Sir Edward Richard Henry, 1st Baronet (26 July 1850 - 19 February 1931) was Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police from 1903 - 1918. He is remembered for introducing police dogs to the force and championing the use of fingerprints to identify criminals.
Biography[]
Henry joined the Indian Civil Service in 1873 and was placed in Bengal. He was appointed Inspector-General of Police on 2 April 1891 and introduced Bertillonage, a system developed by Alphonse Bertillon to identify criminals by taking their bodily measurements, to the Bengal police department. He also began exchanging letters with Francis Galton, the scientist who first classified fingerprints into groups, about the possibility of using fingerprints alongside Bertillonage or replacing it altogether (while it had been proven that fingerprints could identify people they were not yet used in policing).
In July 1896 Henry and Bengali sub-inspectors Azizul Haque and Hemchandra Bose began working on improving Galton's classification system, which consisted of eight distinct patterns. Together they formulated the Henry System - a system which assigns numerical value to each finger and fingerprint pattern and uses mathematical calculation to ascertain the fingerprint makeup of a suspect's hands. Henry initially wanted to use manual sorting into pigeonholes corresponding to fingerprint patterns, but Haque convinced him to use the mathematical formula instead. Years later, both Haque and Bose received official recognition for their role in the Henry system on Henry's recommendation. Henry's fingerprinting system quickly caught on with other police forces and was soon officially introduced to all territories in the British Raj.
Henry was recalled to England in 1901 to take his position as Assistant Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police at Scotland Yard. Henry used this position to introduce the fingerprinting system to Britain, establishing the Metropolitan Police Fingerprint Bureau to record the fingerprints of known criminals. The first prosecution in Britain based on fingerprint evidence was that of burglar Harry Jackson, who had left fingerprints on a windowsill at the scene of a break-in. Henry, determined to prove that his system worked, appointed Richard Muir to prosecute the case because he knew he had a good reputation and would be able to convince the jury that his technique worked. He had Charles Stockley Collins brief Muir on fingerprints for four days, after which Muir was convinced of their forensic value. Muir was successful in convincing a jury of Jackson's guilt and he was sentenced to seven years imprisonment. This case established fingerprint evidence as admissable in Britain, which was cemented by the successful prosecution of Albert and Alfred Stratton, the first murderers convicted based on fingerprints in British history.
Henry was promoted to Commissioner in 1903. He is generally seen as one of the great Commissioners for modernising British policing, introducing police dogs and proper training for constables and placing police boxes all across Britain. He also installed telephones in all divisional stations and increased the force's manpower by 1,600 men. He was shot by a disgruntled cab driver named Alfred Bowes, nearly killing him, in 1912, but forgave Bowes and issued a plea for leniency at his trial, as a result of which his potential life sentence was downgraded to fifteen years.
Henry intended to retire in 1914, but was forced to remain in his position because his designated successor was needed by the War Office with the outbreak of the First World War. He remained in office until 30 August 1918, when he resigned over disputes with the government about handling of the general police strike. He went on to join the committee of the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children and sat on the board of the intellectual Athenaeum Club. He suffered a heart attack and died on 19 February 1931.