Philip Norton Banks

Philip Norton Banks
KPM, CSE
9th Inspector General of Police (Sri Lanka)
In office
1937–1942
Preceded byHerbert Dowbiggin
Succeeded byGordon Halland
Commissioner Ethiopian Imperial Police
In office
1942–1956
Preceded byLaid Low
Succeeded byTsige Dibu
Personal details
Born1889
Kensington, England
Died2 April 1964 [1]
Colchester, Essex
ProfessionPolice officer

Philip Norton Banks KPM, CSE (1889 – 2 April 1964) was the ninth British colonial Inspector-General of Police in Ceylon (Sri Lanka).

Banks was educated at The New Beacon[2] and Bradfield College and entered the Ceylon Police in 1909 and advanced to the position of Assistant Superintendent in 1912 and then to Superintendent in 1917. Following the outbreak of World War I he returned to the UK, was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in the 1st Battalion, King's Royal Rifle Corps and saw active service on the Western Front in France and Flanders.

In 1919 following the end of the war he returned to his previous employ in Ceylon, after serving in the 5th (Reserve) Battalion of the King's Royal Rifle Corps,[3] Banks was promoted to Superintendent of Police (Grade 1) in 1924 and to Deputy Inspector-General in the Criminal Investigation Department in March 1932. Banks was appointed Inspector-General of Police in 1937, after earlier in the year being presented with the King's Police Medal[4] by the Governor of Ceylon Sir Reginald Stubbs in a special ceremony held at Queen’s House, Colombo. The same year also saw Banks’ involvement in the proposed deportation of Mark Anthony Bracegirdle, an Anglo-Australian Marxist activist,[5] investigated by a Commission of Inquiry.[6][7] As a result of this much publicised case the Foreign Office transferred him to Ethiopia in 1942, as Commissioner of Police,[8] where he was responsible for re-establishing the Ethiopian police force.[9] In July 1949 Banks was awarded the Officer of the Order of the Star of Ethiopia by the Emperor of Ethiopia Haile Selassie.[10] In September 1956 Banks retired and was replaced by General Tsige Dibu.[11] In July 1959 he was awarded the Commander of the Star of Ethiopia.[12]

  1. ^ England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858-1966, 1973-1995
  2. ^ The New Beacon, Sevenoaks - Archive
  3. ^ "Special Reserve of Officers". London Gazette. 6 January 1920. p. 318. Retrieved 8 May 2016.
  4. ^ "Colonies, Protectorates and Mandated Territories" (PDF). Edinburgh Gazette. 5 February 1937. Retrieved 8 May 2016.
  5. ^ Moonesinghe, Vinod (30 April 2011). "Sri Lanka's Independence and the Bracegirdle incident". Daily News. Retrieved 8 May 2016.
  6. ^ De Silva, K. M; Wriggins, Howard (1994). J. R. Jayewardene of Sri Lanka : A Political Biography. University of Hawaii. pp. 95–96. ISBN 0-8248-1183-6.
  7. ^ "Parliamentary Debates - Inspector-General of Police". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). 341. 23 November 1938. Retrieved 8 May 2016.
  8. ^ Norberg, Viveca Halldin (1977). Swedes in Haile Selassie's Ethiopia, 1924-1952 (PDF). University of Uppsala. p. 81. ISBN 91-554-0621-1.
  9. ^ Pankhurst, Richard (1996). Britain in Ethiopia: Centenary of the British Diplomatic Presence in Addis Ababa. Foreign and Commonwealth Office. p. 14.
  10. ^ "Whitehall" (PDF). London Gazette. 21 October 1949. Retrieved 7 May 2016.
  11. ^ Hailemichael, Nebiyu (August 2007). Life in Twentieth-Century Ethiopia - Autobiographical Narrative of Brigadier General Mebrahtu Fesseha. Addis Ababa University. p. 22.
  12. ^ "Whitehall" (PDF). London Gazette. 25 September 1959. Retrieved 23 September 2016.