Edmund Henderson

Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Edmund Henderson KCB
Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis
In office 1869 – 22 February 1886
Preceded by	Douglas Labalmondière
Succeeded by	Charles Warren
Personal details
Born	Edmund Yeamans Walcott Henderson (1821-04-19)19 April 1821 Muddiford,Hampshire,England
Died	8 December 1896(1896-12-08)(aged 75)
Occupation	soldier, administrator, police commissioner

Lieutenant-ColonelSir Edmund Yeamans Walcott HendersonKCB(19 April 1821 – 8 December 1896) was an officer in theBritish Armywho wasComptroller-General of Convictsin Western Australia from 1850 to 1863,Home OfficeSurveyor-General of Prisonsfrom 1863 to 1869, andCommissioner of Police of the Metropolis,head of the LondonMetropolitan Police,from 1869 to 1886.

Military career

Henderson was born inMuddiford,nearChristchurch,Hampshire,England, the son of Vice-AdmiralGeorge Hendersonof theRoyal Navyand Frances Elizabeth Walcott-Sympson. His brotherWilliam George HendersonwasDean of Carlisle.He was educated inBruton,Somersetand theRoyal Military AcademyatWoolwich.He was commissionedSecond Lieutenantin theRoyal Engineerson 6 June 1838 and was promotedFirst Lieutenantin 1840,Second Captainin 1847,First Captainin 1854,BrevetMajor in 1858, andLieutenant-Colonelin 1862.

He undertook his professional training atChathamand was then posted toCanadain 1839. He returned to England in 1845 and spent a year inPortsmouthbefore being posted back to Canada in June 1846. He was in charge of surveying the western half of the boundary between Canada andNew Brunswick,which had been ceded to Britain by the United States, until November 1848, when he returned to England with his new wife, Mary Murphy. He spent the next two years based atGravesend.

Comptroller-General of Convicts and Director of Prisons

When Western Australia became apenal colonyin 1850, Henderson was appointed the colony's first Comptroller-General of Convicts. He travelled to Western Australia with the first convicts on board theScindian,arriving on 1 June 1850. He found the colony completely unprepared for the convicts, lacking even a jail large enough to house them. Henderson secured lodging for the convicts at a ware house owned byCaptain Scott,the harbour master. Henderson then began construction of a place for the warders to stay and in time the Convict Establishment, later known asFremantle Prison.He was "a kindly and just man, moderate and understanding, opposed to the harsher forms of discipline. He thought that flogging as a punishment did more harm than good, and might be abolished except in rare cases, and that putting men in chains was useless and aggravating."¹

Henderson married Mary Murphy in 1848. Following her death in 1855, he visited England with his son the following year and in 1857 married Maria Hindle. Henderson returned to Australia in 1858. He finally resigned as Comptroller-General of Convicts and left the colony in January 1863.

On his return to Britain, he was appointed Chairman of Directors and Surveyor-General of Prisons and Inspector-General of Military Prisons on 29 July 1863, succeeding SirJoshua Jebb.He sold his army commission in 1864 and was made aCompanion of the Bath(CB) in 1868.

Commissioner of Police

In 1869, Henderson was appointed to succeed SirRichard Mayneas second sole Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis. He was an ideal compromise candidate between those who wanted a military man as Commissioner and those who thought the job should go to a civilian. Although a former army officer, Henderson had served in civilian appointments for the last eighteen years. He was also unknown to the British public, allowing him to establish a reputation only on his achievements as Commissioner.

Henderson immediately endeared himself to his men by abolishing or rela xing some of the petty regulations imposed by Mayne and his first colleague, SirCharles Rowan.For the first time, for instance, officers were permitted to grow facial hair. They were also allowed to vote for the first time, having initially been prevented by regulations forbidding them to take part in political activity. Henderson clashed withReceiverMaurice Drummondover an increase in pay for his men, a rivalry which was to continue for the rest of his tenure.

In order to spread hisconstablesmore widely and make them more available, Henderson established thefixed point system.He increased theDetective Branchto over 200 men and started theHabitual Criminals Register.He grouped theDivisionsinto Districts and introducedSchoolmaster Sergeantsin each division to increase the literacy of his constables.

However, Henderson faced problems. The authorities decided, against his advice, to reduce pensions and this, coupled with low wages, led to the firstpolice strikein 1872. The Commissioner dealt with the situation efficiently, dismissing the ringleaders and then allowing most of them to rejoin the force. Although the reputation of the Met was harmed by this incident, Henderson himself was not criticised by the press. He faced an even more serious situation in 1877, when four senior officers of the Detective Branch were put on trial for corruption (Trial of the Detectives), but survived it with his reputation intact. In 1878, he was made aKnight Commander of the Bath(KCB).

But, by this stage, Henderson was starting to lose his control of the force. He ignored the fact that theDistrict Superintendentswere becoming ineffective and that two of the four posts had fallen vacant. When theFenianbombing campaign opened in 1883, he left its handling largely to his assistants, particularlyHoward Vincent,James MonroandRobert Anderson.On 8 February 1886, the mishandling of theTrafalgar Square Riotexposed his inefficiency, and on 22 February the Home SecretaryHugh Childersaccepted his resignation.

Notes

1. Hasluck (1959), page 56.

References

• Erickson, Rica(ed.) (1979).Dictionary of Western Australians 1829–1914. Volume 3: Free 1850–1858.Nedlands, Western Australia: University of Western Australia Press.ISBN0-85564-163-0.{{cite book}}:|author=has generic name (help)
• Hasluck, Alexandra(1959).Unwilling Emigrants.Melbourne: Oxford University Press..Republished in 1991 by Fremantle Arts Centre Press.ISBN0-949206-94-6.
• The TimesDigital Archive
• Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
• Fido, Martin; Skinner, Keith (1999).The Official Encyclopedia of Scotland Yard.London: Virgin Books.

External links

• Portraits of Henderson in the National Portrait Gallery