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Sir William James Herschel, 2nd Baronet (9 January 1833 – 24 October 1917)"Michele Triplett's Fingerprint Dictionary: H" (glossary), Michele Triplett, 2006, ''Fprints.nwlean.net'' webpage
was a British ICS officer in India who used fingerprints for identification on contracts."Michele Triplett's Fingerprint Dictionary: K" (glossary), Michele Triplett, 2006, ''Fprints.nwlean.net'' webpage
Fprints-K
Herschel is credited with being the first European to note the value of fingerprints for identification. He recognized that fingerprints were unique and permanent. Herschel documented his own fingerprints over his lifetime to prove permanence. He was also credited with being the first person to use fingerprints in a practical manner. As early as 1858, working as a British officer for the Indian Civil Service at Jangipur in the Bengal region of India, he started putting fingerprints on contracts.Sengoopta Chandak, Imprint of the Raj: How Fingerprinting was Born in Colonial Indi
/ref> He worked from his late teens all the way through until 2 years before death.
was a British ICS officer in India who used fingerprints for identification on contracts."Michele Triplett's Fingerprint Dictionary: K" (glossary), Michele Triplett, 2006, ''Fprints.nwlean.net'' webpage
Fprints-K
Personal life
He was born inSlough
Slough () is a town and unparished area in the unitary authority of the same name in Berkshire, England, bordering west London. It lies in the Thames Valley, west of central London and north-east of Reading, at the intersection of the M4 ...
in Buckinghamshire
Buckinghamshire (), abbreviated Bucks, is a ceremonial county in South East England that borders Greater London to the south-east, Berkshire to the south, Oxfordshire to the west, Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-ea ...
(now 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 Berk ...
), the third child (of twelve) and the eldest son (of three) of the astronomer, John Herschel
Sir John Frederick William Herschel, 1st Baronet (; 7 March 1792 – 11 May 1871) was an English polymath active as a mathematician, astronomer, chemist, inventor, experimental photographer who invented the blueprint and did botanical wor ...
. His younger brothers were Alexander Stewart Herschel and John Herschel the Younger.
On 19 May 1864 he married (Anne) Emma Haldane, youngest daughter of Alfred Hardcastle of Hatcham House, Surrey. She died at the birth of their second son, having borne him 4 children:
* Margaret Eliza Emma Herschel (1865–1880) She had a brain tumor early on.
* Emma Dorothea Herschel (1867–1954)
* Reverend Sir John Charles William Herschel, 3rd Baronet (1869–1950)
* Arthur Edward Hardcastle Herschel (1873–1924)
He lived at Warfield in Berkshire and at Littlemore in Oxforshire. Upon his death the baronetcy passed to his son.
Fingerprinting
Herschel is credited with being the first European to note the value of fingerprints for identification. He recognized that fingerprints were unique and permanent. Herschel documented his own fingerprints over his lifetime to prove permanence. He was also credited with being the first person to use fingerprints in a practical manner. As early as 1858, working as a British officer for the Indian Civil Service at Jangipur in the Bengal region of India, he started putting fingerprints on contracts.Sengoopta Chandak, Imprint of the Raj: How Fingerprinting was Born in Colonial Indi/ref> He worked from his late teens all the way through until 2 years before death.
External links
*Arms
Notes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Herschel, William James 1833 births 1917 deaths Baronets in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom British forensic scientists People from Slough People from Warfield Administrators in British India English people of Scottish descent English people of German descent William James