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{{Short description|British police officer in Calcutta and Palestine}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2022}}
{{Use British English|date=October 2022}}
{{Infobox officeholder
|honorific-prefix = Sir
|name = Charles Tegart
|honorific-suffix = [[Order of the Indian Empire|KCIE]] [[Royal Victorian Order|MVO]] [[King's Police Medal for Gallantry|KPM]] [[Justice of the peace|JP]]
|image =
|imagesize =
|smallimage =
|caption =
|order =
|office = 12th [[Police Commissioner of Kolkata|Police Commissioner of Calcutta]]
|term_start = 1923
|term_end = 1931
|predecessor = Sir Reginald Clarke
|successor = L. H. Colson
|deputy =
|office2 = [[Colony|Colonial]] police officer (adviser) in [[Mandatory Palestine]]
|term_start2 = December 1937
|term_end2 = May 1939
|predecessor2 =
|successor2 =
|birthname =
|birth_date = 5 October 1881
|birth_place = [[Derry]], Ireland
|death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|1946|4|6|1881|10|5|}}
|death_place =
|restingplace =
|restingplacecoordinates =
|profession = [[Police officer]]
}}

'''Sir Charles Augustus Tegart''' {{post-nominals|KCIE|MVO|KPM|JP|country=GBR}} (5 October 1881 – 6 April 1946) was an Irish-born police officer who served in [[British Raj|British India]] and [[Mandatory Palestine|Palestine]]. Tegart was the mastermind behind the creation of the [[Arab Investigation Centres]] in Palestine during the [[1936–1939 Arab revolt in Palestine|Great Arab revolt]].<ref name=BritishSpies2>{{cite web |title=British Spies and Irish Rebels |url=http://www.britishspiesandirishrebels.com/New%20camden%20journal.html |access-date=27 August 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130118163041/http://www.britishspiesandirishrebels.com/New%20camden%20journal.html |archive-date=18 January 2013 |df=dmy-all }}</ref> During his career, Tegart achieved a reputation of being "uncompromising with detainees".<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-19019949|title=Tegart: A tough cop in a tough world|first=Kevin|last=Connolly|work=BBC News|date=10 September 2012|via=BBC}}</ref>

==Early life==

Born in [[Derry]] on 5 October 1881, Tegart was the son of a [[Church of Ireland]] clergyman, Rev. Joseph Poulter Tegart of [[Dunboyne]], County Meath and his wife Georgina Johnston. He was educated at [[Portora Royal School]], [[Enniskillen]] and briefly at [[Trinity College, Dublin]].<ref>{{cite web|title=History Ireland - An Irishman is specially suited to be a policeman|url=http://www.historyireland.com/volumes/volume8/issue4/features/?id=242|access-date=27 August 2012|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120127100903/http://www.historyireland.com/volumes/volume8/issue4/features/?id=242|archive-date=27 January 2012|df=dmy-all}}</ref>

==Career in India==

He joined the [[Kolkata Police|Calcutta Police]] in 1901, becoming head of its Detective Department. He served almost continuously in [[Calcutta]] for a period of thirty years until he was appointed a member of the Secretary of State's Indian Council in December 1931.

He was the first officer of the [[Indian Imperial Police]] (IMP) in the Council and on his report its [[Special Branch#India|Special Branch]] was created.

He was awarded the [[King's Police Medal]] in 1911. He became Superintendent of Police in 1908, Deputy Commissioner in 1913, Deputy-Inspector General (Intelligence) in 1918, and Commissioner of Calcutta Police from 1923 to 1931.

He earned notoriety amongst the Bengal opponents of British rule, especially from independence activists. In their eyes, he was an obdurate opponent of [[Indian nationalism]] to the point of illegality.{{Citation needed|date=August 2022}}

Charles Tegart was involved in a skirmish with Indian revolutionaries led by [[Jatindranath Mukherjee]] at [[Balasore]] in [[Orissa, India|Orissa]] on 9 September 1915.

Tegart was reported to have survived six assassination attempts in India and in spite of the danger he continued to drive around in an open-top car with his [[Staffordshire Bull Terrier]] riding on the bonnet.<ref name="BBC News, Jerusalem">{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-19019949 |title=Charles Tegart and the forts that tower over Israel |publisher=BBC News, Jerusalem |access-date=10 September 2012 |date=9 September 2022}}</ref> The assassination attempts included:
* On 12 January 1924, at Chowringhee Road in Calcutta, by [[Gopinath Saha]], an Indian revolutionist, who erroneously shot down a white man, Mr. Ernest Day, whom he mistook for Tegart.
* On 25 August 1930, at Dalhousie Square in Calcutta, by throwing a bomb into the car in which Tegart was travelling, but Tegart shot down the revolutionary and escaped unhurt.

Tegart's efficiency in curbing the revolutionary activities of the Indians came in for praise from [[Victor Bulwer-Lytton, 2nd Earl of Lytton|Lord Lytton]], then [[Governor of Bengal]]. He was awarded the [[Order of the Indian Empire|KCIE]] in the [[1937 Coronation Honours]].

Prior to his roles in India, he served as chief assistant to [[Ormonde Winter]], the head of [[British Intelligence]] operations in Ireland during the [[Irish War of Independence]]. As a graduate of [[Trinity College, Dublin]] he retained contacts there and was awarded an honorary doctorate in 1933.

==Career in Palestine==

In view of his expertise, the British authorities sent him to the [[Mandatory Palestine|British Mandate of Palestine]], then in the throes of the [[1936–1939 Arab revolt in Palestine|Arab Revolt]], to advise the Inspector General on matters of security. He arrived there in December 1937.<ref name=BritishSpies>{{cite web|title=Londonderry born imperial policeman remembered|url=http://sluggerotoole.com/2012/09/10/londonderry-born-imperial-policeman-remembered|access-date=8 July 2014|date=10 September 2012 |website=sluggerotoole.com}}</ref>

In due course he advised the construction of 77 reinforced concrete police stations and posts which could be defended against attack, and of a [[Tegart's wall|frontier fence]] along the northern border of Palestine to control the movement of insurgents, goods and weapons. His recommendations were accepted and 62 new "[[Tegart fort]]s",<ref>Anton La Guardia, [http://www.arabnews.com/?page=7&section=0&article=79673&d=24&m=3&y=2006 "Jericho Jail Creates Own Modern History"], ''Arab News'', 24 March 2006.</ref> as they came to be known, were built throughout Palestine, however all but a few located along the Lebanese border were built after the Arab Revolt, in 1940–41.<ref name="Tegart’s shadow">Seth J. Frantzman, [http://m.jpost.com/HomePage/FrontPage/Article.aspx?id=87242607&cat=1 "Tegart’s shadow"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151208120718/http://m.jpost.com/HomePage/FrontPage/Article.aspx?id=87242607&cat=1 |date=8 December 2015 }}, ''Jerusalem Post'', 21 October 2011.</ref> Many of them are still in use, some by [[Israel]]i forces and others by [[Palestinian people|Palestinian]] ones, while others were destroyed in various rounds of fighting.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-19019949|title=Tegart: A tough cop in a tough world|first=Kevin|last=Connolly|date=10 September 2012|via=BBC News}}</ref>

Tegart also was the mastermind behind the establishment of the [[Arab Investigation Centres]] in Palestine during the Great Arab revolt. The centres were for the interrogation of suspected Arab insurgents, and torture was frequently used during interrogations. Tactics used include the [[Turkey|Turkish]] practice of [[falaka]] (beating prisoners on the soles of their feet), though some historians have claimed that there is no conclusive proof to be found in Tegart's personal papers in support of the accusations that he personally oversaw interrogation centres or that he developed new torture techniques.<ref name="BritishSpies"/><ref name="Tegart’s shadow"/>

==World War II==

In 1942, Tegart headed up operations at the [[Ministry of Food]] in wartime Britain to combat the [[black market]].<ref name="BBC News, Jerusalem"/>

==Personal life==

For some time, Tegart kept a defused bomb as a paperweight to remind him of the attempts on his life. He once threw the bomb in a moment of anger, only to have it explode against the wall of his office, an incident he reportedly considered amusing.<ref name="BBC News, Jerusalem"/>

Tegart died at his home of age-related disease.

==See also==

* [[Arab Investigation Centres]], built under the direction of Charles Tegart
* [[Cellular Jail]]
* [[Bagha Jatin#Legacy of Jatin Mukherjee|Bagha Jatin]], comments by Tegart on his death
* [[Herbert Dowbiggin]], British colonial policeman

==Further reading==

* Tutun Mukherjee, "Colonialism, Surveillance and Memoirs of travel: Tegart's Diaries and the Andaman Cellular Jail", in Sachidananda Mohanty (ed.) ''Travel writing and the Empire'', Katha, 2004. {{ISBN|81-87649-36-4}}. See also {{usurped|[https://web.archive.org/web/20070313034905/http://www.hinduonnet.com/lr/2003/09/07/stories/2003090700240400.htm a review of this book]}} in ''The Hindu''.

==References==
<references/>

==Archive sources==

* [http://www.sant.ox.ac.uk/mec/MEChandlists/GB165-0281-Tegart-Collection.pdf Sir Charles Tegart Collection], held at St Antony's College, Oxford University.
* [http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/a2a/records.aspx?cat=059-msseur_1&cid=-1#-1 'Charles Tegart of the Indian Police': an unpublished biography by Lady Tegart], Mss Eur C235 in British Library, Asia, Pacific and Africa Collections.

{{S-start}}
{{s-civ|pol}}
{{Succession box| title=[[Police Commissioner of Kolkata|Police Commissioner of Calcutta]] | years=1923–1931 | before=[[Sir Reginald Clarke]] | after=[[L. H. Colson]]}}
{{S-end}}
{{Hindu-German Conspiracy}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tegart, Charles}}
[[Category:British colonial police officers]]
[[Category:Irish knights]]
[[Category:Indian Police Service officers in British India]]
[[Category:Hindu–German Conspiracy]]
[[Category:Indian police chiefs]]
[[Category:Knights Commander of the Order of the Indian Empire]]
[[Category:Members of the Royal Victorian Order]]
[[Category:Police officers from Kolkata]]
[[Category:Northern Irish recipients of the Queen's Police Medal]]
[[Category:Administrators of Palestine]]
[[Category:1881 births]]
[[Category:1946 deaths]]
[[Category:People of the 1936–1939 Arab revolt in Palestine]]
[[Category:People educated at Portora Royal School]]
[[Category:People from Derry (city)]]
[[Category:Indian justices of the peace]]
[[Category:Irish people in colonial India]]
[[Category:British Combined Intelligence Unit personnel]]
[[Category:Police misconduct in India]]
[[Category:Police brutality in Israel]]
[[Category:British people in Mandatory Palestine]]

Charles Tegart - Revision history

Bot at 19:06, 22 December 2022