Roderick Ross
Roderick Ross CVO CBE KPM (24 May 1865–6 March 1943) was Chief Constable of Edinburgh City Police from 1900 to 1935.
Ross was born in West Helmsdale in the parish of Kildonan, Sutherland, the son of a crofter. His namesake his grandfather, a Chelsea Pensioner, had been evicted out of Kildonan during the Highland Clearances.
He first served in the Canterbury City Police.[1] By 1891 he was a Sergeant and had married in the same year a local girl, Elizabeth Mills, the daughter of a fruit merchant and past licensed victualler. The couple had six children, all born in England. Roderick Ross, himself bore a remarkable resemblance to King Edward VII.
He left Canterbury in 1898 to take on the position of Chief Constable of Bradford ,[2] and left two years later to take up the post of Chief Constable of Edinburgh a post he held from 1900 to 1935. He was succeeded in Bradford by Joseph Farndale.
He was appointed Member 4th Class of the Royal Victorian Order (MVO) in September 1905, Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 1920 civilian war honours, and Commander of the Royal Victorian Order (CVO) in July 1934. He was awarded the King's Police Medal (KPM) in the 1922 New Year Honours.
When appointed the new Chief Constable of Edinburgh he sponsored the formation of the Edinburgh City Police Pipe Band,[3] now known as the Lothian and Borders Police Pipe Band. The band wore for many years as its tartan the Ancient Red Ross in his honour, only giving it up shortly after the end of World War II.[4]
Ross introduced police boxes to Edinburgh in 1933. Edinburgh had at the time a population of over 427,000, and an area of over 52,000 acres; it was the largest urban police area in Scotland.[5]
He retired to Portobello, Edinburgh and died on 6 March 1943 after a short illness in a nursing home at 19 Great King Street, Edinburgh. He is commemorated by a police golfing trophy, the Roderick Ross Challenge Cup, open to serving or retired Chief Officers.[6]
Mr Ross's family may have set some kind of record in that three members of his family were Chief Constables at the same time.[7]
His son Donald Ross. Born 1896, was Chief Constable of Argyllshire from 1927 to 1961.
Another son Douglas George Ross was Chief Constable of Sutherland from 1933 to 1962. Born in England, at Ramsgate in Kent on 6 April 1897. After active service with the Royal Scots between 1915 and 1919, he was appointed to the City of Manchester Police in 1920. He then transferred to Edinburgh City Police in 1922, and there rose through the ranks to Superintendent. Aged 37 years and with 13 years Police Service, he took over at Dornoch in Sutherland on 5 May 1933. His starting salary was £400 per annum, which rose by £20 every second year until 1939. He continued as Chief Constable for 29 years, he retired and took his pension on 5th April 1962, the day before his 65th birthday. He was Sutherland's last but one Chief Constable.
The County of Sutherland appointed Kenneth Ross, BL, (no relation to any of the above) as its last Chief Constable, and he took up his appointment with effect from 6 April 1962. He went on to be the first (and only) Chief Constable of the Ross & Sutherland Constabulary, when that new force was formed on 16 May 1963. The new Ross & Sutherland Constabulary, had its Headquarters in Dingwall. Sutherland was not greatly affected by the merger, remaining intact as a Sub Division of the new Force.
References and notes
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