two years later he married Mary Anne Hughes. They had a son and three daughters over the next nine years. In 1862 he started an early private detective agency in Britain, Pollaky's Private Inquiry Office. One of his first commissions was from

Henry Sanford Henry Shelton Sanford (June 15, 1823 – May 21, 1891) was a wealthy American diplomat and businessman from Connecticut who served as United States Minister to Belgium from 1861 to 1869. He is also known for founding the city of Sanford, Florid ...

who asked him to spy on

Confederate Confederacy or confederate may refer to: States or communities * Confederate state or confederation, a union of sovereign groups or communities * Confederate States of America, a confederation of secessionist American states that existed between 1 ...

agents in Britain who were purchasing supplies for the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

. From 1865 until 1882 his office was located at 13 Paddington Green, hence his nickname. He often advertised in the personal section of ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...

'' offering assistance in "election, divorce and libel cases" or "discreet enquiries in England or abroad". From 1861 onwards, he also was in the habit of inserting mysterious messages in the "Agony" columns, presumably linked to cases that he was working on. In 1867 he became a special constable in the X (Willesden) Division of the

, a division only formed two years earlier. During his career his reputation grew to the point that his surname was used as a humorous remonstrance against over-eager questioning by the 1870s and in 1881 he was mentioned in the

Gilbert and Sullivan Gilbert and Sullivan was a Victorian era, Victorian-era theatrical partnership of the dramatist W. S. Gilbert (1836–1911) and the composer Arthur Sullivan (1842–1900), who jointly created fourteen comic operas between 1871 and 1896, of which ...

work, ''

Patience (or forbearance) is the ability to endure difficult circumstances. Patience may involve perseverance in the face of delay; tolerance of provocation without responding in disrespect/anger; or forbearance when under strain, especially when faced ...

'', as an example of "keen penetration". "Benjamin D——, His Little Dinner", an anonymous 1876 satire on

Benjamin Disraeli Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield, (21 December 1804 – 19 April 1881) was a British statesman and Conservative politician who twice served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. He played a central role in the creation o ...

, also carried a poem about Pollaky entitled "The Lord of Intrigue": Apart from his detective work, he acted as the London correspondent for the ''International Criminal Police Gazette'' for more than 25 years. He appeared on the Electoral Registers for the

Paddington Paddington is an area within the City of Westminster, in Central London. First a medieval parish then a metropolitan borough, it was integrated with Westminster and Greater London in 1965. Three important landmarks of the district are Paddi ...

and

St Marylebone Marylebone (usually , also , ) is a district in the West End of London, in the City of Westminster. Oxford Street, Europe's busiest shopping street, forms its southern boundary. An ancient parish and latterly a metropolitan borough, it merge ...

districts in 1873, 1875 and 1876. In 1882 he retired from the private investigation business and closed his office. In the same year, he inserted an advertisement on the front page of ''The Times'' stating that: 'the rumour that I am dead is not true'. After retiring from the private investigation business he moved to 33 Stanford Avenue,

Brighton Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...

where he lived quietly with his wife. During his retirement he was well known for playing chess in the Public Room at the

Brighton Pavilion The Royal Pavilion, and surrounding gardens, also known as the Brighton Pavilion, is a Grade I listed former royal residence located in Brighton, England. Beginning in 1787, it was built in three stages as a seaside retreat for George, Pri ...

and often wrote letters to ''The Times'', signing them "Ritter von Pollaky". His initial 1862 application for British citizenship had been refused, but on 17 September 1914, he took the Oath of Allegiance and became a naturalised British Citizen.Th
London Gazette
2 October 1914 He died on 25 February 1918 and was buried in

Kensal Green Cemetery Kensal Green Cemetery is a cemetery in the Kensal Green area of Queens Park in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in London, England. Inspired by Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris, it was founded by the barrister George Frederic ...

References

Sanford Historical Society Newsletter; January, 2005; page 5 – Relationship between Pollaky and Sanford

A Dictionary of Catchphrases

Biography

References

Further reading