Sir John Reginald Hornby Nott-Bower (16 March 1892 – 3 October 1972) was
Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis
The Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis is the head of London's Metropolitan Police Service. Sir Mark Rowley was appointed to the post on 8 July 2022 after Dame Cressida Dick announced her resignation in February.
The rank of Commissione ...
, the head of the London
Metropolitan Police
The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS), formerly and still commonly known as the Metropolitan Police (and informally as the Met Police, the Met, Scotland Yard, or the Yard), is the territorial police force responsible for law enforcement and ...
, from 1953 to 1958. He was the first career police officer to hold this post.
Early life and career in India
Nott-Bower was the son of
William Nott-Bower
Sir John William Nott-Bower, KCVO (20 March 1849 – 4 February 1939) was a British officer and Commissioner of the City of London Police.
Biography
Bower was born in York,''1911 England Census'' the son of Dr. John Bower, and grandson of S ...
, then
chief constable of
Liverpool City Police
Liverpool City Police was the police force operating in the city of Liverpool, England, established in 1836.
In 1967, the force merged with Bootle Borough Police to create the Liverpool and Bootle Constabulary
Liverpool and Bootle Constabulary w ...
and later Commissioner of the
City of London Police
The City of London Police is the territorial police force responsible for law enforcement within the City of London, including the Middle and Inner Temples. The force responsible for law enforcement within the remainder of the London region, ou ...
, and the great-grandson of
Major-General Sir William Nott. He was educated at
Tonbridge School
(God Giveth the Increase)
, established =
, closed =
, type = Public schoolIndependent day and boarding
, religion =
, president =
, head_label ...
and joined the
Indian Police Service
The Indian Police Service ( IPS) is a civil service under the All India Services. It replaced the Indian Imperial Police in 1948, a year after India became independent from the British Raj.
Along with the Indian Administrative Service (IAS ...
by competitive examination in 1911. He was posted to the
United Provinces and served there until 1921, when he returned to England to work at the
India Office
The India Office was a British government department established in London in 1858 to oversee the administration, through a Viceroy and other officials, of the Provinces of India. These territories comprised most of the modern-day nations of I ...
in London. On 21 June 1918 he was commissioned a
Second Lieutenant
Second lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces, comparable to NATO OF-1 rank.
Australia
The rank of second lieutenant existed in the military forces of the Australian colonies and Australian Army until ...
in the
Indian Army Reserve of Officers, he resigned the commission in 1922.
In 1923 he returned to the United Provinces as a
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 ...
. He commanded successively
Allahabad
Allahabad (), officially known as Prayagraj, also known as Ilahabad, is a metropolis in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.The other five cities were: Agra, Kanpur (Cawnpore), Lucknow, Meerut, and Varanasi (Benares). It is the administrat ...
,
Lucknow
Lucknow (, ) is the capital and the largest city of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and it is also the second largest urban agglomeration in Uttar Pradesh. Lucknow is the administrative headquarters of the eponymous district and division ...
and
Bareilly
Bareilly () is a city in Bareilly district in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It is among the largest metropolises in Western Uttar Pradesh and is the centre of the Bareilly division as well as the historical region of Rohilkhand. The city ...
districts, and also served in the
Criminal Investigation Department
The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) is the branch of a police force to which most plainclothes detectives belong in the United Kingdom and many Commonwealth nations. A force's CID is distinct from its Special Branch (though officers of b ...
. In the
1931 Birthday Honours, he was awarded the
King's Police Medal
The King's Police Medal (KPM) is awarded to police in the United Kingdom for gallantry or distinguished service. It was also formerly awarded within the wider British Empire, including Commonwealth countries, most of which now have their own hono ...
(KPM) for bravery after he confronted Indian independence activist
Chandrashekhar Azad
Chandra Shekhar Tiwari ( (23 July 1906 – 27 February 1931), popularly known as Chandra Shekhar Azad, was an Indian revolutionary who reorganised the Hindustan Republican Association (HRA) under its new name of Hindustan Socialist Republican ...
on 27 February 1931.
Metropolitan Police
On 29 June 1933, Nott-Bower joined the Metropolitan Police as Chief Constable (second in command) of No.1 District, consisting of A (Whitehall), B (Westminster), C (St James's), T (Hammersmith) and V (Wandsworth)
Divisions. On 1 December 1933 he was promoted to
Deputy Assistant Commissioner in command of the district. On 23 July 1937, he was appointed
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, Monarchy of Canada, Canadian monarch, Mon ...
(CVO).
On 1 September 1940, he was appointed
Assistant Commissioner "A", in charge of administration and uniformed policing. From 1945 to 1946 he was seconded to Austria as Inspector-General of the Public Safety Branch of the
Allied Control Commission
Following the termination of hostilities in World War II, the Allies were in control of the defeated Axis countries. Anticipating the defeat of Germany and Japan, they had already set up the European Advisory Commission and a proposed Far Eastern ...
, and later as Director of the Internal Affairs Division of the commission. On his return he was promoted to
Deputy Commissioner. He was appointed
Officer of the Order of St John
The Order of St John, short for Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem (french: l'ordre très vénérable de l'Hôpital de Saint-Jean de Jérusalem) and also known as St John International, is a British royal order of ...
(OStJ) on 24 June 1949 and 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
1950 Birthday Honours
The King's Birthday Honours 1950 were appointments in many of the Commonwealth realms of King George VI to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. The appointments were made to celebrate the o ...
.
In the
1953 Coronation Honours, he was appointed
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).
Commissioner
On 13 August 1953, Nott-Bower was appointed Commissioner. Although he had been a popular and energetic Assistant and Deputy Commissioner, he was regarded as a somewhat lacklustre Commissioner.
In his 1955 book ''Against the Law'',
Peter Wildeblood
Peter Wildeblood (19 May 1923 – 14 November 1999) was an Anglo-Canadian journalist, novelist, playwright and gay rights campaigner. He was one of the first men in the UK publicly to declare his homosexuality.
Early life
Peter Wildeblood was ...
quotes an article written by
Donald Horne
Donald Richmond Horne (26 December 1921 – 8 September 2005) was an Australian journalist, writer, social critic, and academic who became one of Australia's best known public intellectuals, from the 1960s until his death.
Horne was a prol ...
for the ''Sydney Morning Telegraph'' printed on 25 October 1953 referring to Nott-Bower's role in the 'Great Purge' .
"The plan originated under strong United States advice to Britain to weed out homosexuals – as hopeless security risks – from important Government jobs.
One of the Yard's top-rankers, Commander E. A. Cole, recently spent three months in America consulting with FBI officials in putting finishing touches to the plan. But the plan was extended as a war on all vice when Sir John Nott-Bower took over as the new Commissioner at Scotland Yard in August. Sir John swore he would rip the cover off all London's filth spots....
Under laxer police methods before the US-inspired plan began, and before Sir John moved into the top job at the Yard as a man with a mission, Montagu and his film-director frien
Kenneth Hume
might never have been charged with grave offences against Boy Scouts....
Sir John swung into action on a nationwide scale. He enlisted the support of local police throughout England to step up the number of arrests for homosexual offences.
For many years past the police had turned a blind eye to male vice. They made arrests only when definite complaints were made from innocent people, or where homosexuality had encourages other crimes.
They knew the names of thousands of perverts – many of high social position and some world famous – but they took no action. Now, meeting Sir John's demands, they are making it a priority job to increase the number of arrests....
The Special Branch began compiling a "Black Book" of known perverts in influential Government jobs after the disappearance of the diplomats Donald Maclean and Guy Burgess
Guy Francis de Moncy Burgess (16 April 1911 – 30 August 1963) was a British diplomat and Soviet agent, and a member of the Cambridge Five spy ring that operated from the mid-1930s to the early years of the Cold War era. His defection in 1951 ...
, who were known to have pervert associates. Now comes the difficult task of side-tracking these men into less important jobs – or putting them behind bars."
He introduced few reforms or innovations. He did set up the Research and Planning Branch and the Metropolitan and Provincial
Regional Crime Squad
The National Crime Squad (NCS) was a British police organisation which dealt with national and transnational organised and major crimes. Formed in April 1998 after the amalgamation of six former Regional Crime Squads, it merged with parts of H ...
and centralised traffic control in response to rising private car ownership. He did little to combat the rising crime rate, however; he refused to address the outdated hardline attitudes of many senior
detective
A detective is an investigator, usually a member of a law enforcement agency. They often collect information to solve crimes by talking to witnesses and informants, collecting physical evidence, or searching records in databases. This leads th ...
s, which were becoming increasingly out of step with postwar society; and he did not support his men in their claims for better pay and conditions. Police pay fell rapidly below
inflation
In economics, inflation is an increase in the general price level of goods and services in an economy. When the general price level rises, each unit of currency buys fewer goods and services; consequently, inflation corresponds to a reductio ...
and rates of pay in the private sector. This caused recruiting problems and the force became seriously under strength. Nott-Bower was regarded by many of his officers as a pleasant but ineffectual man. He retired in August 1958.
Personal life
In April 1960, Nott-Bower became Chairman of the Auto Call Company, a
fire alarm
A fire alarm system warns people when smoke, fire, carbon monoxide or other fire-related or general notification emergency, emergencies are detected. These alarms may be activated automatically from smoke detectors and heat detectors or may also ...
manufacturer.
Nott-Bower was a skilled
horse
The horse (''Equus ferus caballus'') is a domesticated, one-toed, hoofed mammal. It belongs to the taxonomic family Equidae and is one of two extant subspecies of ''Equus ferus''. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million y ...
man and
polo
Polo is a ball game played on horseback, a traditional field sport and one of the world's oldest known team sports. The game is played by two opposing teams with the objective of scoring using a long-handled wooden mallet to hit a small hard ...
player. He played
rugby union
Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...
for Tonbridge School and golf for the Metropolitan Police and Mid-Surrey. He was also very fond of
bridge
A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually somethi ...
and
fly fishing
Fly fishing is an angling method that uses a light-weight lure—called an artificial fly—to catch fish. The fly is cast using a fly rod, reel, and specialized weighted line. The light weight requires casting techniques significantly diffe ...
.
Nott-Bower married Kathleen Buck in 1928. They had two sons and a daughter. His son, Timothy Elwyn, married Anne Cameron, the eldest daughter of
Sir Donald Cameron of Lochiel.
Honours
Notes
References
*Obituary, ''
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'' (fou ...
'', 5 October 1972
*Martin Fido & Keith Skinner, ''The Official Encyclopedia of Scotland Yard'', Virgin Books, London: 1999
External links
Metropolitan Police Service History – Sir John Nott-BowerPhotographic portraits of Nott-Bower in the National Portrait Gallery
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nott-Bower, John
1892 births
1972 deaths
Commissioners of Police of the Metropolis
Deputy Commissioners of Police of the Metropolis
Assistant Commissioners of Police of the Metropolis
Indian Police Service officers in British India
Knights Commander of the Royal Victorian Order
Knights Bachelor
People educated at Tonbridge School
Recipients of the Queen's Police Medal for Gallantry
Colonial recipients of the Queen's Police Medal