Sir John Charles Hermon (23 November 1928 – 6 November 2008) was the Chief Constable of the

Royal Ulster Constabulary The Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) was the police force in Northern Ireland from 1922 to 2001. It was founded on 1 June 1922 as a successor to the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC)Richard Doherty, ''The Thin Green Line – The History of the Royal ...

from 1980–1989.

Early life

'Jack' Hermon was born in Castletown, Islandmagee, County Antrim, to William Rowan Hermon, a building contractor, and his wife, Agnes. He had a grammar school education and gave up an early career in accountancy to join the

in 1950.

Career

After joining the RUC, he was posted in various parts of western Northern Ireland, including Eglinton, Coalisland and

Strabane Strabane ( ; ) is a town in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. Strabane had a population of 13,172 at the 2011 Census. It lies on the east bank of the River Foyle. It is roughly midway from Omagh, Derry and Letterkenny. The River Foyle marks ...

, before sitting his sergeant's examinations. He was the first RUC officer to attend the advanced policing course at the British police training college in Bramshill in England in 1963. He became Chief Constable in 1980, after an attachment to

Scotland Yard Scotland Yard (officially New Scotland Yard) is the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police, the territorial police force responsible for policing Greater London's 32 boroughs, but not the City of London, the square mile that forms London's ...

. As Chief Constable, he changed the interview processes of terrorist suspects at the Castlereagh interrogation centre. An anonymous former interrogator has claimed that "The new chief constable was completely against any mistreatment of prisoners whatsoever...we started to detect a change .... straight away." Hermon is thought to have believed that the allegations of mistreatment were harming relations between the RUC and the wider communities.Ian Cobai
'Inside Castlereagh: 'We got confessions by torture'
('' The Guardian'', Monday, 11 October 2010) He retired in 1989, and became the longest-serving Chief Constable of the RUC. One analysis has argued that Hermon's actions in charge of the RUC 'transformed it into a more independent force, shorn of its worst sectarian sympathies' and that these reforms also had the effect of allowing the RUC to be better able to support the peace process in the 1990s than it would have been otherwise. After retiring, he became, in June 1989, a consultant to a private security company.

Marriages

He married Jean Webb in 1954, and had a son and a daughter before she died of cancer in 1986. In 1987 he met Sylvia Paisley who had written an academic paper critical of Hermon's conduct in an employment case brought by female RUC officers. They married and had two sons. After his death, his widow, Lady Hermon, was, from 2005 to 2010, the sole Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) Member of Parliament. From 2010 she was re-elected as an independent, with an increased majority. She held the North Down seat from 2001 to 2019.

Politics

In 1998, Hermon campaigned for a yes vote during the Belfast Agreement referendum.Obituary
timesonline.co.uk; accessed 22 June 2017.

Death

Hermon suffered from

Alzheimer's disease Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegeneration, neurodegenerative disease that usually starts slowly and progressively worsens. It is the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in short-term me ...

from at least 2004 until his death on 6 November 2008, a few weeks before his 80th birthday. He died in a nursing home in Bangor.

Honours

Hermon was appointed

Officer of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(OBE) in the

1975 Birthday Honours The Queen's Birthday Honours 1975 were appointments in many of the Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. They were published on 6 June 1975 for ...

. He was

knighted A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the Christian denomination, church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood ...

in the

1982 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 1982 were appointments by most of the Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries, and honorary ones to citizens of other countries ...

and received the Queen's Police Medal in the

1988 Birthday Honours Queen's Birthday Honours are announced on or around the date of the Queen's Official Birthday in Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. The dates vary, both from year to year and from country to country. All are published in supple ...

.United Kingdom list:

Order of the British Empire (Civil) Ribbon

Police Long Service and Good Conduct ribbon

Royal Ulster Constabulary Service Medal ribbon

Publications

* ''Holding the Line'' (1997 autobiography)

References

External links

"Former RUC chief moved out of nursing home after terror alert"
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hermon, John 1928 births 2008 deaths Deaths from Alzheimer's disease Knights Bachelor Officers of the Order of the British Empire category:Chief Constables of the Royal Ulster Constabulary People from County Antrim Northern Irish recipients of the Queen's Police Medal Deaths from dementia in Northern Ireland