Herbert Dowbiggin
Encyclopedia
Sir Herbert Layard Dowbiggin, C.M.G.
(1880 – 1966) was the British colonial Inspector General of Police of British Ceylon
(now Sri Lanka
) from 1913 to 1937, the longest tenure of office of an Inspector General of Police (IGP). He was called the 'Father of Colonial Police'.
into Sinhala, and his younger brother Hugh Blackwell Layard Dowbiggin was born in Sri Lanka. His maternal grandfather was Sir Charles Peter Layard, the Government Agent
of the Western province (after whom Layard's Broadway in Colombo was named) who was himself the grandson of Gualterus Mooyaart, Administrateur of Jaffna
under the Dutch United East India Company
, the VOC. He was a relative of Sir Henry Austen Layard
of Nineveh
fame and of the naturalist Edgar Leopold Layard
.
Dowbiggin was educated at Merchant Taylors' School
and joined the Ceylon Police in 1901. He became Inspector-General in 1913. During Dowbiggin's tenure of office in Sri Lanka, the strength of the Force was enhanced considerably and the posts of two Deputy Inspectors General were also created. He oversaw an expansion of the Force: the number of Police stations increased, so that by 1916 there were 138 all over the island.
He also modernised the Force, introducing new techniques of investigation such as fingerprinting and photography and improving the telecommunications network for the Police as well as increasing the mobility of the Force. The analysis of crime reports became more systematic. He purchased the land on Havelock Road, Colombo, on which the Police Headquarters and the 'Police Park' playing fields are located.
It was early in his tenure that H.H. Engelbrecht, a Boer
wild life officer in Yala, was unjustly jailed in 1914 for allegedly having supplied meat to the German light cruiser
.
Facing the riot of 1915, he authorised the use of draconian measures. Anagarika Dharmapala
was arrested and his legs were broken in police custody; his brother died. E. W. Perera
, a lawyer from Kotte
, braved mine and submarine-infested seas (as well as the Police) to carry a secret Memorial in the soles of his shoes to the Secretary of State for the Colonies
, pleading for the repeal of martial law and describing atrocities claimed to have been committed by the Police led by Dowbiggin.
On his advice, the British and Palestine Sections of the Police were reinforced, and deployed so that no important Jewish settlement or group of Jewish farms was without a detachment, with access to sealed armouries, furnished with Greener guns. Each colony was provided with a telephone and the road network was improved to give the Police greater mobility.
It is significant that Dowbiggin structured the colonial police force in Palestine as a civilian, rather than a military, force, including the deployment of many police stations in rural areas, based on his experience in Sri Lanka. His successor, Charles Tegart
, the former commissioner of the Calcutta Police, recommended the building of highly fortified, military-style Police stations, the so-called 'Tegart Fortresses', in Arab areas.
of the Lanka Sama Samaja Party
, to condemn 'the bloodstained record' of Dowbiggin as IGP of Ceylon, to mark 'the victims of police brutality and terrorism of 1915' and to condemn 'the betrayal of the Ceylonese nation by Sir Baron Jayatilaka... in attempting to identify the nation with an appreciation of Sir Dowbiggin’s [sic] services.' The popular George E. de Silva presided and A.E. Goonesinha, leader of the Ceylon Labour Party, was a guest speaker. Ten thousand people attended the meeting, held at Galle Face Green
.
He died in Suffolk
, England on 24 May 1966.
Order of St Michael and St George
The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George is an order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George, Prince Regent, later George IV of the United Kingdom, while he was acting as Prince Regent for his father, George III....
(1880 – 1966) was the British colonial Inspector General of Police of British Ceylon
British Ceylon
British Ceylon refers to British rule prior to 1948 of the island territory now known as Sri Lanka.-From the Dutch to the British:Before the beginning of the Dutch governance, the island of Ceylon was divided between the Portuguese Empire and the Kingdom of Kandy, who were in the midst of a war for...
(now Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...
) from 1913 to 1937, the longest tenure of office of an Inspector General of Police (IGP). He was called the 'Father of Colonial Police'.
Antecedents
Dowbiggin was the sixth child of Rev. Richard Thomas Dowbiggin and Laetitia Anna Layard. His father had translated the BibleBible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
into Sinhala, and his younger brother Hugh Blackwell Layard Dowbiggin was born in Sri Lanka. His maternal grandfather was Sir Charles Peter Layard, the Government Agent
Government Agent (Sri Lanka)
A Government Agent or a District Secretary is a Sri Lankan civil servant of the Sri Lanka Administrative Service appointed by the central government to govern a certain district of the country. The GA is the administrative head of public services in the District. As Sri Lanka has 25 districts,...
of the Western province (after whom Layard's Broadway in Colombo was named) who was himself the grandson of Gualterus Mooyaart, Administrateur of Jaffna
Jaffna
Jaffna is the capital city of the Northern Province, Sri Lanka. It is the administrative headquarters of the Jaffna district located on a peninsula of the same name. Jaffna is approximately six miles away from Kandarodai which served as a famous emporium in the Jaffna peninsula from classical...
under the Dutch United East India Company
Dutch East India Company
The Dutch East India Company was a chartered company established in 1602, when the States-General of the Netherlands granted it a 21-year monopoly to carry out colonial activities in Asia...
, the VOC. He was a relative of Sir Henry Austen Layard
Austen Henry Layard
Sir Austen Henry Layard GCB, PC was a British traveller, archaeologist, cuneiformist, art historian, draughtsman, collector, author, politician and diplomat, best known as the excavator of Nimrud.-Family:...
of Nineveh
Nineveh
Nineveh was an ancient Assyrian city on the eastern bank of the Tigris River, and capital of the Neo Assyrian Empire. Its ruins are across the river from the modern-day major city of Mosul, in the Ninawa Governorate of Iraq....
fame and of the naturalist Edgar Leopold Layard
Edgar Leopold Layard
Edgar Leopold Layard CMG, FZS, MBOU was a British naturalist mainly interested in ornithology. Born in Florence, Italy, to a family of Huguenot descent, he was the sixth son of Henry Peter John Layard of the Ceylon Civil Service with his wife Marianne,...
.
Dowbiggin was educated at Merchant Taylors' School
Merchant Taylors' School
There are three schools in England known as 'Merchant Taylors' School':*Merchant Taylors' School, Northwood, Founded 1561*Merchant Taylors' School, Crosby, Founded 1620*Merchant Taylors' Girls' School, Crosby, Founded 1888...
and joined the Ceylon Police in 1901. He became Inspector-General in 1913. During Dowbiggin's tenure of office in Sri Lanka, the strength of the Force was enhanced considerably and the posts of two Deputy Inspectors General were also created. He oversaw an expansion of the Force: the number of Police stations increased, so that by 1916 there were 138 all over the island.
He also modernised the Force, introducing new techniques of investigation such as fingerprinting and photography and improving the telecommunications network for the Police as well as increasing the mobility of the Force. The analysis of crime reports became more systematic. He purchased the land on Havelock Road, Colombo, on which the Police Headquarters and the 'Police Park' playing fields are located.
It was early in his tenure that H.H. Engelbrecht, a Boer
Boer
Boer is the Dutch and Afrikaans word for farmer, which came to denote the descendants of the Dutch-speaking settlers of the eastern Cape frontier in Southern Africa during the 18th century, as well as those who left the Cape Colony during the 19th century to settle in the Orange Free State,...
wild life officer in Yala, was unjustly jailed in 1914 for allegedly having supplied meat to the German light cruiser
Light cruiser
A light cruiser is a type of small- or medium-sized warship. The term is a shortening of the phrase "light armored cruiser", describing a small ship that carried armor in the same way as an armored cruiser: a protective belt and deck...
.
Facing the riot of 1915, he authorised the use of draconian measures. Anagarika Dharmapala
Anagarika Dharmapala
Anagarika Dharmapala was a leading figure of Buddhism in the twentieth century. He was one of the founding contributors of Sinhalese Buddhist Nationalism and Protestant Buddhism...
was arrested and his legs were broken in police custody; his brother died. E. W. Perera
E. W. Perera
Edward Walter Perera was a Ceylonese barrister, politician and freedom fighter. He was known as the 'Lion of Kotte' and was a prominent figure in the Sri Lankan independence movement and a Senator....
, a lawyer from Kotte
Kotte
Sri Jayawardenapura Kotte , also known as Sri Jayawardenapura or Kotte කෝට්ටේ, is the administrative capital of Sri Lanka. It is located beyond the eastern suburbs of the commercial capital Colombo and is often called New Capital Territory...
, braved mine and submarine-infested seas (as well as the Police) to carry a secret Memorial in the soles of his shoes to the Secretary of State for the Colonies
Secretary of State for the Colonies
The Secretary of State for the Colonies or Colonial Secretary was the British Cabinet minister in charge of managing the United Kingdom's various colonial dependencies....
, pleading for the repeal of martial law and describing atrocities claimed to have been committed by the Police led by Dowbiggin.
Palestine
In January 1930, Dowbiggin was sent to Palestine to advise on the re-organisation of the Palestine Police Force, and his report was submitted in May. It was a highly confidential document which it was considered impossible to publish at the time.On his advice, the British and Palestine Sections of the Police were reinforced, and deployed so that no important Jewish settlement or group of Jewish farms was without a detachment, with access to sealed armouries, furnished with Greener guns. Each colony was provided with a telephone and the road network was improved to give the Police greater mobility.
It is significant that Dowbiggin structured the colonial police force in Palestine as a civilian, rather than a military, force, including the deployment of many police stations in rural areas, based on his experience in Sri Lanka. His successor, Charles Tegart
Charles Tegart
Sir Charles Augustus Tegart KCIE KPM , the second son of Rev. Joseph Poulter Tegart, was a colonial police officer in India and Mandatory Palestine, variously earning praise for his industry and efficiency, and notoriety for his brutality and use of torture.-Early Life:Tegart was the son of a...
, the former commissioner of the Calcutta Police, recommended the building of highly fortified, military-style Police stations, the so-called 'Tegart Fortresses', in Arab areas.
Retirement
In 1937, he retired from the service. A public meeting was organised on 10 January by a committee, including Mark Anthony BracegirdleMark Anthony Bracegirdle
Mark Anthony Lyster Bracegirdle , was an Anglo-Australian Marxist revolutionary, who played a key role in Sri Lanka's independence struggle. He was one of the handful of European Radicals in Sri Lanka...
of the Lanka Sama Samaja Party
Lanka Sama Samaja Party
The Lanka Sama Samaja Party is a Trotskyist political party in Sri Lanka....
, to condemn 'the bloodstained record' of Dowbiggin as IGP of Ceylon, to mark 'the victims of police brutality and terrorism of 1915' and to condemn 'the betrayal of the Ceylonese nation by Sir Baron Jayatilaka... in attempting to identify the nation with an appreciation of Sir Dowbiggin’s [sic] services.' The popular George E. de Silva presided and A.E. Goonesinha, leader of the Ceylon Labour Party, was a guest speaker. Ten thousand people attended the meeting, held at Galle Face Green
Galle Face Green
The Galle Face is a promenade which stretches for half kilometre along the coast in the heart of financial and business district of Colombo, Sri Lanka...
.
He died in Suffolk
Suffolk
Suffolk is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in East Anglia, England. It has borders with Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south. The North Sea lies to the east...
, England on 24 May 1966.
Further reading
- "Sir Henry Dowbiggin." The Police Journal: A Review for the Police Forces of the British Commonwealth of Nations Vol. XXXIX No. 1 (January 1966): 328.