James Monro

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James Monro CB
Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis
In office 1888–1890
Preceded by	Charles Warren
Succeeded by	Edward Bradford
Assistant Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis (Crime)
In office 1884–1888
Personal details
Born	1838 Edinburgh, Scotland
Died	28 January 1920(1920-01-28) (aged 81–82)
Nationality	British

James Monro

In 1863, Monro married Ruth Littlejohn, an Aberdeen woman.

Assistant Commissioner

In 1884, Monro resigned from the Indian Civil Service and returned to Britain, 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 (CID). Vincent had answered directly to the Home Secretary 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

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, 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,

Monro was appointed a Companion 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

In 1995 Monro's grandson, Christopher Monro, disclosed that Monro had been convinced that Montague Druitt had been Jack the Ripper 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.^[1]

Missionary

Monro returned to India in 1890 as a missionary, founding and running Ranaghat Christian Medical Mission in the far north of the country. In 1903, he retired to England, living in Chiswick.

Media portrayals

In BBC One's Ripper Street (2013), Monro was played by Michael McElhatton.

Footnotes

References

• Martin Fido and Keith Skinner, The Official Encyclopedia of Scotland Yard (Virgin Books, London:1999)

External links

• Portrait of Monro in the National Portrait Gallery
• Media related to James Monro (1838-1920) at Wikimedia Commons