Lieutenant-Colonel Douglas William Parish Labalmondière CB (3 June 1815 – 8 March 1893) was the first Assistant Commissioner (Administrative) of the London Metropolitan Police and acted as Commissioner for three months in 1868–1869. Born at the family home at 18 Poultney Street in Bath, Labalmondière was descended from an aristocratic French family who had established sugarcane

plantation A plantation is an agricultural estate, generally centered on a plantation house, meant for farming that specializes in cash crops, usually mainly planted with a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. The ...

s in the

West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greate ...

. He was educated at

Eton College Eton College () is a public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1440 by Henry VI under the name ''Kynge's College of Our Ladye of Eton besyde Windesore'',Nevill, p. 3 ff. intended as a sister institution to King's College, ...

and the

Royal Military College, Sandhurst The Royal Military College (RMC), founded in 1801 and established in 1802 at Great Marlow and High Wycombe in Buckinghamshire, England, but moved in October 1812 to Sandhurst, Berkshire, was a British Army military academy for training infant ...

, where he passed out at the head of the list with exceptional honours, and was commissioned an

ensign An ensign is the national flag flown on a vessel to indicate nationality. The ensign is the largest flag, generally flown at the stern (rear) of the ship while in port. The naval ensign (also known as war ensign), used on warships, may be diffe ...

into the 83rd (County of Dublin) Regiment of Foot (later the

Royal Irish Rifles The Royal Irish Rifles (became the Royal Ulster Rifles from 1 January 1921) was an infantry rifle regiment of the British Army, first created in 1881 by the amalgamation of the 83rd (County of Dublin) Regiment of Foot and the 86th (Royal County D ...

). He served in

the Canadas The Canadas is the collective name for the provinces of Lower Canada and Upper Canada, two historical British colonies in present-day Canada. The two colonies were formed in 1791, when the British Parliament passed the '' Constitutional Act'', ...

, 1837–1838, carried dispatches during Mackenzie's Rebellion and Papineau's Rebellion, and was promoted lieutenant. He was promoted captain in 1844. In 1846–1849, he served in Ireland during the Great Famine, as temporary inspector with special duties under the Poor Law Commissioners. Following closure of the local relief committees in 1847, public testimonials of his endeavours were sent by committees in Castlegregory, Castleisland, Ventry, Tralee and Ballincuslane. Following his order to rejoin his regiment in 1849 in India, he gave evidence to the Select Committee on Poor Laws (Ireland) on 20 March 1849 and on 23 March 1849. Whilst in India with his regiment, he was appointed to the Metropolitan Police and was permitted to return overland.''London Evening Standard'', 2 April 1850 In 1850, he retired on half pay as a

lieutenant-colonel Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colo ...

and joined the Metropolitan Police as its second inspecting

superintendent Superintendent may refer to: *Superintendent (police), Superintendent of Police (SP), or Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), a police rank *Prison warden or Superintendent, a prison administrator *Superintendent (ecclesiastical), a church exec ...

, effectively functioning as deputy to the two Joint Commissioners, Sir

Richard Mayne Sir Richard Mayne KCB (27 November 1796 – 26 December 1868) was a barrister and the joint first Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis, the head of the London Metropolitan Police (1829–1868). With an incumbency of 39 years, he was ...

and Captain William Hay (who had been his predecessor as inspecting superintendent). He was appointed Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB) for his services in policing the Great Exhibition in 1851 and in 1855 was selected to attend

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 216 days was longer than that of any previo ...

in Paris. In 1856, after Hay's death and the reorganisation of the police, Labalmondière was appointed Assistant Commissioner (Administrative). He was responsible for administration and discipline, with the Assistant Commissioner (Executive), Captain W. C. Harris, being responsible for supplies, buildings and other such business. Mayne was now the sole Commissioner. One of Labalmondière's duties was to make quarterly inspections of every police station and station house, with every tour of inspection taking nineteen days. After Mayne's death on 26 December 1868, Labalmondière acted as Commissioner until the appointment of Colonel

Edmund Henderson Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Edmund Yeamans Walcott Henderson KCB (19 April 1821 – 8 December 1896) was an officer in the British Army who was Comptroller-General of Convicts in Western Australia from 1850 to 1863, Home Office Surveyor-General o ...

three months later. He continued to serve Henderson and his successor, Sir

Charles Warren General Sir Charles Warren, (7 February 1840 – 21 January 1927) was an officer in the British Royal Engineers. He was one of the earliest European archaeologists of the Biblical Holy Land, and particularly of the Temple Mount. Much of his mi ...

, as Assistant Commissioner until his retirement in 1888.

Footnotes

References

*''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' (f ...

'' *Martin Fido & Keith Skinner, ''The Official Encyclopedia of Scotland Yard'' (Virgin Books, London:1999)

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Labalmondiere, Douglas 1815 births 1893 deaths 83rd (County of Dublin) Regiment of Foot officers English people of French descent Companions of the Order of the Bath Graduates of the Royal Military College, Sandhurst Assistant Commissioners of Police of the Metropolis People educated at Eton College Upper Canada Rebellion people People from Bath, Somerset