Lawman. He was a legendary policeman and real-life super-sleuth in Victorian England. A master of disguise, he had a keen eye for detail and ingenious methods of detection. He was the inspiration for Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's character Sherlock Holmes. Caminada was born in Deansgate, Manchester in 1844, to an Irish mother and an Italian father. At that time, Deansgate consisted mostly of public houses, brothels, and poor-quality housing for mill workers, and was the heart of Victorian Manchester's crime world. He began working as an engineer in the city, but in February of 1868, he joined the Manchester City Police force, at the age of 24. In 1872 he was promoted to sergeant, and transferred to the newly formed detectives' division, based in the town hall. Over his thirty-year career, he 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, he was reportedly responsible for the imprisonment of 1,225 criminals and for the closure of 400 public houses, which earned him a promotion to inspector. Threats on his life were commonplace; Caminada often carried a pistol, and had cause to use it on more than one occasion. His policing style was eccentric by modern standards, and often involved dressing in disguise to gather evidence on suspects. He maintained a large network of informers, who he would often meet in St Mary's Church, known as the Hidden Gem. His methods were effective however, and he was soon made Detective Superintendent. Caminada wrote the first volume of his autobiography anonymously as "Twenty-Five Years of Detective Life" in 1895, dedicating the book to the then Chief Constable of the Manchester City Police. Following his retirement, he published a second volume under his own name in 1901. Selected highlights of both volumes were republished in 1994 as "Caminada - Crime Buster." Caminada retired in 1899, and became a private detective, an estate agent, and a Manchester city councilor for Openshaw between 1907 and 1910. He died in 1914 at his home in Moss Side at the age of 70, as a result of injuries he had received in a bus accident in North Wales the previous year.