James Monro CB

Order of the Bath

The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate mediæval ceremony for creating a knight, which involved bathing as one of its elements. The knights so created were known as Knights of the Bath...

 (1838 – 28 January 1920) was a lawyer who became the first Assistant Commissioner (Crime)

Assistant Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis

Assistant Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis, usually just Assistant Commissioner , is the third highest rank in London's Metropolitan Police, ranking below Deputy Commissioner and above Deputy Assistant Commissioner. There are usually four officers in the rank...

 of the London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

 Metropolitan Police

Metropolitan Police Service

The Metropolitan Police Service is the territorial police force responsible for Greater London, excluding the "square mile" of the City of London which is the responsibility of the City of London Police...

 and also served as Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis

Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis

The Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis is the head of London's Metropolitan Police Service, classing the holder as a chief police officer...

 from 1888 to 1890.

Early career

Monro was born in Edinburgh

Edinburgh

Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...

, the son of George Monro, a solicitor

Solicitor

Solicitors are lawyers who traditionally deal with any legal matter including conducting proceedings in courts. In the United Kingdom, a few Australian states and the Republic of Ireland, the legal profession is split between solicitors and barristers , and a lawyer will usually only hold one title...

. He was educated at Edinburgh High School, the University of Edinburgh

University of Edinburgh

The University of Edinburgh, founded in 1583, is a public research university located in Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The university is deeply embedded in the fabric of the city, with many of the buildings in the historic Old Town belonging to the university...

 and the University of Berlin. In 1857, he joined the Legal Branch of the Indian Civil Service. He served successively as Assistant Magistrate

Magistrate

A magistrate is an officer of the state; in modern usage the term usually refers to a judge or prosecutor. This was not always the case; in ancient Rome, a magistratus was one of the highest government officers and possessed both judicial and executive powers. Today, in common law systems, a...

, Collector

District collector

The District Collector is the district head of administration of the bureaucracy in a state of India. Though he/she is appointed and is under general supervision of the state government, he/she has to be a member of the elite IAS recruited by the Central Government...

 and District Judge

District Judge

District Judge may refer to*A member of the Judiciary of England and Wales*A United States federal judgeNormally concerned with the civil law. I.e. Families, bankruptcy, property etc....

 in the Bombay Presidency

Bombay Presidency

The Bombay Presidency was a province of British India. It was established in the 17th century as a trading post for the English East India Company, but later grew to encompass much of western and central India, as well as parts of post-partition Pakistan and the Arabian Peninsula.At its greatest...

. He then became Inspector-General of Police in the Presidency.

In 1863, Monro married Ruth Littlejohn, an Aberdeen

Aberdeen

Aberdeen is Scotland's third most populous city, one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas and the United Kingdom's 25th most populous city, with an official population estimate of ....

 woman.

Assistant Commissioner

In 1884, Monro resigned from the Indian Civil Service and returned to Britain

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

, being appointed the first Assistant Commissioner (Crime) in London. He succeeded Howard Vincent, whose title had been Director of Criminal Investigation, as head of the Criminal Investigation Department

Criminal Investigation Department

The Crime Investigation Department is the branch of all Territorial police forces within the British Police and many other Commonwealth police forces, to which plain clothes detectives belong. It is thus distinct from the Uniformed Branch and the Special Branch.The Metropolitan Police Service CID,...

 (CID). Vincent had answered directly to the Home Secretary

Home Secretary

The Secretary of State for the Home Department, commonly known as the Home Secretary, is the minister in charge of the Home Office of the United Kingdom, and one of the country's four Great Offices of State...

 and not to the Commissioner, and thus had had the status, but not the title, of Assistant Commissioner. Monro, however, did answer to the Commissioner.

Monro's immediate problem on his appointment was the Fenian

Fenian

The Fenians , both the Fenian Brotherhood and Irish Republican Brotherhood , were fraternal organisations dedicated to the establishment of an independent Irish Republic in the 19th and early 20th century. The name "Fenians" was first applied by John O'Mahony to the members of the Irish republican...

 bombing campaign. He managed to bring it under control by 1887. He forged a close alliance with Robert Anderson, the Home Office

Home Office

The Home Office is the United Kingdom government department responsible for immigration control, security, and order. As such it is responsible for the police, UK Border Agency, and the Security Service . It is also in charge of government policy on security-related issues such as drugs,...

 adviser who controlled the spies infiltrating the Fenians. The two men shared religious beliefs, with both being Protestant

Protestantism

Protestantism is one of the three major groupings within Christianity. It is a movement that began in Germany in the early 16th century as a reaction against medieval Roman Catholic doctrines and practices, especially in regards to salvation, justification, and ecclesiology.The doctrines of the...

 Millenariarist

Millenarianism

Millenarianism is the belief by a religious, social, or political group or movement in a coming major transformation of society, after which all things will be changed, based on a one-thousand-year cycle. The term is more generically used to refer to any belief centered around 1000 year intervals...

s. Their greatest achievement was in 1887, when they foiled an attempted bombing of Westminster Abbey

Westminster Abbey

The Collegiate Church of St Peter at Westminster, popularly known as Westminster Abbey, is a large, mainly Gothic church, in the City of Westminster, London, United Kingdom, located just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is the traditional place of coronation and burial site for English,...

 during Queen Victoria's

Victoria of the United Kingdom

Victoria was the monarch of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death. From 1 May 1876, she used the additional title of Empress of India....

 Golden Jubilee

Golden Jubilee

A Golden Jubilee is a celebration held to mark a 50th anniversary.- In Thailand :King Bhumibol Adulyadej, the world's longest-reigning monarch, celebrated his Golden Jubilee on 9 June 1996.- In the Commonwealth Realms :...

 celebrations.

Monro politicked behind the scenes to assert his primacy over the Home Office in the secret world of spying against the Fenians. Eventually, he was successful and Special Branch

Special Branch

Special Branch is a label customarily used to identify units responsible for matters of national security in British and Commonwealth police forces, as well as in the Royal Thai Police...

, under his control, became the sole force in charge of covert security in the United Kingdom. He even retained personal control over it when he became Commissioner.

In 1886, Sir Charles Warren

Charles Warren

General Sir Charles Warren, GCMG, KCB, FRS was an officer in the British Royal Engineers. He was one of the earliest European archaeologists of Biblical Holy Land, and particularly of Temple Mount...

 became Commissioner. He and Monro never saw eye-to-eye. Monro had been widely tipped to succeed as Commissioner, and was disappointed not to do so. Warren also tried to assert his authority over CID, which his predecessor, Sir Edmund Henderson

Edmund Henderson

Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Edmund Yeamans Walcott Henderson KCB was an officer in the British Army who was Comptroller-General of Convicts in Western Australia from 1850 to 1863, Home Office Surveyor-General of Prisons from 1863 to 1869, and Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis, head of the London...

, had left almost entirely in Monro's hands. Warren was not particularly interested in detective work, but unlike Henderson he did not like Monro working directly for the Home Secretary

Home Secretary

The Secretary of State for the Home Department, commonly known as the Home Secretary, is the minister in charge of the Home Office of the United Kingdom, and one of the country's four Great Offices of State...

 without his approval. In 1888, the last straw came when Warren vetoed Monro's choice of Melville Macnaghten

Melville MacNaghten

Sir Melville Leslie Macnaghten CB KPM was Assistant Commissioner of the London Metropolitan Police from 1903 to 1913....

 as first Chief Constable

Chief Constable

Chief constable is the rank used by the chief police officer of every territorial police force in the United Kingdom except for the City of London Police and the Metropolitan Police, as well as the chief officers of the three 'special' national police forces, the British Transport Police, Ministry...

 (CID). Both Monro and Warren threatened to resign. Home Secretary Henry Matthews

Henry Matthews, 1st Viscount Llandaff

Henry Matthews, 1st Viscount Llandaff PC, QC was a British lawyer and Conservative politician. He is best remembered for his role in the 1885 Sir Charles Dilke divorce trial and for his tenure as Home Secretary from 1886 to 1892.-Background and education:The member of an old Herefordshire family,...

 accepted Monro's resignation in September and replaced him with Anderson. However, he retained Monro as head of Special Branch (which was outside the Commissioner's control) and gave him the title of Head of Detectives, with an office in the Home Office. Anderson and his senior CID officers continued to consult with him behind Warren's back, particularly during the Jack the Ripper

Jack the Ripper

"Jack the Ripper" is the best-known name given to an unidentified serial killer who was active in the largely impoverished areas in and around the Whitechapel district of London in 1888. The name originated in a letter, written by someone claiming to be the murderer, that was disseminated in the...

 case, with Matthews's complete connivance. Monro refused to accept a salary.

Monro was appointed a Companion of the Bath

Order of the Bath

The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate mediæval ceremony for creating a knight, which involved bathing as one of its elements. The knights so created were known as Knights of the Bath...

 (CB) in June 1888.

Commissioner

Worn out by constant criticism, Warren resigned in November 1888, and Matthews appointed Monro to replace him as Commissioner. Monro was extremely popular within the force, and his appointment was welcomed. However, with a tenure of only eighteen months, he was to be the shortest-serving Commissioner in the Met's history.

Monro immediately clashed with the Home Office and the Receiver

Metropolitan Police Receiver

The Receiver, formally called The Receiver for the Metropolitan Police District , was until 2000 the chief financial officer of the Metropolitan Police in London, the Treasurer of the Metropolitan Police Fund...

, the force's chief financial officer. He complained that he had a shortage of men and that the uniform boots and trousers were of extremely inferior quality. In 1890, Assistant Commissioner Richard Pearson died suddenly. Monro wanted to replace him with Chief Constable Charles Howard

Charles Howard (police officer)

Sir Andrew Charles Howard KCB , known as Sir Charles Howard, was the third Assistant Commissioner of the London Metropolitan Police, serving in the post from 1890 to 1902. He was the first career police officer to be appointed an Assistant Commissioner.Howard came from Ringmore, Devon...

, but the Home Office preferred Evelyn Ruggles-Brise

Evelyn Ruggles-Brise

Sir Evelyn John Ruggles-Brise KCB was a British prison administrator and reformer, and founder of the Borstal system.-Biography:...

, one of its own high-flyers. Monro refused, saying that his force had been promised promotions from below. This was compounded by Monro's backing of his men's grievances over pay and pensions. Matthews announced a bill to improve them, but Monro said it was too little. When Matthews refused to budge, Monro offered his resignation, which was accepted on 12 June 1890, to take effect on 21 June. On 17 June, the bill was published, and met Monro's demands. Howard was also appointed Assistant Commissioner. There was speculation in the press that Matthews had been playing dirty tricks on Monro. Monro got some sort of revenge on 18 July by chairing a meeting of all his superintendents

Superintendent (police)

Superintendent , often shortened to "super", is a rank in British police services and in most English-speaking Commonwealth nations. In many Commonwealth countries the full version is superintendent of police...

 which rejected all of the proposals which he himself had demanded! He left the Met as a hero to both the police and the press.

In 1995 Monro's grandson, Christopher Monro, disclosed that Monro had been convinced that Montague Druitt

Montague Druitt

Montague John Druitt was one of the suspects in the Jack the Ripper murders that took place in London between August and November 1888....

 had been Jack the Ripper

Jack the Ripper

"Jack the Ripper" is the best-known name given to an unidentified serial killer who was active in the largely impoverished areas in and around the Whitechapel district of London in 1888. The name originated in a letter, written by someone claiming to be the murderer, that was disseminated in the...

 but was prevented from saying so. William Druitt, brother of Montague, had threatened that if his brother was named, he would reveal that there were homosexuals in high positions in Parliament, the Bar, the Army and the Church. Christopher Monro was told this by his father Douglas Monro, who had examined Monro's papers after his death.

Missionary

Monro returned to India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

 in 1890 as a missionary

Missionary

A missionary is a member of a religious group sent into an area to do evangelism or ministries of service, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care and economic development. The word "mission" originates from 1598 when the Jesuits sent members abroad, derived from the Latin...

, founding and running Ranaghat Christian Medical Mission in the far north of the country. In 1903, he retired to England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

, living in Chiswick

Chiswick

Chiswick is a large suburb of west London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It is located on a meander of the River Thames, west of Charing Cross and is one of 35 major centres identified in the London Plan. It was historically an ancient parish in the county of Middlesex, with...

.