The Bombay City Police: A Historical Sketch, 1672-1916Edwardes, S. M. (Stephen Meredyth)
History
The Bombay City Police: A Historical Sketch, 1672-1916
Edwardes, S. M. (Stephen Meredyth)
Crime -- India -- Mumbai; Police -- India -- Mumbai
In two respects the Commissioner’s _régime_ was fortunate. He had an
excellent and very hardworking clerical staff; and the relations between
the Magistracy and the Police were uniformly cordial. Shortly after
Mr. Edwardes joined the appointment in 1909, the old head-clerk, Mr.
Ramchandra Dharadhar, retired, and his place was taken by Mr. Vinayakrao
Dinanath, whose early service dated back to the days of Sir Frank
Souter. Under him and the second clerk, Mr. Chhaganlal M. Tijoriwala,
I.S.O., who has since succeeded to the head-clerk’s post with the title
of “Superintendent of the Commissioner’s office,” an immense volume of
correspondence was dealt with, which was often of so urgent a character
that the staff was obliged to work on Sundays and to give up the public
and sectional holidays allowed to all departments of Government.
Throughout this period the appointment of Chief Presidency Magistrate
was held by Mr. A.H.S. Aston, whose transparent honesty of thought and
purpose would have been an asset to any Bench; and he was ably seconded
by Rao Bahadur Chunilal H. Setalwad, C.I.E., Mr. Oliveira, and Mr.
Gulamhussein R. Khairaz. Mr. Setalwad combined with wide legal experience
a valuable knowledge of the customs and idiosyncrasies of the many
classes resident in Bombay, and in seasons of unrest and disturbance he
was among the first to offer his services to the Police Commissioner
towards the restoration of order. While he and his colleagues gave the
police every support from the Bench, they never hesitated to inform
the Commissioner personally of cases in which, in their opinion, the
subordinate police had acted in error or exceeded their powers—a course
of action which was most helpful to the head of the police force.
By the end of 1915 the strain of nearly seven years’ work and the
additional burden imposed by war conditions had told so heavily upon Mr.
Edwardes’ health that he asked the Bombay Government to transfer him to
another appointment. He was offered and accepted the post of Municipal
Commissioner, and bade a final adieu to the Police force on April 15th,
1916. But he was not destined to serve long in the Municipality. An old
pulmonary complaint, which was seriously aggravated by the constant
strain of police duty, developed so rapidly that he was obliged to take
furlough to England in the following October and eventually to retire
from the service on medical certificate in April, 1918. A few months
after his final retirement, the Governor of Bombay, Lord Willingdon,
unveiled at the Head Police Office a marble bust of the ex-Commissioner,
which, in the words engraved on the pedestal, was “erected by
subscriptions from all ranks of the Bombay City Police in appreciation of
many and valued services rendered to the Force”.
APPENDIX
MR. EDWARDES’ REPORT ON THE FINAL MOHARRAM RIOT OF 1911 AND THE BOMBAY
GOVERNMENT’S ORDER THEREON
No. 1431
_Bombay Castle, 8th March, 1911_
_Disturbances in Bombay during the Moharram of 1911_
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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