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

fingerprint A fingerprint is an impression left by the friction ridges of a human finger. The recovery of partial fingerprints from a crime scene is an important method of forensic science. Moisture and grease on a finger result in fingerprints on surfa ...

s for identification on

contract A contract is an agreement that specifies certain legally enforceable rights and obligations pertaining to two or more parties. A contract typically involves consent to transfer of goods, services, money, or promise to transfer any of thos ...

s."Michele Triplett's Fingerprint Dictionary: K" (glossary), Michele Triplett, 2006, ''Fprints.nwlean.net'' webpage
Fprints-K
.

Personal life

He was born in

Slough Slough () is a town in Berkshire, England, in the Thames Valley, west of central London and north-east of Reading, at the intersection of the M4, M40 and M25 motorways. It is part of the historic county of Buckinghamshire. In 2021, the ...

Buckinghamshire Buckinghamshire (, abbreviated ''Bucks'') is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-east, Hertfordshir ...

(now

Berkshire Berkshire ( ; abbreviated ), officially the Royal County of Berkshire, is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Oxfordshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the north-east, Greater London ...

), 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 and experimental photographer who invented the blueprint and did botanical work. ...

. His younger brothers were

Alexander Alexander () is a male name of Greek origin. The most prominent bearer of the name is Alexander the Great, the king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia who created one of the largest empires in ancient history. Variants listed here ar ...

and

John John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second E ...

. 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 Warfield is a village and civil parish in the Bracknell Forest district, in the ceremonial county of Berkshire, England. In 2021 it had a population of 11,260. History Warfield was originally an Anglo-Saxon settlement and is recorded in the Do ...

in Berkshire and at

Littlemore Littlemore is a district and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in Oxford, England. The civil parish includes part of Rose Hill, Oxfordshire, Rose Hill. It is about southeast of the city centre of Oxford, between Rose Hill, Blackbird Ley ...

in Oxfordshire. Upon his death the baronetcy passed to his son.

Fingerprinting

Fingerprints taken by William James Herschel 1859-1860

Herschel is credited with being the first European to note the value of

s 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 The Indian Civil Service (ICS), officially known as the Imperial Civil Service, was the higher civil service of the British Empire in India during British Raj, British rule in the period between 1858 and 1947. Its members ruled over more than 3 ...

at Jangipur in the

Bengal Bengal ( ) is a Historical geography, historical geographical, ethnolinguistic and cultural term referring to a region in the Eastern South Asia, eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal. The region of Benga ...

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 constantly until two years before his 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 William James (January 11, 1842 – August 26, 1910) was an American philosopher and psychologist. The first educator to offer a psychology course in the United States, he is considered to be one of the leading thinkers of the late 19th c ...