Hero of the empire and a chief of men

It may be remembered that when recalling the life of Capt Hill recently in this column it was said that even when he retired after 42 years, he would call in regularly at the North Riding police headquarters in East Road, Northallerton, to make sure things were running smoothly!

He had no need to worry, however, because his successor, Maj Robert Lister Bower, who had been appointed from among 53 candidates by the North Riding County Council standing joint committee in September 1898, was a character of proven ability, sagacity and fortitude.

Hailing from Malham Hall, near Malton, Maj Bower was familiar with the North Riding from boyhood and had gained invaluable life experience in his chosen career with the British Army which was at the height of its colonial activities which filled the later Victorian newspapers and thrilled the nation.

Indeed Maj Bower's exploits in Africa had already made him well-known. He went on the Nile and Sudan expeditions in 1882 and 1885 and gained fame on the former commanding the "picked shots" of mounted infantry who accompanied Lord Charles Beresford in boats up the Nile to relieve Sir Charles Wilson, who had been trapped.

By 1893 he had been appointed British resident commissioner in the western region of the Nigerian Protectorates in West Africa in Tomba country at Ibadan, which was very much in a semi-lawless state with some tribes still practising slavery, for example. Capt Bower, as he then was, did much to bring law and order to the region and was involved in one particularly heroic act.

He saved a burning powder magazine from exploding at the fort of Oyo but in the process of carrying powder kegs and rockets to safety, one ignited, seriously injuring him, leaving a lifelong legacy of a permanently stiff left leg and curtailing his active army career.

It is believed that Edgar Wallace based his legendary character "Sanders of the River" on Maj Bower and his exploits, the novel, published in 1911, becoming a national best seller.

On his appointment as North Riding chief constable, Maj Bower was living at the Grange, Bedale, but in April 1920 North Riding County Council secured Yatton House at Thirsk as the chief constable's residence, this being renamed the West House. He lived there with his family until his untimely death in 1929, by which time he had become very much part of the Thirsk community and that of the North Riding as a whole.

Robert Bower's impact on the North Riding police force was both immediate and continuing, with the emphasis on technical and modern advancements, the improvement of policing methods and the amelioration of his men's conditions.

The latter especially included the provision of new buildings and improving and re-modelling police stations throughout the North Riding.

At the Northallerton headquarters, an immediate purchase was a typewriter early in 1899 and in January 1901 electric light illuminated the police station at an installation cost of £8 8s. From such small beginnings has the gargantuan technological array of the present North Yorkshire force grown.

Starting at Guisborough police station in 1899, the telephone was introduced at Malton in 1902. Northallerton, Bedale, Thirsk, Yarm and Pickering all had the national telephone system by 1903.

Motor cars and their potential utility were soon on the major's agenda and in his own way he was a pioneer of these novel vehicles. As early as January 1901 he was extolled as a shining motoring example to other chief constables by the embryonic Motor Car Journal with his possession of a Hutton Simplex motor car produced by Ernest Hutton in his Ohm Electrical Works at the north of Northallerton's main street.

As indicated in a local newspaper advertisement of November 17, the Simplex seated two, was of 4 horsepower and cost "from 160 guineas".

Maj Bower was sufficiently impressed with motor cars by his Simplex experience to persuade the standing joint committee to outlay £300 on an "official" chief constable's car which, when motor cars had to be registered by counties from January 1, 1904, became AJ 1, the number being then carried by successive North Riding chief constable's cars.

It was of interest too that as well as the attributes of the motor car, the disadvantages were there at the very outset as problems for the chief constable. In 1902 there were many complaints in the North Riding of reckless driving which prompted Maj Bower to purchase ten stop watches and place constables at key positions to time vehicles.

The result was 42 prosecutions for speeding, of which 41 were successful with fines totalling £152 12s imposed. One man who could consider himself unfortunate was an intrepid cyclist who was fined for speeding!

One of Maj Bower's main ventures was the establishment of a new North Riding Constabulary headquarters building in Racecourse Lane, Northallerton, next to the recently erected North Riding county hall. The original headquarters was built partly on a midden as Northallerton "lock-up" in 1849 and rebuilt as the county headquarters in 1880. By 1900 the building was dank, uncomfortable and too small for its purposes. Indeed, some of the divisional headquarters within the North Riding were far superior.

After steady pressure from Maj Bower, North Riding County Council voted by 47-12 for a new police headquarters along with senior officers' residencies to be built. Constructed by Blacker Bros of Bramley, Leeds, at a cost of £9,429, the new building was completed and occupied on May 1, 1910.

Maj Bower was responsible for constant innovations in the North Riding police force including the formation of the nucleus of a Criminal Investigation Department in 1913, the introduction of Rover 8hp and Wolseley 8hp cars to the divisions in 1922 and 1923 and, in 1925, the adoption of wireless apparatus for £50 in the Northallerton headquarters.

From an animal viewpoint he was most interested in the use of trained dogs in police work and was accorded £100 in 1913 to implement this. Bloodhounds were particularly tried out and through their usefulness was not considered cost effective in the rural North Riding, other dogs such as Airedale terriers were used by constables throughout the country.

Another notable animal introduction was that of a mounted branch of six horses in 1920 stationed with their handlers and riders at Malton, Marske, Guisborough, Yarm and Thornaby.

During the First World War, Maj Bower served in France on essential military duties between October 1914 and February 1916, despite his physical disability, and felt acutely the deaths the deaths and wounding of his police officers, 88 of whom saw active service.

The chief constable had inevitably put the welfare, management and technical support of his police officers first and it was to the genuine and general pleasure of the whole North Riding force when he was knighted in 1926 and invested at Buckingham Palace by King George V as Maj Sir Robert Lister Bower KBE.

His sudden death from pneumonia after only five days of illness on June 13, 1929, shocked and saddened the North Riding and especially the police officers he had led so ably with such acumen, humanity, and sheer force of personality for 30 years.

Three years after his death a stained glass window was installed commemorating him in Thirsk parish church where he had regularly worshipped unveiled by the Marquis of Zetland following a dedication service by Bishop of Whitby,

Additionally in Ibadan, Nigeria, a tower was erected in his memory in the middle of the city. It was unveiled in December 1936 by his son, Cdr R T Bower, MP for Cleveland, and his sister, Miss Constable Bower, in the presence of all the tribal chiefs with tom-toms beating out.

A copper plate on the tower was inscribed most fittingly and feelingly: "In memory of Sir Robert L Bower KBE, CMG - Captain R L Bower, first resident of Ibadan 1893-97, was a fine character, won the universal and lasting esteem of the Yarubas and firmly established the loyalty of the people to the Imperial Crown. THIS WAS A MAN."

He certainly was. An inspirational man of his times.