Patrick Colquhoun

Patrick Colquhoun (kə-HOON; 14 March 1745 – 25 April 1820) was a Scottish merchant, statistician, magistrate, and founder of the first regular preventive police force in England, the Thames River Police. He also served as Lord Provost of Glasgow 1782 to 1784.

Early life

Colquhoun, a descendant of the Scottish Clan Colquhoun of Luss, was born in Dumbarton in 1745.

Orphaned at the age of 16, his relatives sent him to America, setting him up in the lucrative commercial trade in Virginia. In 1766, the 21-year-old Colquhoun returned to Scotland, settling in Glasgow and going into business on his own in the linen trade. Ten years later, with the outbreak of the American Revolution, Colquhoun sided against the rebels and, along with 13 other local businessmen, funded a Glasgow regiment to contribute to the government's war effort.

In 1782 he purchased an estate in the West End (now part of Kelvingrove Park; and built the mansion house, Kelvingrove House (which became the first Kelvingrove Museum in 1875). On 22 July 1775, he married his cousin Janet, the daughter of James Colquhoun, the Provost of Dumbarton. Between 1782 and 1784, Patrick Colquhoun himself served as the Lord Provost of Glasgow. He also founded the Glasgow Chamber of Commerce and Manufacturing during that time, and made himself the first chairman.

In 1787 he is listed on the Committee for the Management of Forth and Clyde Navigation and in the West India Club. He was also Chairman of the Glasgow Tontine.

He was awarded an honorary LL.D. by the University of Glasgow in 1797. In Glasgow he lived in a second floor flat in an ancient tenement on Argyle Street.