John Hermon

Sir John Charles Hermon OBE QPM (23 November 1928 – 6 November 2008) was the Chief Constable of the Royal Ulster Constabulary from 1980–1989.

Sir John Hermon

OBE QPM
Chief Constable of the Royal Ulster Constabulary
In office
1980–1989
Preceded bySir Kenneth Newman
Succeeded bySir Hugh Annesley
Personal details
Born(1928-11-23)23 November 1928
Castletown, Northern Ireland
Died6 November 2008(2008-11-06) (aged 79)
Bangor, Northern Ireland
NationalityBritish
Spouse(s)Jean Webb (1954–1986)
Sylvia Paisley (1988–2008)
Children4

Early life

'Jack' Hermon was born in Castletown, Islandmagee, County Antrim, to William Rowan Hermon, a building contractor, and his wife, Agnes. He had a grammar school education and gave up an early career in accountancy to join the Royal Ulster Constabulary in 1950.[1]

Career

After joining the RUC, he was posted in various parts of western Northern Ireland, including Eglinton, Coalisland and Strabane, before sitting his sergeant's examinations. He was the first RUC officer to attend the advanced policing course at the British police training college in Bramshill in England in 1963.[2]

He became Chief Constable in 1980, after an attachment to Scotland Yard. As Chief Constable, he changed the interview processes of terrorist suspects at the Castlereagh interrogation centre. An anonymous former interrogator has claimed that "The new chief constable was completely against any mistreatment of prisoners whatsoever...we started to detect a change .... straight away." Hermon is thought to have believed that the allegations of mistreatment were harming relations between the RUC and the wider communities.[3] He retired in 1989, and became the longest-serving Chief Constable of the RUC.[2]

One analysis has argued that Hermon's actions in charge of the RUC 'transformed it into a more independent force, shorn of its worst sectarian sympathies' and that these reforms also had the effect of allowing the RUC to be better able to support the peace process in the 1990s than it would have been otherwise. After retiring, he became, in June 1989, a consultant to a private security company.[2]

Marriages

He married Jean Webb in 1954, and had a son and a daughter before she died of cancer in 1986. In 1987 he met Sylvia Paisley who had written an academic paper critical of Hermon's conduct in an employment case brought by female RUC officers. They married and had two sons.[1] After his death, his widow, Lady Hermon, was, from 2005 to 2010, the sole Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) Member of Parliament. From 2010 she was re-elected as an independent, with an increased majority.[4] She held the North Down seat from 2001 to 2019.

Politics

In 1998, Hermon campaigned for a yes vote during the Belfast Agreement referendum.[1]

Death

Hermon suffered from Alzheimer's disease from at least 2004 until his death on 6 November 2008, a few weeks before his 80th birthday.[5] He died in a nursing home in Bangor.[6]

Honours



RibbonDescriptionNotes
Order of the British Empire (OBE)
  • Officer
  • Civil Division
Knight Bachelor (Kt)
Order of St John
Queen's Police Medal (QPM)
Queen Elizabeth II Silver Jubilee Medal
  • 1977
  • UK Version of this Medal
Police Long Service and Good Conduct Medal
Royal Ulster Constabulary Service Medal

Publications
  • Holding the Line (1997 autobiography)
Police appointments
Preceded by
Kenneth Leslie Newman		 Chief Constable of the Royal Ulster Constabulary
1980–1989		 Succeeded by
Hugh Annesley
gollark: Also, accusing anyone who prefers one side of a thing over another of being biased seems problematic.
gollark: Everything must be kept exactly as it is now, by any means necessary.
gollark: RADICAL CENTRISM!
gollark: Yes, it would be unwise to be not home lots of the time these days.
gollark: It would be nice if either of the candidates could assemble a coherent sentence.

References
  1. Obituary, timesonline.co.uk; accessed 22 June 2017.
  2. Owen Bowcott. "Obituary: Sir John Hermon". the Guardian. Retrieved 14 August 2015.
  3. Ian Cobain 'Inside Castlereagh: 'We got confessions by torture' (The Guardian, Monday, 11 October 2010)
  4. "MP Lady Sylvia Hermon quits Ulster Unionists". BBC News. 25 March 2010. Retrieved 25 March 2010.
  5. "Former police chief Hermon dies". bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 22 June 2017.
  6. "Farewell to Sir Jack Hermon". Belfast Telegraph. 10 November 2008. Retrieved 20 November 2011.
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