Célestin Hennion
CVO (8 September 1862 – 14 March 1915) was a French police officer who rose to head the
Prefecture of Police In France, a Prefecture of Police (french: Préfecture de police), headed by the Prefect of Police (''Préfet de police''), is an agency of the Government of France under the administration of the Ministry of the Interior. Part of the National Pol ...
(french: Préfecture de Police). He was responsible for the reorganisation of the Préfecture and the introduction of
The Tiger Brigades
''The Tiger Brigades'' (French: ''Les Brigades du Tigre'') is a period crime television series which originally ran between 1974 and 1983. Created by Claude DesaillyBosseno p.30 it follows the activities of a police squad in the early twentieth ...
, ancestor of the
French judicial police
Judicial police in France are responsible for the investigation of criminal offenses and identification of perpetrators. This is in contrast to Administrative police in France, whose goal is to ensure the maintenance of public order and to preve ...
. In France, he is considered to be one of the pioneers of modern policing.
Early life
Hennion was born in
Gommegnies
Gommegnies () is a commune in the Nord department in northern France.
Heraldry
See also
*Communes of the Nord department
The following is a list of the 648 communes of the Nord department of the French Republic.
The communes cooperate i ...
in 1862, to Joseph Ghislain Hannion, a farm labourer, and Marie-Catherine Basilaire and he was educated at Lycée
Le Quesnoy
Le Quesnoy (; pcd, L' Kénoé) is a Communes of France, commune and small town in the east of the Nord (French department), Nord Departments of France, department of northern France. It was part of the historical province of French Hainaut. It ...
. After leaving grammar school he joined the
French Army
The French Army, officially known as the Land Army (french: Armée de Terre, ), is the land-based and largest component of the French Armed Forces. It is responsible to the Government of France, along with the other components of the Armed Force ...
, and was posted to
Tunisia
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, image_map = Tunisia location (orthographic projection).svg
, map_caption = Location of Tunisia in northern Africa
, image_map2 =
, capital = Tunis
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, ...
as part of the 110th Infantry Regiment, from 1880 until 1885 during which time Tunisia became a
French Protectorate.
Police career
On returning to France he joined the police force and in 1886 was an inspector in a specialised railways squad. Hennion had a rapid rise through the force, and was moved into intelligence work where he investigated organisations intent on over-throwing the
Third Republic. During the 1890s, Hennion investigated the counter-evidence provided by
Georges Picquart
Marie-Georges Picquart (6 September 1854 – 19 January 1914) was a French Army officer and Minister of War. He is best known for his role in the Dreyfus affair, in which he played a key role in uncovering the real culprit.
Early career
Picqua ...
during the
Dreyfus affair
The Dreyfus affair (french: affaire Dreyfus, ) was a political scandal that divided the French Third Republic from 1894 until its resolution in 1906. "L'Affaire", as it is known in French, has come to symbolise modern injustice in the Francop ...
, becoming a strong supporter of
Alfred Dreyfus
Alfred Dreyfus ( , also , ; 9 October 1859 – 12 July 1935) was a French artillery officer of Jewish ancestry whose trial and conviction in 1894 on charges of treason became one of the most polarizing political dramas in modern French history ...
. Hennion also thwarted several attacks against political figures and the state, including the 1899
coup d'état
A coup d'état (; French for 'stroke of state'), also known as a coup or overthrow, is a seizure and removal of a government and its powers. Typically, it is an illegal seizure of power by a political faction, politician, cult, rebel group, ...
by
Paul Déroulède
Paul Déroulède (2 September 1846 – 30 January 1914) was a French author and politician, one of the founders of the nationalist League of Patriots.
Early life
Déroulède was born in Paris. He was published first as a poet in the magazine '' ...
and was dispatched with additional troops to quell unrest in
Rennes
Rennes (; br, Roazhon ; Gallo: ''Resnn''; ) is a city in the east of Brittany in northwestern France at the confluence of the Ille and the Vilaine. Rennes is the prefecture of the region of Brittany, as well as the Ille-et-Vilaine departm ...
during the second Dreyfus trial.
[Davis (2003), pg 288.] In 1899 Hennion was given the responsibility of protecting the French Head of State.
On 30 January 1907, Hennion was made the Director of General Security by
Georges Clemenceau
Georges Benjamin Clemenceau (, also , ; 28 September 1841 – 24 November 1929) was a French statesman who served as Prime Minister of France from 1906 to 1909 and again from 1917 until 1920. A key figure of the Independent Radicals, he was ...
,
[Davis (2003), pg 292.] and that year Hennion suggested the creation of mobile police brigades, which later became known as the ''Brigades du Tigre''. Hennion was part of modernist movement within the French republic that included people like
Aristide Briand
Aristide Pierre Henri Briand (; 28 March 18627 March 1932) was a French statesman who served eleven terms as Prime Minister of France during the French Third Republic. He is mainly remembered for his focus on international issues and reconcilia ...
and the other great police reformer of the age
Louis Lépine
Louis Jean-Baptiste Lépine (1846 - 1933) was a lawyer, politician and inventor who was Préfet de Police with the Paris Police Prefecture from 1893 to 1897 and again from 1899 to 1913. He earned the nickname of "The Little Man with the Big Stick ...
who brought new ideas into French policing introducing forensic equipment and methods of investigation.
In 1910 Hennion set up the first police training school, a vocational school for active service staff of the 'Prefecture de Police'. The next year, Hennion set up the Brigade Renseignements Généraux, which later become the
Direction centrale des renseignements généraux
The ''Direction Centrale des Renseignements Généraux'' (Central Directorate of General Intelligence), often called ''Renseignements Généraux'' (RG), was the intelligence service of the French National Police, answerable to the ''Direction Gé ...
, a committed intelligence service of the French Police. Hennion continually pushed to separate the policing within France from political control, and in 1911 unsuccessfully attempted to replace the de facto mayoral command with that of the chief of police.
[Davis (2003), pg 294.]
Hennion was appointed Préfet de Police on 31 March 1913, succeeding Louis Lépine. He was in post for too short a period to be totally effective but he continued the reforms of his predecessor dividing the police force into three main departments: judicial, intelligence and policy agenda. Ill health forced his retirement from the post on 2 September 1914.
Hennion died in March 1915 and he is buried in the family tomb in
Gommegnies
Gommegnies () is a commune in the Nord department in northern France.
Heraldry
See also
*Communes of the Nord department
The following is a list of the 648 communes of the Nord department of the French Republic.
The communes cooperate i ...
, France.
Honours
For his services in the French Army, Hennion was awarded the
Colonial Medal
The Colonial Medal (french: "Médaille Coloniale") was a French decoration created by the "loi de finances" of 26 July 1893 (article 75) to reward "military services in the colonies, resulting from participation in military operations, in a colon ...
, was made a Knight of the
Order of Nichan Iftikhar and an Officier de la
Légion d'honneur
The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon B ...
. For his services as a senior policeman during visits to France by
King Edward VII
Edward VII (Albert Edward; 9 November 1841 – 6 May 1910) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and Emperor of India, from 22 January 1901 until Death and state funeral of Edward VII, his death in 1910.
The second chil ...
he was appointed Honorary Member (Fourth Class) 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, ...
in 1906 and promoted to Honorary Commander in 1908.
Notable relatives
The first episode of the 7th series of the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
television programme ''
Who Do You Think You Are?'' revealed that English television presenter
Davina McCall
Davina Lucy Pascale McCall (born 16 October 1967) is an English television presenter. She was the presenter of the reality show ''Big Brother (UK), Big Brother'' during its run on Channel 4 between 2000 and 2010. She also hosted Channel 4's '' ...
is Hennion's great-granddaughter.
Pierre, Hennion's son and McCall's grandfather, gave McCall his father's
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, ...
medal, which she showed on the programme.
In the programme, which broadcast on 15 July 2009, McCall learned of Hennion's story from historians
Jean-Marc Berliere
Jean-Marc is a French masculine given name. It may refer to:
* Jean-Marc Adjovi-Bocco (born 1963), Beninese former football player
* Jean-Marc Ayrault (born 1950), French politician
* Jean-Marc Barr (born 1960), French-American film actor and dir ...
and
Simon Kitson
Simon Kitson (born 1967) is a British historian.
Kitson did his undergraduate studies at the University of Ulster and his post-graduate studies at the University of Sussex, under the supervision of Roderick Kedward. His doctoral thes ...
as well as from Françoise Hennion (the policeman's granddaughter) and from Dreyfus's great-granddaughter, Yael Ruiz.
Cultural references

*In the 2006 feature film ''
Les Brigades du Tigre
''The Tiger Brigades'' (french: Les Brigades du Tigre) is a 2006 French crime film. Based on a very successful 1970s-'80s French television series of the same name the film depicts an Untouchables-type crack "Flying Squad" once formed by Georges ...
'', Hennion was played by Mathias Mlekuz.
*In 2020 TV series ''The Bonfire of Destiny'' premised on the aftermath of the deadly fire at
Le Bazar de la Charité in Paris in 1897, he is played by Stéphane Guillon as director of the
Sûreté Nationale, national intelligence agency.
Bibliography
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References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hennion, Celestin
1862 births
1915 deaths
People from Nord (French department)
Prefects of police of Paris
French Army officers
Honorary Commanders of the Royal Victorian Order
Officiers of the Légion d'honneur