Neville Chamberlain (police officer)

Last updated


Sir Neville Chamberlain

Neville Francis Fitzgerald Chamberlain.png
Born(1856-01-13)13 January 1856
Slough, England
Died28 May 1944(1944-05-28) (aged 88)
Ascot, England
AllegianceUnited Kingdom
Service/branch Indian Army
Years of service1873–1901
Rank Colonel
Battles/wars Second Anglo-Afghan War
Awards Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath
Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order
Spouse(s)
Mary Henrietta Hay
(m. 1886;died 1936)
Other workInspector-General, Royal Irish Constabulary

Sir Neville Francis Fitzgerald Chamberlain KCB KCVO KStJ KPM (13 January 1856 – 28 May 1944) was an officer in the British Indian Army. He was later Inspector-General of the Royal Irish Constabulary, and resigned in the aftermath of the 1916 Easter Rising in Ireland. He is credited with having invented the game of snooker while serving in Jubbulpore (Jabalpur), India, in 1875.

Contents

Early life

Chamberlain was born into a military family, in Slough, Berkshire, as the son of Charles Francis Falcon Chamberlain and his wife Marianne Ormsby Drury. He was also the nephew of Neville Bowles Chamberlain. He was educated at Brentwood School, and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst. [1]

Military career

Chamberlain was commissioned a sub-lieutenant in the 11th Foot on 9 August 1873, [1] [2] and promoted to lieutenant in August 1874. [1] In 1878, during the Second Anglo-Afghan War, he joined the staff of Field Marshal Sir Frederick Roberts, Commander-in-Chief of the British Army in Afghanistan. Chamberlain was wounded slightly at the Battle of Kandahar. [1] [2] [3] He served with Roberts at Ootacamund between 1881 and 1885. [1] [4] He was promoted to captain on 9 August 1885, [5] to brevet major on 7 November 1885, [6] and to brevet lieutenant-colonel on 1 July 1887. [7]

In 1890 he became Military Secretary to the Kashmir government. [1] He was promoted to brevet colonel on 6 January 1894. [8] He was promoted to colonel on 6 February 1899, [9] when he was appointed Colonel on the Staff in Delhi. [7]

Following the outbreak of the Second Boer War, Lord Roberts had been appointed Commander-in-Chief of the British forces in South Africa. Chamberlain rejoined Lord Roberts in South Africa in December 1899, as "First Aide-de-Camp and Private Secretary", [3] [10] and was highly commended by Roberts in despatches from the war in 1900. [11]

Royal Irish Constabulary

Chamberlain was made a Companion of the Order of the Bath in 1900. In the same year he was appointed Inspector-General of the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC), the armed police force for the whole of Ireland except Dublin. [12] The force was under the direct control of the British Administration in Ireland, based in Dublin Castle. It was responsible for intelligence gathering as well as maintaining order, and was seen as the "eyes and ears" of the government. [13] He formally resigned from the British Army on 1 November 1901. [14]

He was appointed Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath (KCB) in August 1903, [15] Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order (KCVO) in 1911 [12] and Knight of Grace in the Venerable Order of Saint John in April 1914, [16] and was awarded the King's Police Medal in the 1915 New Year Honours. [17] Chamberlain's years in the RIC coincided with the rise of a number of political, cultural and sporting organisations with the common aim of separating Ireland from the UK, which were often referred to as Sinn Féin , culminating in the formation of the Irish Volunteers in 1913. [18]

In reports to the Chief Secretary for Ireland, Augustine Birrell, and the Under-Secretary, Sir Matthew Nathan, Chamberlain warned that the Volunteers were preparing to stage an insurrection and proclaim Irish independence. [19] However, in April 1916, when Nathan showed him a letter from the army commander in the south of Ireland telling of an expected landing of arms on the south-west coast and a rising planned for Easter, they were both "doubtful whether there was any foundation for the rumour". [20] The Easter Rising began on Easter Monday, 24 April 1916, and lasted for six days, ending only when much of Sackville Street (now O'Connell Street) had been destroyed by artillery fire. Although the Royal Commission on the 1916 Rebellion (the Hardinge commission) cleared the RIC of any blame for the Rising, Chamberlain was eventually forced to resign following continued criticism of the force's intelligence handling. [1]

Later life

After his retirement, Chamberlain lived in Ascot, Berkshire, England. On 19 March 1938, he had a letter published in The Field in which he claimed to have invented the game of snooker at the officers' mess of the 11th Devonshire Regiment in Jubbulpore (Jabalpur), India in 1875. His claim was supported by the author Compton Mackenzie in a letter to The Billiard Player in 1939, and has been accepted by present-day governing bodies, such as the International Billiards and Snooker Federation. [3]

Mary Henrietta Hay in 1902 Mary Henrietta Hay (1861-1936).png
Mary Henrietta Hay in 1902

The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography describes the circumstances in which the new game came about: [1]

While serving at Jubbulpore in 1875 Chamberlain developed a new variation of black pool by introducing coloured balls into the game. It was dubbed snooker—a derogatory nickname given to first-year cadets studying at the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich that Chamberlain had heard about from a young Royal Artillery subaltern visiting the mess. Chamberlain later retorted to a fellow player who had failed to pot a coloured ball: "Why, you're a regular snooker". While explaining the term to his fellow officers Chamberlain, to mollify the officer concerned, remarked that they were all "snookers at the game" and the name snooker or snooker's pool immediately stuck.

Chamberlain married Mary Henrietta Hay (1866–1936) in 1886. Their daughter, Nora (1887–1956), married Clive Wigram, 1st Baron Wigram. [12] Chamberlain died from myocarditis at his home on 28 May 1944, aged 88. [1]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Matthew Nathan</span> British soldier and colonial administrator (1862-1939)

Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Matthew Nathan was a British soldier and colonial administrator, who variously served as the governor of Sierra Leone, Gold Coast, Hong Kong, Natal and Queensland. He was Under-Secretary for Ireland from 1914 to 1916, and was responsible, with the Chief Secretary, Augustine Birrell, for the administration of Ireland in the years immediately preceding the Easter Rising.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Reginald Wingate</span> British general, administrator and diplomat (1861–1953)

General Sir Francis Reginald Wingate, 1st Baronet, was a British general and administrator in Egypt and the Sudan. He earned the nom de guerre Wingate of the Sudan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Nicholson, 1st Baron Nicholson</span> British Army officer (1845–1918)

Field Marshal William Gustavus Nicholson, 1st Baron Nicholson, was a British Army officer who served in the Second Anglo-Afghan War, the Mahdist War, the Third Anglo-Burmese War, the Second Boer War and the First World War. He became Chief of the Imperial General Staff and was closely involved in the reorganisation of the British Army in the early years of the 20th century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dalrymple Arbuthnot</span> British Army general

Brigadier-General Sir Dalrymple Arbuthnot, 5th Baronet, CMG, DSO, JP was a British baronet and Army officer.

Clive Wigram, 1st Baron Wigram, was a British Indian Army officer and courtier. He was Private Secretary to the Sovereign from 1931 to 1936.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sir Charles Monro, 1st Baronet</span> British Army general (1860–1929)

General Sir Charles Carmichael Monro, 1st Baronet, was a British Army General in the First World War. He held the post of Commander-in-Chief, India in 1916–1920. From 1923 to 1928 he was the Governor of Gibraltar.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Neville Bowles Chamberlain</span> Senior Indian Army officer

Field Marshal Sir Neville Bowles Chamberlain was a distinguished British military officer in British India. He served in the Bengal Army and saw action in the First Anglo-Afghan War, Gwalior campaign, Second Anglo-Sikh War, Indian Rebellion, Ambela campaign and Second Anglo-Afghan War. He later became Commander-in-chief of the Madras Army.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Gildea</span> British Army Militia officer and philanthropist

Colonel Sir James Gildea, was a British Army Militia officer and philanthropist who founded the Soldiers', Sailors' and Airmen's Families Association.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Maxwell (British Army officer)</span> British Army general and colonial governor (1859–1929)

General Sir John Grenfell Maxwell, was a British Army officer and colonial governor. He served in the Mahdist War in the Sudan, the Second Boer War, and in the First World War. As Commander-in-Chief, Ireland, he played a key part in the response to the 1916 Easter Rising, including overseeing the courts-martial after the rebellion. Maxwell retired in 1922.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lambert Ward</span> British politician

Sir Albert Lambert Ward, 1st Baronet, was a volunteer soldier in the Territorial Force and a Conservative Party politician in the United Kingdom.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arthur Barrett (Indian Army officer)</span> Indian Army officer (1857–1926)

Field Marshal Sir Arthur Arnold Barrett, was a British officer of the Indian Army. He saw action at the Siege of the Sherpur Cantonment in December 1879 and at the Battle of Kandahar in September 1880 during the Second Anglo-Afghan War and went on to serve in the Hunza-Nagar Campaign in 1891. During the First World War he was General Officer Commanding the Poona Division which successfully took Basra in Mesopotamia in November 1914 and then Al-Qurnah in Mesopotamia in December 1914. He spent the rest of the War commanding the Northern Army in which role he took part in operations against the Mahsuds in Spring 1917. He saw action again as the senior British officer on the ground during the Third Anglo-Afghan War in 1919 before retiring in May 1920.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Neville Lyttelton</span> British army general (1845–1931)

General Sir Neville Gerald Lyttelton, was a British Army officer from the Lyttelton family who served against the Fenian Raids, and in the Anglo-Egyptian War, the Mahdist War and the Second Boer War. He was Chief of the General Staff at the time of the Haldane Reforms and then became Commander-in-Chief, Ireland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bryan Mahon</span> Irish soldier and politician (1862–1930)

Sir Bryan Thomas Mahon, was an Irish general of the British Army, a senator of the short-lived Senate of Southern Ireland, and a member for eight years of the Irish Free State Senate until his death.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Peyton</span> British general (1866–1931)

General Sir William Eliot Peyton, was a British Army officer who served as Military Secretary to the British Expeditionary Force from 1916 to 1918. He was Delhi Herald of Arms Extraordinary at the time of the Delhi Durbar of 1911.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Douglas Dawson</span> British Army World War I general

Brigadier-General Sir Douglas Frederick Rawdon Dawson was a British Army general officer and courtier.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">G. F. Gorringe</span> British Army general

Lieutenant General Sir George Frederick Gorringe, served as an active field commander in the British Army during the Anglo-Boer War and the First World War, on the Palestine and Western Fronts.

Major-General William Henry Muir Lowe was a British Army officer who commanded the British forces in Dublin during the Easter Rising of 1916 and received the surrender of the Irish republican forces.

Major-General Sir Charles Edward Callwell, was an Anglo-Irish officer of the British Army, who served in the artillery, as an intelligence officer, and as a staff officer and commander during the Second Boer War, and as Director of Operations & Intelligence during World War I. He was also a noted writer of military biography, history, and theory.

The Royal Households of the United Kingdom consist of royal officials and the supporting staff of the British royal family, as well as the Royal Household which supports the Sovereign. Each member of the Royal Family who undertakes public duties has their own separate household.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Henry Streatfeild (courtier)</span> British landowner and secretary to Queen Alexandra

Colonel Sir Henry Streatfeild, GCVO, CB, CMG, JP, DL (1857–1938) was a British Army officer and courtier who served as the commanding officer of the Grenadier Guards, and was Equerry to Edward VII from 1908 until the King's death in 1910. He was then Private Secretary and Equerry to Queen Alexandra from 1910 until her death in 1925.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 T. R. Moreman, ‘Chamberlain, Sir Neville Francis Fitzgerald (1856–1944) (subscription required), Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, September 2004; online edition, May 2006, doi : 10.1093/ref:odnb/73766. Retrieved 11 February 2008
  2. 1 2 "No. 24909". The London Gazette . 3 December 1880. p. 6539.
  3. 1 2 3 Ainsworth, Peter. "The Origin of Snooker: The Neville Chamberlain Story" (PDF). International Billiards and Snooker Federation. Archived from the original (PDF) on 11 October 2012.
  4. "No. 25096". The London Gazette . 18 April 1882. p. 1741.
  5. "No. 25520". The London Gazette . 16 October 1885. p. 4787.
  6. "No. 25527". The London Gazette . 6 November 1885. p. 5081.
  7. 1 2 Hart's Army list, 1901
  8. "No. 26591". The London Gazette . 22 January 1895. p. 416.
  9. "No. 27085". The London Gazette . 2 June 1899. p. 3521.
  10. "No. 27146". The London Gazette . 22 December 1899. p. 8542.
  11. "No. 27282". The London Gazette . 8 February 1901. p. 844.
  12. 1 2 3 Hawkins, Richard (October 2009). "Chamberlain, Sir Neville Francis Fitzgerald". Dictionary of Irish Biography . Retrieved 24 April 2022.
  13. W. J. McCormack, The Blackwell Companion to Modern Irish Culture, Blackwell, 1999; ISBN   0-631-22817-9, p. 477
  14. "No. 27380". The London Gazette . 26 November 1901. p. 8095.
  15. "No. 27586". The London Gazette . 11 August 1903. p. 5058.
  16. "No. 28818". The London Gazette . 29 December 1914. p. 2874.
  17. "No. 29024". The London Gazette (Supplement). 3 April 1914. p. 4.
  18. Feeney, Brian (2003). Sinn Féin. A Hundred Turbulent Years . University of Wisconsin Press. p. 55. ISBN   0299186709 . Retrieved 6 January 2024 via Internet Archive.
  19. Foy, Michael; Barton, Brian (2004). The Easter Rising . Sutton Publishing. p. 55. ISBN   0750934336 . Retrieved 6 January 2024 via Internet Archive.
  20. Ó Broin, Leon (1971). Dublin Castle and the 1916 Rising . New York University Press. p. 79. ISBN   081476150X . Retrieved 6 January 2024 via Internet Archive.