Sir Charles Augustus Tegart (5 October 1881 – 6 April 1946) was an Irish-born police officer who served in

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

and Palestine. Tegart was the mastermind behind the creation of the Arab Investigation Centres in Palestine during the

Great Arab revolt The Arab Revolt ( ar, الثورة العربية, ) or the Great Arab Revolt ( ar, الثورة العربية الكبرى, ) was a military uprising of Arab forces against the Ottoman Empire in the Middle Eastern theatre of World War I. On t ...

. During his career, Tegart achieved a reputation of being "uncompromising with detainees".

Early life

Born in Derry on 5 October 1881, Tegart was the son of a

Church of Ireland The Church of Ireland ( ga, Eaglais na hÉireann, ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Kirk o Airlann, ) is a Christian church in Ireland and an autonomous province of the Anglican Communion. It is organised on an all-Ireland basis and is the secon ...

clergyman, Rev. Joseph Poulter Tegart of

Dunboyne Dunboyne () is a town in Meath, Ireland. It is a commuter town for Dublin. In the 20 years between the 1996 and 2016 censuses, the population of Dunboyne more than doubled from 3,080 to 7,272 inhabitants. Location Dunboyne is centred on the ...

, County Meath and his wife Georgina Johnston. He was educated at

Portora Royal School Portora Royal School located in Enniskillen, County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland, was one of the public schools founded by the royal charter in 1608, by James I, making it one of the oldest schools in Ireland at the time of its closure. Origina ...

Enniskillen Enniskillen ( , from ga, Inis Ceithleann , ' Ceithlenn's island') is the largest town in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. It is in the middle of the county, between the Upper and Lower sections of Lough Erne. It had a population of 13,823 a ...

and briefly at Trinity College, Dublin.

Career in India

He joined the Calcutta Police in 1901, becoming head of its Detective Department. He served almost continuously in

Calcutta Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, the official name until 2001) is the Capital city, capital of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal, on the eastern ba ...

for a period of thirty years until he was appointed a member of the Secretary of State's Indian Council in December 1931. He was the first officer of the Indian Imperial Police (IMP) in the Council and on his report its Special Branch was created. 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 ...

in 1911. He became Superintendent of Police in 1908, Deputy Commissioner in 1913, Deputy-Inspector General (Intelligence) in 1918, and Commissioner of Calcutta Police from 1923 to 1931. He earned notoriety amongst the Bengal opponents of British rule, especially from independence activists. In their eyes, he was an obdurate opponent of Indian nationalism to the point of illegality. Charles Tegart was involved in a skirmish with Indian revolutionaries led by

Jatindranath Mukherjee Bagha Jatin (; ) or Baghajatin, born Jatindranath Mukherjee (); 7 December 1879 – 10 September 1915) was an Indian independence activist. He was the principal leader of the Jugantar party that was the central association of revolutionary ...

at Balasore in

Orissa Odisha (English: , ), formerly Orissa ( the official name until 2011), is an Indian state located in Eastern India. It is the 8th largest state by area, and the 11th largest by population. The state has the third largest population of S ...

on 9 September 1915. Tegart was reported to have survived six assassination attempts in India and in spite of the danger he continued to drive around in an open-top car with his

Staffordshire Bull Terrier The Staffordshire Bull Terrier, also called the Staffy or Stafford, is a purebred dog of small to medium size in the terrier group that originated in the northern parts of Birmingham and in the Black Country of Staffordshire, for which it is ...

riding on the bonnet. The assassination attempts included: * On 12 January 1924, at Chowringhee Road in Calcutta, by

Gopinath Saha Gopinath Saha or Gopi Mohan Saha (16 December 1905 — 1 March 1924) was a Bengali activist for Indian independence (from British rule) and member of the Indian independence movementKalikatha, Via Bypass - Page 30 On 12 January 1924, he attempted ...

, an Indian revolutionist, who erroneously shot down a white man, Mr. Ernest Day, whom he mistook for Tegart. * On 25 August 1930, at Dalhousie Square in Calcutta, by throwing a bomb into the car in which Tegart was travelling, but Tegart shot down the revolutionary and escaped unhurt. Tegart's efficiency in curbing the revolutionary activities of the Indians came in for praise from Lord Lytton, then Governor of Bengal. He was awarded the KCIE in the 1937 Coronation Honours. Prior to his roles in India, he served as chief assistant to

Ormonde Winter Brigadier-General Sir Ormonde de l'Épée Winter, KBE, CB, CMG, DSO (15 January 1875 – 13 February 1962), was a British Army officer and author who, after service in the First World War, was responsible for intelligence operations in Ire ...

, the head of

British Intelligence The Government of the United Kingdom maintains intelligence agencies within three government departments, the Foreign Office, the Home Office and the Ministry of Defence. These agencies are responsible for collecting and analysing foreign and d ...

operations in Ireland during the Irish War of Independence. As a graduate of Trinity College, Dublin he retained contacts there and was awarded an honorary doctorate in 1933.

Career in Palestine

In view of his expertise, the British authorities sent him to the

British Mandate of Palestine British Mandate of Palestine or Palestine Mandate most often refers to: * Mandate for Palestine: a League of Nations mandate under which the British controlled an area which included Mandatory Palestine and the Emirate of Transjordan. * Mandatory P ...

, then in the throes of the

Arab Revolt The Arab Revolt ( ar, الثورة العربية, ) or the Great Arab Revolt ( ar, الثورة العربية الكبرى, ) was a military uprising of Arab forces against the Ottoman Empire in the Middle Eastern theatre of World War I. On ...

, to advise the Inspector General on matters of security. He arrived there in December 1937. In due course he advised the construction of 77 reinforced concrete police stations and posts which could be defended against attack, and of a frontier fence along the northern border of Palestine to control the movement of insurgents, goods and weapons. His recommendations were accepted and 62 new " Tegart forts", as they came to be known, were built throughout Palestine, however all but a few located along the Lebanese border were built after the Arab Revolt, in 1940–41.Seth J. Frantzman
"Tegart’s shadow"
, ''Jerusalem Post'', 21 October 2011. Many of them are still in use, some by

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

i forces and others by

Palestinian Palestinians ( ar, الفلسطينيون, ; he, פָלַסְטִינִים, ) or Palestinian people ( ar, الشعب الفلسطيني, label=none, ), also referred to as Palestinian Arabs ( ar, الفلسطينيين العرب, label=non ...

ones, while others were destroyed in various rounds of fighting. Tegart also was the mastermind behind the establishment of the Arab Investigation Centres in Palestine during the Great Arab revolt. The centres were for the interrogation of suspected Arab insurgents, and torture was frequently used during interrogations. Tactics used include the Turkish practice of falaka (beating prisoners on the soles of their feet), though some historians have claimed that there is no conclusive proof to be found in Tegart's personal papers in support of the accusations that he personally oversaw interrogation centres or that he developed new torture techniques.

World War II

In 1942, Tegart headed up operations at the

Ministry of Food An agriculture ministry (also called an) agriculture department, agriculture board, agriculture council, or agriculture agency, or ministry of rural development) is a ministry charged with agriculture. The ministry is often headed by a minister ...

in wartime Britain to combat the black market.

Personal life

For some time, Tegart kept a defused bomb as a paperweight to remind him of the attempts on his life. He once threw the bomb in a moment of anger, only to have it explode against the wall of his office, an incident he reportedly considered amusing. Tegart died at his home of age-related disease.

References

Archive sources

Sir Charles Tegart Collection
held at St Antony's College, Oxford University.
'Charles Tegart of the Indian Police': an unpublished biography by Lady Tegart
Mss Eur C235 in British Library, Asia, Pacific and Africa Collections. {{DEFAULTSORT:Tegart, Charles British colonial police officers Irish knights Indian Police Service officers in British India Hindu–German Conspiracy Indian police chiefs Knights Commander of the Order of the Indian Empire Members of the Royal Victorian Order Police officers from Kolkata Northern Irish recipients of the Queen's Police Medal Administrators of Palestine 1881 births 1946 deaths People of the 1936–1939 Arab revolt in Palestine People educated at Portora Royal School People from Derry (city) Indian justices of the peace Irish people in colonial India British Combined Intelligence Unit personnel Police misconduct in India Police brutality in Israel British people in Mandatory Palestine