Sir Charles Edward Troup (27 March 1857 – 8 July 1941) was a British civil servant. Born in Scotland, he worked for most of his life in London. He was

Permanent Under-Secretary of State at the Home Office The Permanent Under-Secretary of State of the Home Office is the permanent secretary of the Home Office, the most senior civil servant in the department, charged with running its affairs on a day-to-day basis. Home Office Permanent Secretaries ...

from 1908 to 1922. Troup was born in

Huntly, Aberdeenshire Huntly ( gd, Srath Bhalgaidh or ''Hunndaidh'') is a town in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, formerly known as Milton of Strathbogie or simply Strathbogie. It had a population of 4,460 in 2004 and is the site of Huntly Castle. Its neighbouring settlement ...

. His father was a minister of an Independent church. He was educated at the local parish school and then read mental philosophy at the

University of Aberdeen The University of Aberdeen ( sco, University o' 'Aiberdeen; abbreviated as ''Aberd.'' in List of post-nominal letters (United Kingdom), post-nominals; gd, Oilthigh Obar Dheathain) is a public university, public research university in Aberdeen, Sc ...

. He studied at

Balliol College, Oxford Balliol College () is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. One of Oxford's oldest colleges, it was founded around 1263 by John I de Balliol, a landowner from Barnard Castle in County Durham, who provided the f ...

, graduating in 1883, and winning a prize of an essay later published in 1884 as ''Future of Free Trade''. He joined the Home Office as a junior clerk in 1880, in its criminal department, and was promoted to senior clerk in 1886. He was called to the bar at

Middle Temple The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court exclusively entitled to call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple, Gray's Inn an ...

in 1888. He edited the official judicial statistics of England and Wales from 1893 to 1904. He was also involved in committees that recommended the introduction of biometric data of criminals, including photographs and fingerprints, and a committee that recommended the introduction of cremation. He became a principal clerk in 1896, and rose to become

in 1908, including the peak of the suffragette movement, the First World War and the introduction of regulations under the

Defence of the Realm Act 1914 The Defence of the Realm Act (DORA) was passed in the United Kingdom on 8 August 1914, four days after it entered the First World War and was added to as the war progressed. It gave the government wide-ranging powers during the war, such as the p ...

, and then the period of police strikes in 1918-19. He became a

Commander of the Order of the Bath The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate medieval ceremony for appointing a knight, which involved bathing (as a symbol of purification) as o ...

(CB) in 1897, advanced to

Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I of Great Britain, George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate medieval ceremony for appointing a knight, which involved Bathing#Medieval ...

(KCB) in 1909, and became a

Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order The Royal Victorian Order (french: Ordre royal de Victoria) is a dynastic order of knighthood established in 1896 by Queen Victoria. It recognises distinguished personal service to the British monarch, Canadian monarch, Australian monarch, or ...

(KCVO) in 1918. He retired from the Home Office in 1922. He published a book, ''Home Office'', in 1925. He was Chairman of

Royal Irish Constabulary The Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC, ga, Constáblacht Ríoga na hÉireann; simply called the Irish Constabulary 1836–67) was the police force in Ireland from 1822 until 1922, when all of the country was part of the United Kingdom. A separate ...

Tribunal in 1922-1923, and then involved in mine safety from 1923 to 1939. He also worked on the special grants committee of the

Ministry of Pensions Ministry may refer to: Government * Ministry (collective executive), the complete body of government ministers under the leadership of a prime minister * Ministry (government department), a department of a government Religion * Christian ...

in the 1930s, and was a treasurer of

King's College London King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public research university located in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of King George IV and the Duke of Wellington. In 1836, King's ...

from 1922 to 1939. He married Winifred Louisa MacDonald in January 1897; she was the daughter of George MacDonald and Louisa Powell. They had no children. He died in at home in

Kensington Kensington is a district in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in the West End of London, West of Central London. The district's commercial heart is Kensington High Street, running on an east–west axis. The north-east is taken up b ...

, of

arteriosclerosis Arteriosclerosis is the thickening, hardening, and loss of elasticity of the walls of Artery, arteries. This process gradually restricts the blood flow to one's organs and tissues and can lead to severe health risks brought on by atherosclerosis ...

. He was cremated at

Golders Green Crematorium Golders Green Crematorium and Mausoleum was the first crematorium to be opened in London, and one of the oldest crematoria in Britain. The land for the crematorium was purchased in 1900, costing £6,000 (the equivalent of £135,987 in 2021), ...

References

Sir (Charles) Edward Troup
National Portrait Gallery
TROUP, Sir (Charles) Edward (1857-1941)
AIM25 * P. W. J. Bartrip, ‘Troup, Sir Charles Edward (1857–1941)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, September 201
accessed 11 April 2016
1857 births 1941 deaths English civil servants Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath Knights Commander of the Royal Victorian Order Permanent Under-Secretaries of State for the Home Department People associated with King's College London People from Aberdeenshire {{UK-bio-stub