Sir Percy Joseph Sillitoe KBE DL (22 May 1888 – 5 April 1962) was a chief constable of several police forces. He changed the role of radios, civilian staff, and women police officers within the police. He was later

Director General of MI5 __NOTOC__ The Director General of the Security Service is the head of the Security Service (commonly known as MI5), the United Kingdom's internal counter-intelligence and security agency. The Director General is assisted by a Deputy Director Gene ...

, the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

's internal security service, from 1946 to 1953.

Life

Born in London, Sillitoe was educated at

St Paul's Cathedral School (''By Faith and By Learning'') , established = , closed = , type = Independent preparatory schoolChoral foundation school , religious_affiliation = Church of England , president = , head_label = Headmaster , hea ...

(then St Paul's Cathedral Choir School). By 1908 he had become a Trooper in the

British South Africa Police The British South Africa Police (BSAP) was, for most of its existence, the police force of Rhodesia (renamed Zimbabwe in 1980). It was formed as a paramilitary force of mounted infantrymen in 1889 by Cecil Rhodes' British South Africa Company, fro ...

and in 1911 transferred to the Northern Rhodesia Police. During the First World War he took part in the German East Africa campaign. After serving as a political officer in Tanganyika from 1916 to 1920, he returned to England with his family. In 1923 he was appointed Chief Constable of Chesterfield, a position he held for the next two years. After a further year as Chief Constable of the East Riding of Yorkshire in 1925, he became in 1926 the Chief Constable of Sheffield, where he was credited with authorising "reasonable force" to break the hold of criminal gangs.(2004-09-23). Sillitoe, Sir Percy Joseph (1888–1962), police officer and intelligence officer. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Retrieved 5 Dec. 2017, fro
link
/ref> He was Chief Constable of

City of Glasgow Police The City of Glasgow Police or Glasgow City Police was the police of the City of Glasgow, Scotland. In the 17th century, Scottish cities used to hire watchmen to guard the streets at night, augmenting a force of unpaid citizen constables. On 3 ...

from 1931 to 1943, when he was credited with breaking the power of the notorious

Glasgow razor gangs The Glasgow razor gangs were Gang#Gang violence, violent gangs that existed in the Glasgow#East_End, East End and Glasgow#South_Side, South Side of Glasgow, Scotland in the late 1920s and 1930s and were named after their weapon of choice. H. Kin ...

, made infamous in the novel ''

No Mean City ''No Mean City'' is a 1935 novel by H. Kingsley Long, a journalist, and Alexander McArthur, an unemployed worker. It is an account of life in the Gorbals, a run-down slum district of Glasgow (now mostly demolished, but re-built in a contempora ...

''. During his time as chief constable of Glasgow, he was also credited with the introduction of wireless radios allowing communication between headquarters and vehicles, which previously relied completely upon the use of

police box A police box is a public telephone kiosk or callbox for the use of members of the police, or for members of the public to contact the police. It was used in the United Kingdom throughout the 20th century from the early 1920s. Unlike an ordinar ...

es, use of civilians in police-related roles, and the introduction of compulsory retirement after 30 years service. He is further credited with the introduction of the ''

Sillitoe tartan Sillitoe tartan is the nickname given to the distinctive black and white chequered pattern, correctly known as ''dicing'', which was originally associated with the police in Scotland. It later gained widespread use in the rest of the United Ki ...

'' which is more commonly recognized as the black and white diced pattern on police cap bands, originally based on that used by several

Scottish regiment A Scottish regiment is any regiment (or similar military unit) that at some time in its history has or had a name that referred to Scotland or some part thereof, and adopted items of Scottish dress. These regiments were created after the Acts ...

s on the Glengarry. In 1944 Sillitoe was made the chief constable of Kent and he employed Barbara Denis de Vitre to lead the women's force. When she arrived Kent had two policewomen and the following year there were nearly 150. Sillitoe went on to head

MI5 The Security Service, also known as MI5 ( Military Intelligence, Section 5), is the United Kingdom's domestic counter-intelligence and security agency and is part of its intelligence machinery alongside the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6), G ...

. His reputation was damaged by the 1951 defection to the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

of the spies

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 ...

and

Donald Duart Maclean Donald Duart Maclean (; 25 May 1913 – 6 March 1983) was a British diplomat who conveyed government secrets to the Soviet Union. As an undergraduate, Maclean openly proclaimed his left-wing views, and was recruited into the Soviet intelligenc ...

, and by the investigation afterwards, which showed that MI5 had been unaware and slow to act. He was made a

Commander 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 ...

(CBE) in 1936 and knighted in the

1942 New Year Honours The 1942 New Year Honours were appointments by King George VI to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of the United Kingdom and British Empire. They were announced on 30 December 1941.United Kingdom and Britis ...

References

Sources

* P. Sillitoe, ''Cloak without dagger'', 1955 * A. E. Cockerill, ''Sir Percy Sillitoe'', 1975 * R. Deacon, ''The greatest treason: the bizarre story of Hollis, Liddell and Mountbatten'', rev. edn 1990 * The Times, ''Obituary'', 6 April 1962

External links

The Glasgow Story – Chief Constable Sir Percy Sillitoe
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sillitoe, Percy 1888 births 1962 deaths People from Tulse Hill Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire British Chief Constables Directors General of MI5 British colonial police officers Colonial Administrative Service officers British South Africa Police officers People educated at St. Paul's Cathedral School Deputy Lieutenants of Glasgow Knights Bachelor