Barbara Denis de Vitré
Barbara Denis de Vitré | |
|---|---|
 HMI Inspector Denis de Vitré | |
| Born | 6 November 1905 Hampstead Norreys, England |
| Died | 8 August 1960 (aged 54) Westminster, London, England |
| Education | University of Manchester |
| Occupation | Police officer |
| Known for | leading policewoman |
Barbara Denis de Vitré OBE (6 November 1905 – 8 August 1960) was a British police officer who rose to be the highest ranking in Britain as women became accepted members of the British police.
Life
[edit]De Vitré was born at Eling Farm, Hampstead Norreys, Berkshire in 1905, youngest daughter of George Theodosius Denis de Vitré (1861/2-1932), an estate manager, and Harriet Isabel (1866-1955), née Beeching.[1] Her parents paid for her to attend a boarding school and she then moved on to the University of Manchester. Her career was chosen when she began a six-week course under Mary Allen's Women Auxiliary Service. Allen was a controversial figure as she had been a militant suffragette and she went on to be a leading fascist.[1]
In 1928 she joined the police in Sheffield.[2] This was helpful to her career as that constabulary had a more enthusiastic attitude to women in the force and she impressed the chief constable, Percy Sillitoe.[1] In 1931 she was appointed to lead and train women policewomen in Cairo. She assisted with the laws pertaining to brothels, prostitutes and drug dealing and in training.[2]
She returned to the UK in 1933 and became the lead policewoman in Leicester taking over from Eileen Claire Sloane.[1] De Vitré was able to create an essential role dealing with cases of indecent assault and child protection. This was reinforced by the 1933 Children and Young Persons Act which required a policewoman to be present with any under-age or female person who was detained.[2] However, she did not become a sergeant until 1933. The following year she was able to organise a national convention of policewomen which attracted half the country's policewomen from outside London. This was 36 women from 26 constabularies who gathered in Leicester.[1]
In 1944 Sir Percy Sillitoe, who had been her boss in Sheffield, was made the Chief Constable of Kent and he employed de Vitré to lead the women's force.[3] When she arrived she had two policewomen and the following year there were nearly 150.[1]
The following year she was promoted into a national role in Her Majesty's Inspectorate. She became the most senior ranking woman police officer in Britain as she took a leading role in seeing a massive growth in the number of women serving within Britain's police.[1]
De Vitré died in 1960 in Westminster of cancer.[1]
References
[edit]- ^ a b c d e f g h "Vitré, Barbara Mary Denis de". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/97986. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
- ^ a b c Shani D'Cruze; Louise A. Jackson (30 June 2009). Women, Crime and Justice in England Since 1660. Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 113–. ISBN 978-1-137-05720-4.
- ^ Sillitoe, Sir Percy Cloak Without Dagger 1955 p.154 photo opposite p.159