Forgiveness from On High…
Sadly, over here in the UK we have become all too familiar with the sad death of a police officer on duty whilst arresting or chasing suspects. Again, it is almost certainly an officer who is at ‘the sharp end’, i.e., a patrolling officer.
Back in 1912, the tables were turned when none less than the actual Commission of Police for the Metropolis in London was shot on his own doorstep.
Sir Edward Henry was made Commissioner in 1903 and was responsible for his major success in introducing fingerprinting to the service. He had become familiar with fingerprinting when in the Indian Civil Service at the Bengal Taxation Service. He had noted that the Indians always took fingerprints and palmprints for identification purposes. However, it was he who formulated a system whereby such prints could be coded making it simpler for identification with those from burglaries and other scenes of crime with those already on record. He brought many innovations to the service and was considered one of the ‘great’ commissioners.
Although it is just over a century ago, it was he who introduced typewriters in the service whereas all documents had to be copied in handwriting prior to that. He introduced expert training for recruits, the use of ‘police boxes’, telephones and the ‘dog section’. This is only the tip of the iceberg as far as Sir Edward is concerned for it is said that he reluctantly dragged the old Victorian police service into the twentieth century.
He had been born in the East End of London on 26th July 1850 to Irish parents. His father was a doctor and he received an excellent education. He began work as a clerk with Lloyds of London. He continued his education by attending evening classes at University College, London in preparation for the entrance examination for the Indian Civil Service – (India was at that time under British rule).
In 1873 he was successful and sailed to India. He quickly became fluent in Urdu and Hindi and was quickly promoted. In 1890 he married. His beginnings with the police service began when he was appointed Inspector General of Police in Bengal. This was where he became familiar with the principals of fingerprinting. With the help of two local inspectors he developed a system of fingerprint identification which basically lasted for the next seventy or eighty years. It was the basis of all such identification systems worldwide.
In 1900 he was seconded to South Africa with a brief to organise the civil police in Johannesburg and Pretoria. However, in 1901 he was recalled to Britain where he was appointed the Assistant Commissioner for Crime at Scotland Yard. This made him head of the Criminal Investigation Department.
In 1903 when the current Commissioner retired, Sir Edward was appointed in his place. Over the coming ten years he was Knighted and awarded numerous medals and titles for his ability in running the police service.
One of Sir Edward’s duties (which he of course delegated to the Public Carriage Office) was the issuing of ‘Hackney Carriage Licences’. That’s a Taxi/Cab licence for those who do not recognise the word.
Albert/Alfred Bowes was a bitter man who had his application for such a licence refused. He blamed the man at the top – Sir Edward. On 27th November 1912 when Sir Edward was dropped off at his Kensington home, Bowes stepped forward and began to talk to him. Sir Edward told him to come to Scotland Yard where the matter could be discussed. Without warning, Bowes produced a revolver and shot the Commissioner. He fired three shots but fortunately only one hit its target. The bullet entered Sir Edward’s abdomen.
His chauffeur wrestled Bowes to the ground and with the help of two members of the public, he was arrested. He was later charged with the Attempted Murder of Sir Edward.
This is where the strange twist in events occurred. Bowes appeared at the Central Criminal Court, Old Bailey and pleaded Guilty. Sir Edward, although still suffering from the after effects of the gunshot, attended the court and pleaded on Bowes behalf. He stated that Bowes had only wanted to better himself and improve his lot for himself and his widowed mother. Notwithstanding, he was sentenced to fifteen years in prison.
During his stay in prison, Sir Edward used to receive reports on Bowes condition and upon his release after serving ten years, he paid for his fare to emigrate to Canada.
Towards the end, Sir Edward was beginning to lose interest in policing but kept his position during the Great War to enable his second in command to be seconded to the War Office.
On 30th August 1918, 11,000 Metropolitan and City of London Police officers went on strike – basically for the right to Unionise.
Sir Henry resigned over the issue on 31st August and is seen as a scapegoat for political failures of the time.
He retired to his home in Ascot where he continued to lead an active life as a Magistrate.
He died at his home in 1931 of a heart attack. He was aged 80.
He was a great man of vision and all modern police services throughout the world owe him a debt of gratitude, if for nothing else, then his ‘fingerprint’ identification system which has resulted in hundreds of thousands of criminals being identified.
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