Sir John Lovegrove Waldron KCVO (5 November 1909 – 24 August 1975) was a British police officer who served as Chief Constable of Berkshire Constabulary from 1954 to 1958 and

Commissioner A commissioner (commonly abbreviated as Comm'r) is, in principle, a member of a commission or an individual who has been given a commission (official charge or authority to do something). In practice, the title of commissioner has evolved to in ...

of the London Metropolitan Police from 1968 to 1972.

Early career

Born in

Wargrave Wargrave () is a historic village and civil parish in Berkshire, England. The village is primarily on the River Thames but also along the confluence of the River Loddon and lies on the border with southern Oxfordshire. The village has many o ...

Berkshire Berkshire ( ; in the 17th century sometimes spelt phonetically as Barkeshire; abbreviated Berks.) is a historic county in South East England. One of the home counties, Berkshire was recognised by Queen Elizabeth II as the Royal County of Ber ...

, Waldron was educated at

Charterhouse School (God having given, I gave) , established = , closed = , type = Public school Independent day and boarding school , religion = Church of England , president ...

, and

Clare College, Cambridge Clare College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. The college was founded in 1326 as University Hall, making it the second-oldest surviving college of the University after Peterhouse. It was refounded ...

. He joined the Metropolitan Police in 1934 and passed out from

Hendon Police College Hendon Police College is the principal training centre for London's Metropolitan Police. Founded with the official name of the Metropolitan Police College, the college has officially been known as the Peel Centre since 1974, although its origin ...

. In 1943 he was seconded to the Ceylon Police, serving as Deputy

Inspector-General An inspector general is an investigative official in a civil or military organization. The plural of the term is "inspectors general". Australia The Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security (Australia) (IGIS) is an independent statutory of ...

(

CID CID may refer to: Film * ''C.I.D.'' (1955 film), an Indian Malayalam film * ''C.I.D.'' (1956 film), an Indian Hindi film * ''C. I. D.'' (1965 film), an Indian Telugu film * ''C.I.D.'' (1990 film), an Indian Hindi film Television * ''CID'' ( ...

) from 1944 to 1947. The Inspector-General was Ranulph Bacon, whom Waldron would later succeed as both Assistant Commissioner and Deputy Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police. Waldron then returned to the Metropolitan Police, but was appointed an Assistant Chief Constable of

Lancashire Constabulary Lancashire Constabulary is the territorial police force responsible for policing the ceremonial county of Lancashire in North West England. The force's headquarters are at Hutton, near the city of Preston. , the force has 3,088 police offic ...

in 1951. In 1954 he became Chief Constable of Berkshire Constabulary.

Return to the Metropolitan Police

In 1958, Waldron returned to London as Assistant Commissioner "B" (Traffic). 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, Canadian monarch, Australian monarch, or ...

(CVO) in the

1959 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 1959 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 announced on 30 December 1958 to cele ...

. After five years in charge of Traffic, he transferred to become Assistant Commissioner "A" (Operations and Administration) in 1963. In 1965, Waldron was responsible for organising the policing of the funeral of

Sir Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 Winston Churchill in the Second World War, dur ...

, a duty for which 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) in the

1966 Birthday Honours The Queen's Birthday Honours 1966 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. The appointments were made to celebrate ...

. In 1966, Waldron was promoted to Deputy Commissioner, the second highest rank in the Met."Two Police Chiefs Promoted", ''

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'' (fo ...

'', 16 March 1966 When the Commissioner, Sir Joseph Simpson, died suddenly in 1968, Waldron was appointed his successor. The appointment was assumed by many to be a temporary fill-in role, but circumstances such as a rise in police salaries and pensions, and the fall of the Labour government in 1970 saw Waldron stay on for several years longer than expected.

Waldron reforms

A management consultancy firm had been engaged to assess the structure and operations of the Metropolitan Police during Simpson's tenure as Commissioner, and their report was released shortly after Simpson's death and Waldron's appointment. Waldron and his deputies decided not to proceed with many of the report's more drastic recommendations, and the creation of the

Greater London Council The Greater London Council (GLC) was the top-tier local government administrative body for Greater London from 1965 to 1986. It replaced the earlier London County Council (LCC) which had covered a much smaller area. The GLC was dissolved in 198 ...

and the new

London borough The London boroughs are the 32 local authority districts that together with the City of London make up the administrative area of Greater London; each is governed by a London borough council. The present London boroughs were all created at ...

s were causing significant strain on territorial policing of London. Waldron did, however, set in motion the move to area-based policing and renamed the former Police Districts to Areas.

Retirement

Waldron retired on 31 March 1972, although several allegations of corruption within the police force during the last days and after his tenure tainted his reputation somewhat.

Honours

Police Long Service and Good Conduct ribbon

Footnotes

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Waldron, John 1909 births 1975 deaths People educated at Charterhouse School Alumni of Clare College, Cambridge British Chief Constables Knights Commander of the Royal Victorian Order Commissioners of Police of the Metropolis Deputy Commissioners of Police of the Metropolis Assistant Commissioners of Police of the Metropolis People from Wargrave British colonial police officers